The interplay between austerity, domestic territorial reform and European Union Cohesion Policy: Multi-level Governance and the application of the partnership principle in Greece

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to assess the influences exerted by European Union Cohesion Policy to the patterns of governance of the sub-national actors in Greece and the role played by the latest wave of territorial reforms and the austerity measures that were introduced following the fiscal crisis of 2010 in these processes. It does that through the deployment of the theoretical frameworks of Multi-level Governance and the application of the principle of partnership. The principle of partnership has been an integral aspect of the regulatory framework governing the Cohesion Policy and has remained so after all the reforms of the Structural Funds. The aims of the partnership principle are mediated through domestic policy practices which, in the case of Greece, have been highly centralised. An assessment regarding the changes of governance towards greater sub-national involvement about the current programming period (2008–2013) indicates that there has hardly been any turn towards Multi-level Governance whilst the principle of partnership was only applied in a superficial way. These issues are pertinent in light of the ‘Kalikratis’ plan, which was introduced in 2010 in order to modernise the sub-national authorities, as well as the austerity measures that followed the fiscal crisis which has engulfed Greece since 2010. The interplay between the domestic territorial reforms introduced by ‘Kalikratis’, the austerity measures and the superficial patterns of internalisation of the principle of partnership has led to the rescaling of governance and to less spending, further undermining the already diminished capacities for participation by the sub-national authorities.