Evolution or Revolution, Exploring New Ideas for Cohesion Policy 2020+

The EoRPA Consortium is a grouping of regional policy departments and agencies from eleven European countries which collectively funds a research programme on regional policy developments (and the reasons for policy change) in the EU Member States, Norway and Switzerland. At the core of the research is a comparative assessment of changes in regional policy and regional policy instruments, set in the context of developing European frameworks (the Regional Aid Guidelines and the Structural Funds Regulations). The Consortium also funds thematic studies on selected contemporary regional policy issues.

The EoRPA Consortium is managed by the European Policies Research Centre (EPRC) in the School of Government & Public Policy at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland. EoRPA is led by Professor John Bachtler and Fiona Wishlade.

EoRPA is the Gaelic word for Europe.In the context of the intensifying debate on the post-2020 EU Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), EPRC / EoRPA published a paper in 2016 on options for the future of EU Cohesion policy, written by John Bachtler, Carlos Mendez and Fiona Wishlade.

The paper ‘Evolution or Revolution? Exploring New Ideas for Cohesion Policy 2020+’ reviews the contributions to the overall budget debate, notably the MFF Review and takes stock of the emerging evidence on the operation and performance of the policy in 2007-2013 and 2014-20. The paper then discusses the options for change with respect to the added value of Cohesion policy, increased flexibility, simplification, differentiation, synergies, performance and the links with economic governance.

EPRC: IQ-Net Thematic Paper 38(2), 2016: Ideas and Options for Cohesion Policy Post-2020 http://www.eprc-strath.eu/public/dam/jcr:1c290c62-2e5e-4a21-b518-d7f5f638521c/ThematicPaper38(2).pdf

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