Cohesion policy is one of the most important policies of the European Union which aims to promote economic, social, and territorial cohesion in support of the broader European integration project....Show moreCohesion policy is one of the most important policies of the European Union which aims to promote economic, social, and territorial cohesion in support of the broader European integration project. Despite the identification of spatial inequalities in Europe being soon identified as an action point for the Community, the means to achieve territorial integration have created considerable political debate. The promotion of cross-border cooperation (CBC) via European Territorial Cooperation programmes like Interreg has been one of the Commission's main policy tools to reduce spatial inequalities. The overall goal of this thesis is to analyse to what extent Interreg programmes have been effective in boosting European integration. The author argues that increasing CBC further advances European integration because intensive cooperation in border regions contributes to diminishing regional disparities while enhancing mutual trust and collaboration.Show less
Absorption capacity has been argued to be an essential indicator of the effectiveness of cohesion policy in European Union (EU) member states. Using the Principal-Agent framework to study the...Show moreAbsorption capacity has been argued to be an essential indicator of the effectiveness of cohesion policy in European Union (EU) member states. Using the Principal-Agent framework to study the implementation stage of cohesion policy, this thesis aims to find whether the Commission as a principal can influence the absorption capacity of countries (the agents) through its control mechanisms, namely the ex-ante conditionalities and priority axes. By doing a comparative analysis of Bulgaria and Romania, findings suggest that while Bulgaria did not follow the Commission’s rules and absorbed a significant amount of funds, Romania, which strictly followed EU’s conditionalities, had its absorption capacity negatively influenced by the Commission. This negative influence is even more evident with the increased funding a member state receives for some of its operational programmes as larger financial assistance requires the country to follow more EU rules.Show less
