PUEB Professor Ida Musiałkowska was one of the organisers of the session "How to reconcile Growth and Convergence. Exploring the neglected dilemma of Cohesion Policy", that was held at the European Week of Regions and Cities on October 9 2024 in Brussels.
It was a great achievement of PUEB who was coordinator of the session partnered by the European Commission Joint Research Centre in Seville (REMO Team), Politecnico di Milano, European Association for Innovation in Local Development - AEIDL, and Regional Studies Association (Research Network on Cohesion Policy #CPnet) and supported by the RSA Europe.
We asked the following questions: Can cohesion policy promote overall growth while also delivering regional convergence? Can the objectives co-exist under the policy remit without tensions? Where should the balance lie between the two? The workshop aimed to host a discussion among scholars and experts about equity-efficiency trade-offs faced by cohesion policy and avenues to address them. The topic will be addressed from both a theoretical and empirical perspective, by presenting work from academia, RSA #CPnet, the JRC REMO team.

During the session three speakers, and a moderator: Anabela Santos from the European Commission JRC REMO Team, Ugo Fratesi from Politecnico di Milano, Ida Musiałkowska from Poznań University of Economics and Business, and Serafin Pazos Vidal representing AEIDL (all representing Regional Studies Association CPnet) had a chance to exchange views and discuss the dilemma of growth and convergence in Cohesion Policy. Trade-offs between these two persist and we were looking at the evidence in relation to where and at which level convergence has been achieved, and which trade-offs scenario might happen, which regions are better equipped to face current and future challenges of sustainable development, twin transition, research and innovation development. We pointed out the change that is needed should not lead to growing divide between cohesion and convergence. The experts were providing also potential solutions to existing problems e.g. in cross-border co-operation, functional urban areas, inter and intraregional disparities. Also lessons learnt from the implementation of smart specialization as well as Just Transition Fund were pointed out as a reference point. We also discussed new instruments such RRF and its interplay with cohesion policy investment including potential changes of policy implementation in the future.
Many questions were asked by the audience representing both academia and practice.

More on: https://regions-and-cities.europa.eu/programme/2024/sessions/35694
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7249722247538442240/
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ida-musialkowska-5018152_euregionsweek-cpnet-activity-7249899521357336576-73-N?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop