Research Papers

Since the late 1990s, the European Union quot; driven by the Committee of Regions and the European Parliament quot; has pushed for a Territorial Agenda for its regional and structural policies. Following a Green Book on Territorial Cohesion, the agenda was eventually introduced in 2008. Subsequently, the principle of territorial cohesion was embraced by the Treaty of Lisbon building on the goals of social and economical cohesion called upon by the Treaty of Maastricht. Although no clear-cut definition of territorial cohesion has been provided, it is possible to identify three components, which are a territorial, a functional and a governance component. Towards this background, the European Union's Macro-regional Strategies for Baltic Sea and Danube Region, launched in 2009 and 2011 respectively, need to be conceived of as the very first attempts of the EU to instil new life into territorial cohesion. The question on the governance component, in particular, has attracted scholarly interest thus far. Macro-regional strategies are focusing on a function-driven governance model which is expected to enhance more trans-regional cooperation. It is argued that new patterns of organization will evolve over time. Consequently, the macro-regions will be able to strengthen their say in policy making processes on both the national and European levels. This paper will analyze the way the governance structure of the Danube Strategy and examine the question whether this new model of cooperation effectively lead to territorial cohesion.