Assessing Project Appraisal of EU Cohesion Policy

Assessing Project Appraisal of EU Cohesion PolicyIn this stance, this paper presents the main goals, proposed case studies, and methodological approach of an ongoing MeRSA Grant 2023 entitled ‘Effective Project Appraisal and Regional Development’. The project proposes to start analysing the project selection criteria and involved entities of ECP 2021-27 Portuguese urban territorial strategies as a pilot case to be applied to the reaming cases (Spain, Ireland, Germany, Hungary, Czechia, Finland, and Denmark). We know this is a complex project to implement, as there are no guarantees that adequate interviewees will accept to answer the sent questionnaire, even though only two main questions support it. Hence, there is a possibility that some case studies must be cancelled/changed. Whatever the case, we expect to provide helpful information to the academic and policymaking worlds that can help improve ECP effectiveness and efficiency.