STUDY ON MACROREGIONAL STRATEGIES AND THEIR LINKS WITH COHESION POLICY Data and analytical report for the EUSAIR November 2017 EUROPEAN COMMISSION Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy Directorate D – European Territorial Cooperation, Macro-regions, Interreg and Programme Implementation I Unit D.1 – Macro-regions, Transnational, Interregional Cooperation, IPA, Enlargement Contact: Jean-Marc Venineaux E-mail: [email protected] European Commission B-1049 Brussels EUROPEAN COMMISSION STUDY ON MACROREGIONAL STRATEGIES AND THEIR LINKS WITH COHESION POLICY Data and analytical report for the EUSAIR Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy 2018 EN Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union. Freephone number (*): 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (*) The information given is free, as are most calls (though some operators, phone boxes or hotels may charge you). LEGAL NOTICE This document has been prepared for the European Commission however it reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http://www.europa.eu). Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2018 ISBN: 978-92-79-80344-4 doi: 10.2776/9 © European Union, 2018 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. NOVEMBER 2017 EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL REGIONAL AND URBAN POLICY STUDY ON MACROREGIONAL STRATEGIES AND THEIR LINKS WITH COHESION POLICY DATA AND ANALYTICAL REPORT FOR THE EUSAIR ADDRESS COWI A/S Parallelvej 2 2800 Kongens Lyngby Denmark TEL +45 56 40 00 00 FAX +45 56 40 99 99 WWW cowi.com NOVEMBER 2017 EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL REGIONAL AND URBAN POLICY STUDY ON MACROREGIONAL STRATEGIES AND THEIR LINKS WITH COHESION POLICY DATA AND ANALYTICAL REPORT FOR THE EUSAIR 4 STUDY ON MACROREGIONAL STRATEGIES AND THEIR LINKS WITH COHESION POLICY CONTENTS 1 Introduction to the Report 9 1.1 The EUSAIR – Background 9 2 State of the Macro-Regions (Task 1) 14 2.1 Introduction to Task 1 14 2.2 Methodological Framework for Task 1 15 2.2.1 Macro-regions 15 2.2.2 Indicator Analysis 16 2.2.3 Composite Benchmarks 17 2.3 Macroeconomic Overview 22 2.3.1 Economic Performance 23 2.3.2 Employment 27 2.3.3 Social Progress Index 30 2.4 Macro-regional Economic Integration 32 2.4.1 Labour Integration 34 2.4.2 Trade Integration 37 2.4.3 Capital Integration 39 2.4.4 Energy Integration 42 2.4.5 Accessibility Potential 45 2.4.6 Transnational Cooperation 48 2.5 Competitiveness 50 2.5.1 Overall Competitiveness 51 2.5.2 Business 60 2.5.3 Transport 64 2.5.4 Tourism 68 2.5.5 Fisheries 75 2.5.8 Blue Growth 77 2.5.9 Energy 79 2.5.10 Climate Change: Adaptation 86 2.5.11 Climate Change: Mitigation 89 2.5.12 Environment: Air Quality 92 STUDY ON MACROREGIONAL STRATEGIES AND THEIR LINKS WITH COHESION POLICY 5 2.5.13 Environment: Air Pollution 94 2.5.14 Environment: Waterbodies 96 2.5.15 Biodiversity: Natura 2000 101 2.5.16 Diversity of Land Cover (Shannon Evenness Index) 104 2.5.17 Biodiversity: Coverage of marine protected areas in Europe’s seas 106 2.5.18 Eco-Innovation Scoreboard 108 2.5.19 Resource Efficiency (composite of Eco Innovation Scoreboard) 110 2.5.20 Bathing Water Quality 112 2.5.21 Agricultural Impact 114 2.6 Political, Institutional & Governance Indicators 118 2.6.1 Governance 120 2.6.2 Public Institutions 123 2.6.3 Voice and Accountability 125 2.6.4 Human Trafficking 127 2.6.5 Number of Drug Seizures 129 2.7 Meta-analysis 131 2.7.1 Macroeconomic Indicators 131 2.7.2 Macro-regional Integration 132 2.7.3 Competitiveness 133 2.7.4 Political, Institutional and Governance arrangements 135 3 Review of the Macro-regional Strategies (Task 2) 138 3.1 Introduction to Task 2 138 3.2 Methodology for Task 2 139 3.3 Review of the EUSAIR (Task 2a) – Summary 145 3.4 Achievements of the EUSAIR (Task 2b) 147 3.4.1 Achievements – content-wise 147 3.4.2 Achievements – process-wise 151 3.5 Comparison of objectives of the EUSAIR with achievements (Task 2c) 156 3.6 EUSAIR and ESIF (Task 2d) 159 3.7 EUSAIR TSG 4 – fact sheet 164 APPENDICES Appendix A TASK 2a: Review of the EUSAIR A.1 Introduction 6 STUDY ON MACROREGIONAL STRATEGIES AND THEIR LINKS WITH COHESION POLICY A.2 Methodological Framework A.3 Blue Growth A.4 Connecting the Region A.5 Environmental Quality A.6 Sustainable Tourism Appendix B List of literature STUDY ON MACROREGIONAL STRATEGIES AND THEIR LINKS WITH COHESION POLICY 7 List of Abbreviations Abbreviation Stands for AG Action Group AP Action Plan BSAP Baltic Sea Action Plan BSLF Baltic Sea Labour Forum BSN Baltic Science Network BSR Baltic Sea Region BSR Stars PA Innovation (EUSBSR) flagship BUP Baltic University Programme CBC Cross Border Cooperation CBSS The Council of the Baltic Sea States CEF Connecting Europe Facility CF Cohesion Fund CISE Common Information Sharing Environment DG Directorate-General EAFRD European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development EC European Commission ECTS