Fund Allocation Dilemmas in the Light of the Specific Situation of Capital Regions

Abstract

The objectives and instruments of the European Union’s cohesion policy can be criticised in many ways, both in terms of the regularity of funding and the effectiveness of the policy. But the mechanisms that became formalised in the 1980s have changed several times over the past decades. In the 1990s and 2000s, this was mainly due to the geographical, economic and social changes caused by the transformation of the world order and the enlargements of the EU. After 2010 the growing global challenges have also forced the decision-makers to act. However, one thing has remained constant since the institutionalisation of cohesion policy, and it is the role of regional structures in fund allocation, which can be characterised by a high level of heterogeneity. Therefore, in this study we seek to answer whether it is justified to review the allocation method based on the NUTS system. We mainly focus on the situation of the capital regions, including Central Hungary, which existed until 2020.