The European Commission has launched a 'Study on macro-regional strategies and their links with cohesion policy'. The study is conducted by COWI and partners - M&E and IHS.
This study aims to explore the performance of the four existing macro-regional strategies:
- European Union Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR)
- European Union Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR)
- European Union Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR)
- European Union Strategy for the Alpine Region (EUSALP)
This includes investigating their socio-economic impact, analysing the conditions which contributed to positive achievements as well as to good practices, and examining the extent to which the strategies contributed to the coordination and the synergies between ESI Funds and other European Union policies and instruments. Also, the study will explore the extent to which the strategies can contribute to the development of future cohesion policy.
The outcomes of the study are expected for late 2017. In order to collect the necessary information for the study, we conduct a survey across all the macro-regional strategies, including a range of stakeholders of the strategies.