Strilli dalla DG Regio (Politica Regionale)

New issue of "Panorama" magazine on the EU’s strategy for the Baltic Sea Region

In June, the Commission presented a text outlining the European Union's strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. Since enlargement in 2004, the region has faced many challenges, in particular in the environmental field: the future of the Baltic Sea is threatened. The adoption of this strategy by the Member States in October is one of the priorities for the Swedish European Union Presidency. The magazine of the Directorate-General for Regional Policy explains the issues behind this new strategy, a first for Europe in that it targets a "macro-region" of eight Member States.

Panorama magazine available in 21 languages

Regional Focus: Metropolitan regions in the EU

The Directorate-General for Regional Policy has published the third edition of 'Regional Focus' (a series of short papers on regional research and indicators). This latest paper analyses the 258 metropolitan regions (urban agglomerations of more than 250 000 inhabitants) to see whether the EU is becoming more metropolitan, and to look at reasons why some of these 'metro' regions grow fast? The indications show that, overall, the population and GDP share in the metro regions have not increased significantly since 2000. Some of the least developed EU countries, however, did experience a shift in economic activities to their metros, in particular to the capitals.

Working Papers": Cross-Country impact assessment of EU Cohesion Policy

The Directorate-General for Regional Policy has published the second edition of "Working Papers" (a series of short papers on regional research and indicators).  This latest paper compares and assesses the economic impact of the policy in the 15 countries which are the biggest recipients of Cohesion funding.  The purpose of the European Cohesion Policy is to reduce disparities among EU regions by co-financing growth-enhancing investments and creating conditions for stimulating growth, particularly in the less developed regions and Member States.  The impact assessment was carried out based on the so-called 'HERMIN' macro-economic model and uses financial data from both the budgetary periods 2000-2006 and 2007-2013.