The domestic effects of EU cohesion policy in Greece: islands of Europeanization in a sea of traditional practices

Abstract

This contribution considers whether European Union (EU) cohesion policy has contributed to the development of a more compound polity in Greece and, specifically, considers the extent to which there is a process of Europeanization characterized by emergent features of multi‐level governance. After providing a brief background on the nature of domestic governance and politics, it reviews the development of cohesion policy instruments in Greece and, then, discusses the scope and the nature of changes that have taken place in the last decade. The main finding is that, while the effects of EU cohesion policy on Type I multi‐level governance remain limited, its impact on Type II multi‐level governance is more pronounced. However, change is neither omnipresent nor linear. The overall picture is one of an emerging archipelago of ‘islands of Europeanization’ within a sea of traditional institutions and practices.