Using partnership to ameliorate regional policies? The case of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Abstract
The partnership principle in the European Union has often been examined in the context of the emergence of a multilevel
type of governance. Recently, a number of studies have focused on the implementation of the European Cohesion
Policy in the new member states. They have listed the numerous obstacles to its functioning effectively. However,
given the shortfalls, they were not in the position to question the entire range of effects of partnership when it does
indeed work. Complementary to this approach, this paper starts from the example of a best-practice, looking at the
concrete results of the use of partnership to ensure a place-based approach to regional policies. It uses the example
of the East-German Land of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a NUTS II region that benefits from structural funding under
the convergence objective. After a brief description of how the partnership principle works on the ground, it examines
the conditions of its success. It then analyses its contribution to “good governance”. Lastly, it examines whether this
form of partnership rises to the challenge of implementing a place-based approach as defined in the Barca Report. It
argues that it neither offers all individuals a chance to become informed and contribute their knowledge or express
their preferences about the delivery of projects, which involve the very technical issues of regional development and
the disbursement of the structural funds. Nor does it allow control and pressure on policy makers by the citizen. The
findings show that, as a consequence, the kind of policies promoted fail to fulfil both the objectives of efficiency and
equity.