Prof' Dominic Power Uppsala University dominic'powerkultgeog'uu'se

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Prof. Dominic Power Uppsala Universitydominic.p
ower_at_kultgeog.uu.se

• European Integration Lecture II
• Governmental policies to integrate Europe

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Europeanisation govts role

• Last lecture concentrated on Europeanisation as
  an organic process is proceeding
• This week I will look at the policies and ideas
  that have come from top-down
• Key questions
• How inevitable or organic has European economic
  integration been?
• Can it be considered a purely artificial
  political project?
• In the face of globalisation and superpower
  politics was it the only logical survival policy?
• Is there an underlying political and ideology
  driving European economic and regional
  development?

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EU regional econ development policies
ideological dimensions

• Cohesion and stopping wars at the heart of early
  EU integration and fighting unemployment and
  marginalisation now at the heart of EU social and
  economic policy
• Certain keywords appear all the time cohesion,
  stability, equality of opportunities,
  democratisation, integration, networks,
  cross-border, even development.
• A short history
• 1957 Treaty of Rome refers to the need "to
  strengthen the unity of their economies and to
  ensure their harmonious development by reducing
  the differences existing between the various
  regions and the backwardness of the less favoured
  regions".
• 1958 European Social Fund (ESF) and the European
  Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF).
  
• 1975 European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
• 1986 The Single European Act lays the basis for a
  genuine cohesion policy.
• 1989-93 The European Council in Brussels in
  February 1988 overhauls the operation of the
  solidarity Funds (now referred to as the
  Structural Funds) and allocates ECU 68 billion to
  them (at 1997 prices).
• 1992 The Treaty on European Union, which came
  into force in 1993, designates cohesion as one of
  the main objectives of the Union, alongside
  economic and monetary union and the single
  market. Cohesion Fund set up.
• 1994-99 The Edinburgh European Council (December
  1993) increases cohesion policy 40. Financial
  Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG) is
  created.
• 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam confirms the importance
  of cohesion and also includes a Title on
  Employment.
• 2000-2006 The Berlin European Council (March
  1999) reforms the Structural Funds and adjusts
  the operation of the Cohesion Fund. New measures
  aimed at applicant countries in Central and
  Eastern Europe.

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Regional policy policies

• Long history of continuing the tradition of
  supply-side economics
• Key supply-side solutions the EU has adopted
• Funding and grants to
• Better infrastructure (structural funding)
• Better workers (education)
• Better research (research funding)
• Changes to laws, directives, etc.
• Better regulatory systems (more open, more
  American!)
• Better access to resources (open up financial
  markets, improve banking, etc.)
• Common standards so make cross border trade
  easier and safer controversial!
• Guidelines and common standards for
  qualifications, education, etc.
• Same environmental standards across Europe
• Same equality standards across Europe

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Structural funds

• Structural funds and changes to the legal
  framework are the main proactive policy the EU
  takes in order to integrate economies
• 1/3 of EU budget 213 billion
• 3 different types of regions funded
• Objective 1 lagging behind
• Objective 2 structural difficulties
• Objective 3 need to catch up
• Cohesion Fund specific environmental and
  transport infrastructure projects in Spain,
  Greece, Ireland and Portugal The Instrument for
  Structural Policies for pre-Accession (the
  Cohesion fund for new members)
• Should not forget CAP funding Peeter will be
  talking about this more

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European Economic Union Policies Supporting
certain sectors

• Old method (Keynesian economics) throw lots of
  money (borrowed by the state) at large firms that
  are in difficulty (most likely because they are
  obsolete)
• Since the 1980s and neo-liberal wave in Europe
  government has started trying to be less
  interventionist in sectors try not to bail out
  losers and instead to lay the foundations for
  growth
• Cluster building/technopoles/science parks
  regional agglomerations of specific activities
  sectoral policy has gone local (this is what is
  also happening in all EU countries)
• It tends to be certain sectors that attract all
  the attention The knowledge economy

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Supporting the knowledge economy

• Who are they up against?
• E.g. Singapore and Hong Kongs knowledge economy
  investments
• What roles can govt. and EU play in supporting
  the knowledge economy?
• Education and research linking universities,
  universitiesindustry, supporting basic research
• But this needs to be linked to the business world
  by entrepreneurs something Western Europe is
  pretty bad at producing
• QUESTION how does Europe create
  entrepreneurship?
• QUESTION how do we create culture? Who wants our
  culture and for how long?

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EU dilemmas

• Has structural funding, etc. worked differences
  are narrowing but in some places more than
  others how to get the best of local conditions
  (or avoid the most dangerous local conditions)
• Enlargement
• Must we accept uneven development and a barren
  countryside? Should we just leave some cities
  rot? Cant we just leave it for summerhouses and
  Sunday walks?
• You cant buy me love Kiruna and Brussels
• How do we balance econ-devel with politics and
  democracy? Is econ-devel a local, national or
  supra-national task? What does this mean for
  conflicts between the different levels?
• By chasing the knowledge economy are we in danger
  of creating new divisions and uneven development?