Europeanisation of Polish Regional Policy Actors

1. Europeanisation of Polish Regional Policy Actors EU Cohesion Policy: Research Opportunities and Policy Challenges EPRC Workshop – University of Strathclyde, 5th of December 2008 The Impact of the European Union’s Structural Funds Marcin Dabrowski Centre for Contemporary European Studies University of the West of Scotland marcin.dabrowski@uws.ac.uk

2. 1. The widespread impact of the EU structural funds in Poland: changes within policy, polity and politics 1.1. Policy impact • Unprecedented funding for regional development projects • Broadening of the scope of regional and local authorities intervention • Programming : Introduction of multi-annual strategic planning of development at all levels (central, regional, local) instead of ad hoc yearly plans • Partnership : Participation of local authorities and non-state actors in designing and implementing of the regional policy 1.2. Impact on the polity: towards multi-level governance? • Restructuring of exchanges between actors of governance, promoting interaction and involvement in policy-making • Increasing regional authorities' autonomy and standing in the state's institutional hierarchy by providing them with new competences and financial means to fulfil their statutory role of the main architects of regional policy • Bypassing the central government : establishment of direct links between regional authorities and Brussels, e.g. as part of negotiations on Regional Operating Programmes (ROPs) 2007-2013

3. 1. The widespread impact of the EU structural funds in Poland: changes within policy, polity and politics 1.3. Impact on administrative mindsets: towards more effective administration? • Particular openness to European influence due to negative perception of the communist legacy and the normative attractiveness of the EU • Departure from “dusty” bureaucratic postures and emphasis on effectiveness (pressure to spend the SF) and flexibility • Change of attitudes towards work: commitment, increased efforts and motivation • Officials “finally feel like being part of Europe” and “equal to Western counterparts”, SF departments within regional authorities perceived as vanguard 1.4. Impact on politics: the effectiveness in acquiring SF as a criterion for assessing performance of local leaders • Local leaders are under increasing pressure from communes’ inhabitants to acquire as much European funding as possible • Inability to acquire SF for development projects is stigmatised by local media and commune’s inhabitants – smaller chances for re-election (and vice versa)

4. 2. Factors mediating the positive impact of the SF 2.1. High turnover of staff of institutions involved in SF implementation hindering their effectiveness Constant shortages of experienced and trained employees due to: • Spoil system - changes at key managerial posts following national and regional elections • Relatively low salaries in the public administration and lack of incentives for increased performance – exodus towards the private sector 2.2. Politicisation and clientelism rooted in politico-administrative traditions • Instrumental use of SF-related competences by regional authorities for political purposes • Lower Silesia: political struggle between the Voivod Office (governmental admin. in regions) and the Marshal Office (regional authority) led to delay of payment of EU grants by almost a year – as a result region was lagging behind in absorption of the SF • Lubelskie: regional authorities favouring projects submitted by political allies, despite their limited relevance and criticism from the Regional Steering Committee – SF used to satisfy regional political clientele

5. 2. Factors mediating the positive impact of the SF 2.3. Depth of impact of the structural funds: ambiguous findings • Adjustment is initially behavioural, driven by necessity or prospective rewards for compliance with SF-rules • “Formal" compliance with the partnership principle in implementation of the SF (e.g. awkward functioning of the Regional Steering Committees) and reluctance to partnershipsas part of EU-funded projects:carrying out projects in partnership means more bureaucratic hassle and “less money for me” • Yet, ultimately, many actors involved in implementation of the SF tend to perceive the EU-imposed rules, such as multi-annual programming, partnership or monitoring, as appropriate and beneficial, public consultations of regional planning documents perceived as “normal” practice • Changing attitudes: growing (pragmatic) interest in partnerships as they allow sharing of costs of the project which otherwise would not be affordable for one commune • Normative attractiveness of EU rules: what comes from Brussels, must be good

6. Conclusions • Wide impact of the SF, which affected not only regional policy as such, but also, institutional structures, organisational practices, administrative mindsets and also sub-national politics • Driver for Europeanisation of regional policy-making and modernisation of administrations • The impact of the SF is mediated by a set of factors linked with embedded politico-administrative traditions: high turnover of administrations’ and politicisation • Evidence of internalisation of EU norms and practices driven by perceived material benefits of their adoption, their horizontal diffusion thanks to increased interaction between sub-national actors and also their normative attractiveness • Influence of SF remains uneven as not all of local authorities participate to the same extent in SF programmes : poorer peripheral communes barely have any contact with the SF, are much less exposed to the diffusion of SF-related practices and norms and find themselves marginalised, which can lead to deepening of the intraregional disparities

7. Thank you Marcin Dabrowski Centre for Contemporary European Studies University of the West of Scotland marcin.dabrowski@uws.ac.uk