On 17 and 18 September, European Commissioner Paweł Samecki attended a ministerial conference in Stockholm, Sweden on the European Union’s strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. This strategy, which is a first at European level, is set to be adopted officially by the Member States at the end of October. The 27 ministers discussed the possibility of other macro-regions following the Baltic example. On this occasion, Commissioner Samecki presented a new discussion paper on this subject that contains proposals for definitions, fields of application and objectives for other macro-regional strategies.
It is explained in the document’s conclusion that a macro-regional strategy can provide a useful structure and approach for addressing the challenges and opportunities of a region. Could the concept of macro-regional strategies become a model for EU cooperation in other regions and also an important medium for programming and delivering EU funding? This question may well be a key issue in the broader debate on the future EU Cohesion Policy post-2013…
Laura Caldironi
