Local (Co-)Operation
EU-Projects in Russia’s Northwest
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Russia is not an addressee of the EU Neighbourhood Policy. But it can make use of funding from the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument. Brussels has been supporting transborder cooperation in Russia’s northwest since 1991. The TACIS-CBS-Programme alone has promoted 400 projects in local economic development and in the fields of energy and environment. The concepts of regional policy ideas are increasingly parting ways. While the European Union is betting on decentralisation, Moscow is aiming for control and recentralisation. Towns and communities have little room for manoeuvre for their own projects. Legal and technical cir-cumstances make co-operation difficult. Despite this, Russia’s regions have developed from passive recipients of subsidies to competent and responsible partners.
(Osteuropa 2-3/2007, pp. 217–228)