This paper investigates whether territorial characteristics and, in particular, regional administrative capacity influence the effects of European Union (EU) Cohesion Policy support to firms. A novel two-step methodology is applied. First, the effects of Cohesion Policy on employment growth of supported manufacturing firms are estimated separately for the regions of six different EU countries. Second, potential territorial factors influencing these effects are explored using meta-analysis techniques. The empirical results point to a significant relationship between firm-level policy effects and territorial capital, especially mixed-materiality assets, as well as administrative capacity as proxied by citizen engagement and administrative efficiency.

Industry contributed for about 20 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions in 2019 in the EU. Cement, chemicals and steel industries are among the most energy-intensive industries. Around 26,522 million € of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) was used to support projects related to low-carbon industrial technologies (15 percent of the total ERDF in the period 2014-2020). 16 percent of the ERDF low-carbon project is associated with Research & Innovation (R&I) funding (4,255 million €). 13 percent of R&D project in low-carbon are transnational and interregional cooperation projects (549 million €) under the Interreg programme. Higher share of low-carbon projects over total ERDF is observed in central and eastern Europe. ERDF projects in the chemicals industry (407 million €) registered a substantially higher amount than those in cement (101 million €) or steel (89 million €) industries.

The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) aims to strengthen economic, social and territorial cohesion in Europe by correcting imbalances between its regions. Both the governance of the ERDF as well as its widespread territorial coverage require a significant effort in gathering complete statistical information from many different national sources on its beneficiaries. In order to support analytical and impact assessment activities, the research collaboration between JRC and WIFO led to the construction of a unique dataset with around 600,000 ERDF projects in the EU 27 plus UK during the programming period 2014-2020. The dataset includes financial information standardised and comparable across member states based on existing taxonomies. Data include a brief description of the projects, their location at regional level, and name of beneficiaries, among other relevant information. Projects are classified by Key Enabling Technologies, Societal Grand Challenges, energy areas and by objectives of the EU Mission Ocean. Data on funded projects are particularly relevant for policy evaluation and monitoring since they allow complementing macro-statistical information and provide additional insights into regional specialisation and funding patterns/impacts.

Unsere Studie entwickelt einen neuen Ansatz, um die lokalen Wachstumseffekte der EU-Regionalpolitik seit 2007 zu untersuchen. Für eine ausgewählte Pilotregion im Grenzgebiet zwischen Deutschland, Polen und Tschechien kombinieren wir erstmals einen Mikrodatensatz zum Erhalt von EU-Förderung auf Projektebene mit Fernerkundungsdaten verschiedener Satelliten. Dabei wird das Wachstum der regionalen Wirtschaft über Änderungen in der Intensität der jährlichen Nachtlichtemissionen erfasst. Auf Gemeindeebene lässt sich zeigen, dass der Erhalt höherer Förderbeträge mit höherem Wachstum einhergeht. Die Ergebnisse dieses Projekts verdeutlichen, wie Fernerkundungsdaten effektiv genutzt werden können, um die kleinräumigen Auswirkungen regionaler Wirtschaftsförderung auch im gesamteuropäischen Kontext zu quantifizieren.

Over the course of the 2014-2020 period, the European Union has invested more than 125 billion € into support to research and innovation through two main channels: the excellence-based Horizon 2020 programme and its cohesion policy implemented through the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) and in particular the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). While projects funded by ESIF are selected in the context of place-based operational programmes and smart specialisation strategies (S3), Horizon 2020 grants are assigned based on the quality of the project proposals and consortia without any geographical criteria. A concentration of R&I funding from both funding schemes in the same technological or policy area could point to the creation of a synergy between EU funding as suggested by the concept of smart specialisation and encouraged by the European Commission. This report uses project data to analyse the regional distribution of Horizon 2020 and ESIF funding among key enabling technologies and societal grand challenges and to map potential synergies between different EU funding policies.

Das Jahrbuch der Europäischen Integration des Instituts für Europäische Politik (Berlin) dokumentiert und bilanziert seit 1980 zeitnah und detailliert den europäischen Integrationsprozess. Entstanden ist in 41 Jahren eine einzigartige Dokumentation der europäischen Zeitgeschichte. Das "Jahrbuch der Europäischen Integration 2021" führt diese Tradition fort. In mehr als 100 Beiträgen zeichnen die Autoren und Autorinnen in ihren jeweiligen Forschungsschwerpunkten die europapolitischen Ereignisse des Berichtszeitraums 2020/21 nach und informieren über die Arbeit der europäischen Institutionen, die Entwicklung der einzelnen Politikbereiche der EU, Europas Rolle in der Welt und die Europapolitik in den Mitgliedstaaten und Kandidatenländern.

This non-technical article promotes the use of project-level data for monitoring and the evaluation of EU research and innovation policy. First, a new dataset of R&I-related projects co-funded by the ERDF during the multi-annual financial framework 2014-2020 is introduced. Second, this data is used, together with Horizon 2020 project information, in order to explore interlinkages between the funding schemes in terms of thematic priorities as well as beneficiaries. On average, 15 percent of ERDF projects could be identified as being carried out by a beneficiary that also receives funds from the Horizon 2020 programme.

When assessing the benefits Member States (MS) receive from the European Union (EU) budget, they primarily focus on their individual net positions, i.e. the net balance between their national contributions and the transfers received from the EU budget. This "just retour" thinking is associated with several limitations and problems and completely neglects the benefits accruing to MS beyond the pure financial streams related to the EU budget. MS may enjoy the indirect benefits that are related to the various interventions and policies financed from the EU budget. Benefits may be also created for the EU as a whole in the case of policies coordinated and financed by the EU, replacing or complementing individual un-coordinated action at MS level and thus creating additional added value through making use of synergies. MS also benefit from intra-EU direct investments, intra-EU trade and the EU’s network effects. Therefore, the net position view could be complemented by additional indicators providing a more comprehensive picture of the overall benefits resulting for MS from the EU membership and budget and several reform options within the EU budget could help to overcome the net position view.