A North Sea Macro-region? Partnerships, Networking and Macro-regional Dimensions

Within the framework of Europe 2020 (CEC, 2010), there is a stress on the territorial coverage of the regional policies and complementary EU activities. There is increasing attention on the performance and effectiveness of such policies, the efficiency of governance structures and implementation arrangements, and the relationship between cohesion policy and other EU structural policies. Over the last few years, there has also been a growing recognition and support for the concept of ‘macro-regions’, which some have promoted as serving to meet these objectives.1 The Fifth Cohesion Report (CEC, 2010) broadly embraces this approach of defining geographies which extend beyond national borders and conventional ‘Territorial Cooperation’ collaborations, but within specifically defined quadrants of the continent. The future architecture of cohesion policy, therefore, is likely to see demand for similar strategies for parts of Europe as already apply for the Baltic Sea, the Danube and the Adriatic-Ionian area.