European Credit Transfer System ECVET European Credit system for Vocational Education and Training EFTA European Free Trade Association EMFF European Maritime and Fisheries Fund ERASMUS+ EU Programme for Education, Training and Sport ERDF European Regional Development Fund ESF European Social Fund ESIF / ESI funds European Structural and Investment Funds ETC European Territorial Cooperation EU European Union EUSAIR European Union Strategy for the Adriatic-Ionian Region EUSALP European Union Strategy for the Alpine Region EUSBSR European Union Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region EUSDR European Union Strategy for the Danube Region EWTCA East West Transport Corridor Association HAC Horizontal Action Coordinator (EUSBSR) HELCOM Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission HLG High Level Group IALA Navigation in the IMO, International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities 8 STUDY ON MACROREGIONAL STRATEGIES AND THEIR LINKS WITH COHESION POLICY ICPDR International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River IHO International Hydrographic Organisation IMO International Maritime Organisation MA Managing Authority MRS Macro-regional strategy/-ies MS European Union Member States MSFD Marine Strategy Framework Directive NCs National Coordinators NCM Nordic Council of Ministers NDEP Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership NEFCO Nordic Environment Finance Corporation NGO Non-governmental organisation NUTS Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics OP Operational Programme OVI Objectively Verifiable Indicators PA Policy Area / Priority Area / Pillar / Action area PA Education Policy Area Education (EUSBSR) PA Innovation Policy Area Innovation (EUSBSR) PA Nutri Policy Area Nutrition (EUSBSR) PA Safe Policy Area Safety (EUSBSR) PA Transport Policy Area Transport (EUSBSR) PAC Policy / Priority Area Coordinator RDP Rural Development Programme S2W School to Work (PA Education (EUSBSR) flagship) SG Steering Group SME Small and medium-sized enterprises SWD Commission Staff Working Document TEN-T The Trans-European Transport Networks TO Thematic objective TNK Transnational Component TSG Thematic Steering Group VET Vocational Education and Training WFD Water Framework Directive STUDY ON MACROREGIONAL STRATEGIES AND THEIR LINKS WITH COHESION POLICY 9 1 Introduction to the Report Data and analysis The 'Study on macro-regional strategies and their links with cohesion policy' report for Task 1 consists of four task, which are summarised and concluded upon in the Final and Task 2 Report. The first two tasks (Task 1 and Task 2) have been reported on individually, and the present report contains the data and analysis for these two tasks for the European Union Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR). Structure of the This report begins with a brief section presenting the EUSAIR, followed by report › the first major part (section 2) of the report, which contains the data and analytical report for Task 1, i.e. a description and an analysis of the overall context of the Adriatic and Ionian macro-region; › thereafter, the second major part (section 3) contains the data and analytical report for Task 2, analysing the overall achievements of the EUSAIR and an evaluation of its contribution to strengthening the territorial cohesion objective of the EU. Task 2 is divided into the following four sub- tasks: › Task 2a: Review of the EUSAIR › Task 2b: Achievements of the EUSAIR › Task 2c: Comparison of objectives of the EUSAIR with achievements › Task 2d: EUSAIR and ESIF 1.1 The EUSAIR – Background The European Commission has in cooperation with the eight countries and stakeholders prepared the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR). The third macro-regional strategy builds on the experiences and learnings from the existing macro-regional strategies (EUSBSR and the EUSDR. 10 STUDY ON MACROREGIONAL STRATEGIES AND THEIR LINKS WITH COHESION POLICY The members of the strategies consist of four EU Member States and four (potential) candidate/pre-accession countries and the strategy intends to address the current differences in economic and administrative capacity of the region. The EUSAIR overall aim is to enhance the level of interconnection among the EU Member States and the non-EU countries, and at increased EU integration. This is attempted by addressing the common challenges and opportunities of the region through cooperation and coordination, thereby looking for potential synergies. The strategy has four transnational/transboundary areas: blue growth, transport and energy networks, environmental quality and sustainable tourism – with the objective of promoting "economic and social prosperity and growth in the region by improving its attractiveness, competitiveness and connectivity".1 Eight members of the Adriatic and Ionian Region are part of the EUSAIR as shown in the list below.