New Publication: Endogenous Cohesion Policy
Petrakos, G., Sotiriou, A. & Alexiou, S. (2025) Endogenous Cohesion Policy. Regional Science Policy & Practice, 100255.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rspp.2025.100255
We are pleased to announce the publication of a new paper based on the research conducted within the DISINREG project. This paper examines the allocation of CP funding across EU regions, assessing whether it is endogenously determined, prioritizing and addressing the underlying socio-economic and structural gaps or is shaped by other drivers. The results reveal a complex and sometimes contradictory pattern: although CP shows partial responsiveness to regional needs, it remains insufficiently targeted to structural deficiencies such as infrastructure and investment gaps in weaker regions, while the concentration of decision-making power at the top ranks of EC administration, as well as political considerations related to the European Parliament representation, affect the allocation of resources.
You can access the publication:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S175778022500085X
The Final Conference of the project was held online on June 30th, 2025.
The program included an overview of the project, five dedicated sessions presenting the results of each Work Package, and a concluding roundtable discussion on how the project’s findings can be utilized in the formulation of public policies.
Οι πρόσφατες δημοσιεύσεις του έργου
Petrakos, G., Sotiriou, A., & Alexiou, S. (2025). The geography of integration and regional growth in the EU. Regional Studies, 59(1).
https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2025.2534687
Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00343404.2025.2534687
Sotiriou, A., Petrakos, G., and Alexiou, S. (2025). “The Drivers of Regional Discontent in the EU.” Global Challenges and Regional Science, vol. 1, 2025, p. 100002.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gcrs.2024.100002
Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S3050502X24000020
Participation in the 64th ERSA Congress “Regional Science in Turbulent Times. In search of a resilient, sustainable and inclusive future” 26 – 29 August 2025│ Athens, Greece
Τα αποτελέσματα του έργου παρουσιάστηκαν στο 64ο ERSA Congress.
Participation in the 64th ERSA Congress “Regional Science in Turbulent Times. In search of a resilient, sustainable and inclusive future” 26 – 29 August 2025│ Athens, Greece
New Publication: The geography of integration and regional growth in the EU
Petrakos, G., Sotiriou, A., & Alexiou, S. (2025). The geography of integration and regional growth in the EU. Regional Studies, 59(1).
https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2025.2534687
We are pleased to announce the publication of a new paper based on the research conducted within the DISINREG project. The paper investigates the unevenness in European Union (EU) trade integration patterns and the resulting growth asymmetries at the regional level. With the use of panel econometric models at the NUTS-II level based on a novel trade dataset, the analysis estimates the impact of trade integration on regional growth and the heterogeneous effects of different types of trade partners on peripheral regions.
The results suggest that the impact of integration is asymmetric for peripheral regions trading with core EU trade partners, revealing that different development levels are associated with different types of integration and unequal growth returns.
You can access the publication:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00343404.2025.2534687
Report of Work Package 1: The impact of integration on regional growth and cohesion
The report is nested within the debate of the distributional dynamics of the EU integration process and aims to enrich our understanding of the EU integration process in producing growth and closing divergence gaps and to highlight the conditions under which the trade-growth effect may prevail and most importantly in which cases trade in fact impedes growth. The analysis is extended to empirically investigate the critical role played by geography in explaining the unevenness in trade integration patterns and the resulting growth asymmetries at the regional (NUTS2) level, as well as the extent to which the characteristics of the trade partners matter for spatially balanced growth and how the type of trade integration (combinations of core with non-core or peripheral EU countries) affects the nature and direction of the growth effect.
These results reveal the diverse footprint of different types of integration and the importance of the mix of trade partners. On the one hand, inter-industry trade, which dominates North-South and West-East trade relations, contributes to the formaon of fixed capital and is the main avenue for technology transfer, but at the same time it is associated with competitive pressures and contraction in the non-traditional sectors of the weaker regions, that are necessary for long-term development. On the other hand, intra-industry trade, which dominates relations of countries and regions with similar levels of development and similar tastes, provides opportunities for expansion without significantly affecting their structural characteristics. The challenge arising for the lagging regions is that they are engaged in a dominant type of integration that is at the same time both necessary, as it contributes to ‘technological learning’ and capital formation, and destructive, as it pressures the exposed and less competitive capital-intensive sectors.
The findings show that the single market and the single currency, the basic pillars of the European model, do not lead to an inclusive economy, neither to reasonably satisfied constituencies. On the contrary, unbalanced patterns of (unfinished) integration, divergence from the advanced core, worrying levels of discontent, as well as chronic gaps in human, physical and financial capital shape a geography of opportunities and challenges that seems to be highly unfavorable for peripheral regions.
DISINREG – Final Conference
Το Εργαστήριο Αναπτυξιακής Πολιτικής του ΤΜΧΠΠΑ του Πανεπιστημίου Θεσσαλίας σας προσκαλεί στη διαδικτυακή ημερίδα για την παρουσίαση των αποτελεσμάτων του ερευνητικού έργου:
“Regional inequalities, political discontent and the anatomy of integration and disintegration in Europe – DISINREG”
το οποίο υποστηρίχτηκε από το Ελληνικό Ίδρυμα Έρευνας και Καινοτομίας (ΕΛ.ΙΔ.Ε.Κ.) στο πλαίσιο της Δράσης «2η Προκήρυξη ερευνητικών έργων ΕΛ.ΙΔ.Ε.Κ. για την ενίσχυση των μελών ΔΕΠ και Ερευνητών/τριών» (Αριθμός Έργου: 03861).
Η ημερίδα θα πραγματοποιηθεί την Δευτέρα, 30 Ιουνίου 2025 και ώρα 12:00 μέσω της διαδικτυακής πλατφόρμας MS-Teams.
Επιστημονικός Υπεύθυνος του έργου: Καθηγητής Γιώργος Πετράκος
Στην εκδήλωση θα παρουσιαστούν τα κύρια ευρήματα του ερευνητικού έργου και θα ακολουθήσει συζήτηση.
Η συμμετοχή είναι ελεύθερη.
Για να παρακολουθήσετε την ημερίδα, επισκεφθείτε τον σύνδεσμο:
ΗΜΕΡΙΔΑ ