The EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) and its Action Plan were adopted by the EU Member States around the Baltic Sea in 2009. As the implementation of the EUSBSR breaks new ground, there is a need for deeper understanding and knowledge but also for supportive service for those involved in the work. Multi-level governance has been identified as one of five Horizontal Actions within the strategy.
Region Västerbotten, The Regional Council in Kalmar County and the Norden Association (Föreningen Norden) have been appointed by the EU Commission as Horizontal Action Leaders (HAL) for the HA on Multi-level governance (HA Involve). Specific supportive activities for the various stakeholders in the BSR will be brought up by this HA. One aspect of this work is to develop modalities for collaborative research, with the hope to meet stakeholders in the strategy with relevant and useful research results as well as to support research into new topics and important issues.
The more specific aim of this project is more specifically to (1) map the division of responsibilities between different administrative levels and other actors in the Baltic Sea States and within the priority areas of the EUSBSR, (2) organize two seminars on multi-level governance in the EUSBSR by gathering both researchers and policy-makers and (3) develop methods for multi-level governance based on the experiences from ongoing and terminated projects focusing on multi-level governance.
The role of Nordregio in the project is to provide a theoretical and analytical approach to the concept of Multi-level governance within the project and contribute thematically to the seminars.