Implementing Cohesion Policy

Abstract

It is in the implementation phase that cohesion policy reveals its unique multi-level character. The decision-making steps examined in the previous chapters — the multi-annual agreements on the basic design of cohesion policy, including its priority objectives, programming procedures and implementation rules, and on the budgetary allocation for cohesion policy, including the distribution of funding among its various objectives and the indicative amounts for individual member states — take place predominantly at the EU level, involving proposals from the Commission and negotiations between the member states, with final intergovernmental agreements on both the MFF and the cohesion policy regulations requiring the approval of the European Parliament. The implementation phase, on the other hand, occurs at the EU, national and subnational levels and involves public actors from each: the Commission, national governments and subnational (regional and local) authorities. In accordance with the key operational principle of partnership, non-governmental and civil society actors are also supposed to be involved.