The EU's Regional Policy as an Identity building instrument

The European Union's Structural Funds and their role in developing a «European Identity» are the main themes of the present paper. It gives a brief historical overview of the EU Regional Policy and goes on to analyse two case studies: The Shetland Islands in Scotland and the island of Karpathos in Greece. Research was conducted on both islands on the basis of an identical questionnaire. In the end, a direct link between EU Structural Funds and the creation of a European Identity was not established. Nonetheless, other interesting conclusions are drawn.

Autorentext

Athanasios Kafkalidis, MSc,MA: Studied Political Science at Brussels Free University (ULB), Comparative Public Policy at the University of Edinburgh as well as European and International Studies at the University of Athens. He undertook various internships in Greek and other European institutions. He is fluent in Greek, French, English and Spanish.

Klappentext

The European Union's Structural Funds and their role in developing a «European Identity» are the main themes of the present paper. It gives a brief historical overview of the EU Regional Policy and goes on to analyse two case studies: The Shetland Islands in Scotland and the island of Karpathos in Greece. Research was conducted on both islands on the basis of an identical questionnaire. In the end, a direct link between EU Structural Funds and the creation of a European Identity was not established. Nonetheless, other interesting conclusions are drawn.