Naslov
New role for regional actors in supporting development in Croatia

Autori
Fröhlich, Zlatan ; Maleković, Sanja ; Puljiz, Jakša

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u zbornicima skupova, cjeloviti rad (in extenso), znanstveni

Izvornik
50th Anniversary European Congress of the Regional Science Association International, Sustainable Regional Growth and Development in the Creative Knowledge Economy / - Jönköping, 2010

Skup
European Congress of the Regional Science Association International

Mjesto i datum
Jönköping, Švedska, 19.08.2010. - 23.08.2010

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
development; regions; EU accession

Sažetak
Croatian regions are more closely witnessing and gradually beginning to participate in the new approach to managing regional development, to a great extent as the result of the accession process. The process of changes we are currently witnessing has two major and mutually connected sources. On the one hand, we can see changes in the policy approach which are exclusively driven by the obligations of the Croatian side with respect to the process of accession to EU.. i.e. the obligations from Chapter 22, which cover preparations for the EU structural instruments. On the other hand, there is an ongoing process of reshaping and modernization of the national regional policy, which includes significant changes also in those parts of the policy which are not strictly connected to the obligations from Chapter 22. While many regional actors in Croatia perceive preparations for participation in Cohesion policy only from the standpoint of the new funding possibilities, the actual value of the policy transformation is somehow not yet fully perceived. One of the key reasons for this is that most of the policy transformation involves exclusively central-level institutions. Also, the full introduction of the new policy instruments such as programming, monitoring and evaluation, the payment system and other into the daily policy practice requires many substantial changes in the organisation of the involved institutions and this is a slow ongoing process. Regional actors are feeling the new policy trends mostly through the participation in the Instrument for Pre-accession (IPA) and other available EU programmes, but also through the changes in the national regional policy which has become much more open and inclusive for actors on sub-national levels than before. The focus of our attention in this paper are some of the relevant trends and changes in supporting regional development at the EU level as well as the experience of new member states with the application of the new approach in regional policy. We reflect upon the new possibilities for regional actors to participate in or even formulate their own development policies. Also, we consider the latest changes in the Croatian regional policy and comment on how these changes will affect regional actors. We have also analysed some results of the recently carried out survey on the capacity of regional and local actors to participate in EU pre-accession programmes. In the last part of the papers we reflected upon some of the key findings and provided concluding remarks.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Ekonomija

POVEZANOST RADA