European Union Cohesion Policy Post 2014: More (Place-Based and Conditional) Growth – Less Redistribution and Cohesion

The paper argues that the European Union Cohesion Policy 2014–2020 is re-oriented, away from the traditional goal of promoting balanced socio-economic development, towards a regional growth-policy perspective that puts the issue of competitiveness as a prerequisite for regional convergence. Through the analysis of two sets of reforms of the new Cohesion Policy, namely the place-based approach and the conditionalities, thematic priorities and the performance reserve, we show that the new Cohesion Policy provides a novel policy context that is likely to exacerbate the already existing disparities in economic performance amongst the European Union territories and augment existing uneven spatial relations.