Mapping the Quality of Government in Europe: An analysis at the national and regional level within the EU member states

Abstract:

No society is free from corruption. According to a new study, weak governance structures are also closely related to the considerable socio-economic differences across EU regions.

Regional cohesion is a fundamental goal for EU policies, especially since the financial crisis hit some regions harder than others. As a policy area it also engages a substantial part of the EU budget.

A factor strongly connected to this political priority is corruption, as well as its opposite, good government. This study provides knowledge of the regional variations within the EU, the consequences of good government as well as the reforms needed to curb corruption.

The results are derived from an index built by the researchers to measure, describe and compare the quality of government across regions within the EU (European Quality of Government index, EQI).