Regional policy of the European Union in Spain
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51599/is.2024.08.03.03Keywords:
EU Cohesion Policy, convergence, regional competitiveness, territorial competition, Spain, NUTS, Spanish regions.Abstract
Purpose. The main goal of this study is to analyse the implementation of regional policy or EU cohesion policy in Spain, to determine its evolution during 1989–2024.
Results. Based on the study of regulatory acts and the literature on the subject, the dynamics of the regional policy of Brussels in Spain was traced, which was directed at overcoming the differences between different territories, equalising the social standards of the citizens of the European community, restructuring the fallen industrial zones, improving the environment, and developing the agricultural sector. The dynamics of cohesion policy demonstrate a shift in the direction of EU funds from the NUTS 1 level (Eurostat classification) to NUTS 2 and NUTS 3. Spain, which was the largest beneficiary of Brussels’ regional policy in 2000–2006, has since been replaced by Poland, and from 2021, Italy. This trend indicates the success of this policy, as it contributed to the equalisation of GDP per person. Convergence – helping to overcome the lag, regional competitiveness – further assistance to regions to bring them up to the average European GDP per capita indicator, territorial cooperation, which compensated for the unfavourable territorial position of one or another area, became the key directions of the development of the policy of cohesion in Spain. During 2014–2020, the four autonomous communities of Extremadura, the Canary Islands, Andalusia, and Murcia became the largest recipients of Brussels’ regional policy. Due to regional competitiveness and territorial competition, the Canary Islands and Murcia became the largest recipients, while Castilla-La Mancha and Melilla and Ceuta, which are small in population, lost out.
Scientific novelty. For the first time in domestic literature, the evolution of the European cohesion policy is traced to the example of the Kingdom of Spain. The influence of EU regional policy on overcoming the economic backwardness of certain regions of this country from the average European indicators is shown. It is proven that the policy of cohesion had positive consequences for the development of Spain and its autonomous communities. At the same time, this policy has created the illusion of the possibility of greater independence from Madrid, which has led to the growth of separatist tendencies, especially in Catalonia.
Practical value. The results of the study are important primarily from a Ukrainian perspective. Although Ukraine can become an object of the EU’s regional policy only after becoming a member of this organisation, it is now necessary to assess the differences in regional development, determine the disadvantages of the territorial position of individual regions and subregions of our country, and determine the prospects for the structural reformation of old industrial clusters. The Spanish experience in this context is extremely important for Ukraine, since the states, taking into account the probable chronological gap at the beginning of the cohesion policy, are comparable in terms of territory, population, productive forces, and the anticipatory development of some regions and the lagging behind of other regions.
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Annual EU budzet payments made by fund to a NUTS-2 region (n.d.). Available at: https://cohesiondata.ec.europa.eu/Other/Historic-EU-payments-regionalised-and-modelled/tc55-7ysv.
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2021–2027 Cohesion policy EU budget allocations. Available at: https://cohesiondata.ec.europa.eu/stories/s/2021-2027-EU-allocations-availablefor-programming/2w8s-ci3y.
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