Structural Change and Globalisation. External factors, and in particular globalisation, are often the main driving factors of structural changes at all levels, reinforcing or dampening the effects of EU cohesion policy.
Overall, a differentiated impact of globalisation can cause important imbalances in the development of different regions across the Union and within single Member States, jeopardizing the objectives of the European cohesion policy.
This study is one of the 11 Work packages that contribute to the ex post evaluation of the impact of the Structural Funds in Objective 1 and Objective 2 regions on economic and social cohesion. These Work packages are expected to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of ERDF interventions, identifying the Community added value as well as lessons for the future.
It is the objective of this study to assess whether ERDF interventions in the framework of Objective 2 programmes contributed to support regional structural change and to enable adaptation to globalisation over the 2000 – 2006 period. The work to be carried out is an evaluation study based on an in depth analysis of 12 regional case studies.