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A ‘Macro-regional’ Europe in the Making pp 189–213Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

The European Union Strategy for the Alpine Region

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Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics ((PSEUP))

Abstract

The emergence of macro-regional strategies on the European policy agenda is a curious development. On the one hand, the new instrument offers a promising approach to address several previous shortcomings in the implementation of the territorial cohesion objective, including the widespread shortage of meaningful policy integration and the apparent lack of coherence between numerous territorial policy initiatives. On the other hand, the EU has been cautious about actively promoting them and has emphasized that macro-regional strategies would entail no new regulations, no new institutions and no new financial resources. Despite this hesitation, several processes of macro-regionalization (see chapter 1 for a definition) have emerged since the Baltic and Danube strategies were adopted in 2009 and 2011, respectively. In December 2012, the European Council mandated the European Commission to proceed with its preparation of a macro-regional EU Strategy for the Adriatic-Ionian Region (EUSAIR), and in December 2013, it did so for an EU Strategy for the Alpine Region (EUSALP). A public consultation was conducted from mid-July to mid-October 2014. Its results were examined at a conference in Milan in December 2014, organized in the context of the Italian double presidency of the EU and the Alpine Convention. If and when the EUSALP is finalized as the fourth macro-regional strategy in mid-2015, a total of 19 EU members and 9 non-members will have joined in the macro-regional ‘turn’.

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Authors
  1. Jörg Balsiger
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Agder, Norway

    Stefan Gänzle

  2. Leibniz Institute for Regional Development and Structural Planning, Germany

    Kristine Kern

  3. University of Potsdam, Germany

    Kristine Kern

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© 2016 Jörg Balsiger

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Balsiger, J. (2016). The European Union Strategy for the Alpine Region. In: Gänzle, S., Kern, K. (eds) A ‘Macro-regional’ Europe in the Making. Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-50972-7_9

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