UNIVERSITA’ DEGLI STUDI DI PADOVA DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE STORICHE, GEOGRAFICHE E DELL’ANTICHITÀ CORSO DI LAUREA MAGISTRALE IN LOCAL DEVELOPMENT - SVILUPPO LOCALE Master Thesis: MULTILEVEL GOVERNANCE AND TERRITORIAL COOPERATION. OPPORTUNITIES FOR LOCAL AUTHORITIES IN EUROREGION BALTIC Supervisor: Prof. EKATERINA DOMORENOK Candidate: VALENTINA SCANDOLA Registr. number:1131972 Academic Year 2016/2017 ii Ai miei genitori iii iv Sommario INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................................................... 1 -CHAPTER 1- ........................................................................................................................................................................... 4 THE PROCESS OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION AND THE CONCEPT OF MULTILEVEL- GOVERNANCE .......................................... 4 1.1- THE EVOLUTION OF THE EU COHESION POLICY: PRINCIPLES AND INSTRUMENTS ....................................................................... 4 1.2. MULTILEVEL GOVERNANCE AND THE PROCESS OF EUROPEANIZATION ............................................................................. 9 1.3. OPERATIONAL PRINCIPLES OF MLG .................................................................................................................................. 15 1.3.1- Programming ............................................................................................................................................................ 15 1.3.2- Partnership and MLG ................................................................................................................................................ 17 1.3.3 Networks .................................................................................................................................................................... 19 1.3.4- Operationalizing MLG: programmes of territorial cooperation (INTERREG) ............................................................ 21 1.4- RESEARCH DESIGN ............................................................................................................................................................ 24 -CHAPTER 2- ......................................................................................................................................................................... 28 THE PROCESSES OF COOPERATION IN THE BALTIC SEA REGION ........................................................................................... 28 HISTORIC EVOLUTION- AN OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................................. 28 2.1- HISTORY OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL COOPERATION AND INTEGRATION IN THE BALTIC SEA: TOWARDS TRANSNATIONAL NETWORKS .............................................................................................................................................................................. 28 2.2- CROSS-BORDER AND TRANSNATIONAL COOPERATION IN THE BALTIC SEA ..................................................................... 32 2.2.1- A historical framing- the launch of INTERREG in the Baltic Sea (2000-2006) ........................................................... 32 2.2.2- INTERREG Strand A- Cross-border cooperation ........................................................................................................ 33 2.2.3- INTERREG Strand B- Transnational cooperation ...................................................................................................... 34 2.3- BUILDING THE BALTIC SEA MACRO-REGIONAL STRATEGY ................................................................................................ 36 2.3.1- EU- strategy for macro-regional cooperation........................................................................................................... 36 2.3.2- EUSBSR- European Union Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region ................................................................................... 40 2.3.3- Building MLG in the EUSBSR ..................................................................................................................................... 41 2.3.4- INTERREG programs and the development of a MLG architecture: Remarks .......................................................... 43 -CHAPTER 3- ......................................................................................................................................................................... 47 EUROREGION BALTIC: OVERLAPPING GOVERNANCE ARCHITECTURES ................................................................................. 47 3.1- INSTITUTIONAL AND GOVERNANCE SETTINGS ................................................................................................................. 47 3.2- PROGRAMMING: JOINT DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION STRATEGY ................................................................................. 54 3.2.1- ERB programming..................................................................................................................................................... 54 3.2.2-EU programming: INTERREG South Baltic Program and its specific profile .............................................................. 57 3.3- PARTNERSHIPS AND NETWORKS IN ERB AND IN THE INTERREG SOUTH BALTIC PROGRAM ............................................. 67 3.3.1- ERB and the cooperation with the Russian partner- Kaliningrad region .................................................................. 67 3.3.2- Partnership in INTERREG South Baltic (2007-2013/ 2014-2020) .............................................................................. 68 3.4- MLG ASSESSMENT IN THE SOUTH BALTIC CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION NETWORK ..................................................... 70 -CHAPTER 4- ......................................................................................................................................................................... 72 CASE STUDIES: PROJECTS AND EMPOWERMENT ................................................................................................................. 72 4.1- INTRODUCTION AND FRAMEWORK OF ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................ 72 4.2- CASE STUDY 1: MOMENT & MOMENT UP PROJECT .......................................................................................................... 72 4.2.1- Background ............................................................................................................................................................... 73 4.2.2-Objectives and outputs of MOMENT and MOMENT UP ............................................................................................ 75 4.2.3-Governance Assessment ............................................................................................................................................ 76 4.3- CASE STUDY 2: INTERCONNECT ...................................................................................................................................... 100 4.3.1- Background ............................................................................................................................................................. 101 4.3.2- Objectives of INTERCONNECT ................................................................................................................................. 102 4.3.3- Governance Assessment ......................................................................................................................................... 103 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................................................................... 111 v vi INTRODUCTION Since the end of the 1980s, territorial cooperation and cohesion policies have been included in the list of political priorities of European integration thereby opening new opportunities for cooperation not only between states, but also between regional and local authorities. These processes clearly emerged at macro-regional scale and concerned territories characterized by common historical and cultural heritage, which nowadays try to find shared solutions to common challenges. The so-called “Baltic Sea Region”, which is the subject of this research, is a par excellence example of such a development. Eight different countries border the Baltic Sea (Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany and Denmark) with 85 million inhabitants (17% of the EU’s total population). These countries share the Baltic Sea resources and, as a consequence, they are all concerned with safeguarding water and biodiversity by developing joint efforts for sustainable development. Obviously, we can note at a glance that the extension of the whole area is huge and its size may be expected to be a challenge for formulation and implementation of vast scale policy measures. Instead, the Baltic Sea Region is known for its particularly active cross-border and transnational cooperation, the scope of which relies on a strong trend towards homogenization of the area and to its growing perception as a single entity. Several generations of the European territorial cooperation programmes (INTERREG) have been among the main triggers of these processes, with the objective of coordinating political and financial actions of all countries of the