Discrepancies in European Union Funding across member nations and sectors as of 2019

Abstract

Abstract This paper aims to explore the discrepancies in attracting European Union funding across member states and across different sectors of activity. Specifically, it aims to discover if there is a set of rule or model that can be attributed to the structure of European Union funding across nations and sectors to discern if some sectors are much more lucrative from the point of attracting European Union funding than others. In addition, beyond the purely economic and business considerations, the article wants to investigate if some ideologies, regimes, or parties are more successful in general in attracting European Union funding by sharing membership between European international parties or other reasons such as funding majoritarian populist parties to sustain European Union membership. The topic is of recent international economics significance in the context of Brexit and the buildup of Eurosceptic sentiments across the European Union as well as the international polarization between blocks of political power in the global trade war. This topic has been addressed partially before, mostly by journalists but represents a niche novelty in academic studies of International Relations. The methodology used will be both through argumentation of historical and current evidence as well as empiric data collection.