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EAST EUROPE: EU Macro-Regional Strategy in the Adriatic and Ionian Region: A Territorial Perspective on the EU Enlargement Policy

Raffaella Coletti & Luisa Chiodi Published online: 17 Jul 2024

Courtesy of Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso [Website: https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/]

di Emanuele G. - giovedì 12 settembre 2024 - 404 letture

ABSTRACT

Policies of territorial cooperation, including macro-regional strategies, have been a crucial component in the making of the EU space, and constitute an element of the approach adopted by the Union towards its neighbouring countries. Based on the results of in-depth interviews with 37 stakeholders from different countries and EU institutions, the article explores the potentialities and limits of the European Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR) to contribute to the EU enlargement towards the Western Balkan countries. Despite the limits that still hinder the full potential of the strategy, we argue that a de-centred perspective may contribute to overcoming the stalemate of the enlargement process, as long as the potentiality of a territorial approach is fully recognized and boosted.

Acknowledgments

This work is based on the interviews conducted for the study “Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR) facilitating the enlargement process of Western Balkans”, carried out by OBCT and CeSPI and coordinated by Luisa Chiodi, with the collaboration of Raffaella Coletti. We acknowledge the financial contribution of the DG REGIO and we thank Giuseppe Di Paola and Gilles Kittel (European Commission) and all the members of the research team (Caterina Ghobert, Gentiola Madhi, Francesca Rita, Alfredo Sasso, Andrea Stocchiero). We wish to dedicate the paper to the loving memory of our friend and colleague Alessandro Rotta, who devoted his professional life to the Balkans and the Caucasus and passed away too soon while we were revising this article. Notes

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[7] See for example M. Kaeding, M. Milenković, ‘Candidate Countries’ Engagement with European Union Agencies—Alternative Modes of EU Integration?’ Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 25(6), 2023, pp. 1002–1019; T. Sekulić, The European Union and the Paradox of Enlargement: The Complex Accession of the Western Balkans, Palgrave MacMillan, 2020.

[8] C. Flint, Introduction to Geopolitics − 3rd edition, Routledge, 2016.

[9] Montenegro and Serbia are official candidates with open accession negotiations and chapters. The Republic of North Macedonia and Albania obtained in June 2022 the opening of the accession negotiations after a long wait. Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina are potential candidate countries, with the latter that presented a formal request for becoming a candidate country in 2016.

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[15] S. Renner and F. Trauner, ‘Creeping EU membership in South-East Europe: the Dynamics of EU rule transfer to the Western Balkans’, Journal of European Integration, 31(4), 2009, pp. 449–465; N. Shenkkan, ‘Nations in Transit 2016: Europe and Eurasia brace for impact’, Freedom House, 2016, https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/2020–02/FH_NIT2016_Final_FWeb.pdf (accessed 20 Sept. 2023); R. Coletti (ed), La questione orientale. I Balcani tra integrazione e sicurezza, Donzelli Roma, 2018; V. Džihić, ‘Old wine in new bottles? Re-awakening of nationalism in Southeastern Europe’, Clingendael Spectator, 4(71),2017, https://spectator.clingendael.org/pub/2017/4/re-awakening-of-nationalism/ (accessed 20 Sept. 2023).

[16] E. Poli, ‘Il ruolo britannico nel Processo di Berlino ai tempi della Brexit’ in R. Coletti (ed), La questione orientale. I Balcani tra integrazione e sicurezza, Donzelli Roma, 2018, pp. 81–91

[17] L. Chiodi, S. Epis and A. Ferro. L’allargamento europeo ai Balcani occidentali: il ruolo della società civile per rilanciare la prospettiva europea della regione, CeSPI/OBCT, 2021, https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/Occasional-papers/L-allargamento-europeo-ai-Balcani-occidentali-il-ruolo-della-societa-civile-per-rilanciare-la-prospettiva-europea-della-regione (accessed 20 Sept. 2023).

[18] J. W. Scott, ‘Reflections on EU Geopolitics: Consolidation, Neighbourhood and Civil Society in the Reordering of European Space’, Geopolitics, 16(1), 2011, pp. 146–175

[19] A. Solly and E. Berisha, ‘Towards the Territorialisation of EU Cohesion Policy? The case of EUSAIR. in E. Berisha, G. Cotella, A. Solly (eds), Governing Territorial Development in the Western Balkans, Cham (Switzerland): Springer International Publisher, 2021, pp. 333–356.

[20] R. Coletti and D. D’Urso (eds), Al di là dell’Adriatico: l’Italia nei Balcani occidentali, Donzelli Roma, 2020.

[21] More specifically, the AII Round Tables were transformed in tools at disposal of the EUSAIR governance through a direct involvement of stakeholders. More information are available on the AII website: www.aii-ps.org (accessed 30, march 2024).

[22] See the Sarajevo Declaration of 24 May 2023, available at: https://www.adriatic-ionian.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/SARAJEVO-DECLARATION_FINAL.pdf (accessed 11, April 2024).

[23] Regulation (EU) 2021/1059 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2021 on specific provisions for the European territorial cooperation goal (Interreg) supported by the European Regional Development Fund and external financing instruments. 2021. Art 15.4.

[24] European Commission. Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/74 of 17 January 2022 setting out the list of Interreg programmes and indicating the global amount of the total support from the European Regional Development Fund and from each external financing instrument of the Union for each programme and the list of the amounts transferred between strands under the European territorial cooperation goal for the period 2021 to 2027, 2022.

[25] European Commission. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions concerning the European Union Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, COM (2014) 357 Final. 2014.

[26] See on this regard the Reports from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the implementation of EU macro-regional strategies from 2020 to 2023.

[27] B. Cugusi and A. Stocchiero, op. cit.; OBCT and CeSPI. 2015, La Strategia dell’Unione Europea per la Regione Adriatico Ionica, Report

[28] A. Caligiuri (ed) ‘Governance of the Adriatic and Ionian Marine Space’. Cahiers de l’Association Internationale Du Droit de La Mer 4. Napoli: Editoriale scientifica, 2016.

[29] D. G. Bianchi, ‘How to study EU macro-regional strategies? Interdisciplinary approaches for a research agenda’, Italian Regional Studies Association—XXXIX Annual Conference, 2018; R. Belloni, op. cit.

[30] G. Abels, ‘Macro-Regional Strategies and Regional Parliamentary Involvement’. In Making the Most of Macroregions. Trends, Analysis and Recommendations. INTERACT, 2018; M. V. Michalun and A. Nicita. ‘Multi-Level Governance and CrossSector Practices Supporting the European Union Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region’, OECD Regional Development Working Papers, 2019, https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/urban-rural-and-regional-development/multi-level-governance-and-cross-sector-practices-supporting-the-european-union-strategy-for-the-adriatic-and-ionian-region_5f7dc4c8-en (accessed 20 Sept. 2023).

[31] J. N. Ferrer, M. Catuti, C. Stroia and J. Bryhn. ‘Comparative Study on the Governance Structure and Energy Policies in EU macroregional Strategies’, CEPS, 2019 https://www.ceps.eu/ceps-publications/comparative-study-on-the-governance-structure-and-energy-policies-in-eu-macro-regional-strategies/; Cugusi B. and A. Stocchiero, op. cit.

[32] R. Belloni, op. cit.

[33] Solly and E. Berisha, op. cit.

[34] B. Cugusi and A. Stocchiero, op. cit.

[35] A. Ágh, op. cit.

[36] European Parliament. European Parliament resolution of 16 January 2018 on the implementation of EU macro-regional strategies (2017/2040(INI)), 2018

[37] Council of the European Union. Council conclusions on the implementation of EU macro-regional strategies, n. 13424/20, 2020

[38] Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2021 laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund Plus, the Cohesion Fund, the Just Transition Fund and the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund and financial rules for those and for the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, the Internal Security Fund and the Instrument for Financial Support for Border Management and Visa Policy, 2021

[39] C. Flint, op. cit.

[40] See https://www.adrioninterreg.eu/index.php/adrion-thematic-clusters-2/ (accessed 20 Sept. 2023).

[41] D. Gavinelli, M. Bolocan Goldstein (eds), Regioni e regionalizzazione. Lo spazio-mondo in divenire, Milano-Torino: Pearson, 2022.

[42] D. Bechev D., 2012, op. cit.

[43] S. Moisio. ‘Redrawing the map of Europe: spatial formation of the EU’s Eastern Dimension’, Geography Compass, 1(1), 2007, pp. 82–102; J. Zielonka. Europe as empire: The nature of the enlarged European Union, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.

[44] OECD. Delineating Functional Areas in All Territories, OECD Territorial Reviews, OECD Publishing, Paris, 2020. https://www.oecd.org/publications/delineating-functional-areas-in-all-territories-07970966-en.htm (accessed 20 Sept. 2023).

[45] M. Prezioso, ‘Cooperazione e coesione territoriale in Europa e in Italia: Rischi e opportunità dall’esperienza delle macro-regioni’. In F. Ferlaino, D. Iacobucci, C. Tesauro, Quali confini? Territori tra identità e integrazione internazionale, Milano: Franco Angeli, 2017, pp. 57–76.

[46] F. Celata and R. Coletti. 2016. ‘Beyond Fortress Europe. Unbounding European Normative Power and the Neighbourhood Policy’, Geography Compass, 10(1): 15–24.

[47] For the most recent see Belloni, op.cit.

[48] See A. Ágh, op. cit.

[49] F. Sielker. ‘A stakeholder-based EU territorial cooperation: the example of European macro-regions’, European Planning Studies, 24(11), 2016, pp. 1995–2013

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