Revista Română de Statistică (Dec 2015)
Cluster Analysis on Cohesion Policy Towards Europe 2020 Strategy for Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth
Abstract
In the framework of Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, economic, social and territorial cohesion plays an important role in (re)shaping Europe and recover from the financial crisis. In this context, and taking into account recent growth related theories, in this paper we intend to identify disparities among different European regions and countries. Thus, we analyse for the year 2010 the extent to which regional development of EU-27 member states measured through the cohesion policies indicators is similar to the development of EU-27 member states, as defined by the Europe 2020 strategy, in order to identify regional and inter-country disparities. The results show a disparate Europe, both within countries and among member states, highlighting the need of long-term reforms, such as the reformed Cohesion Policy for the programming period 2014-2020, with focus on growth and jobs, to be reflected at national level and in line with the vision and strategy of the European Union.
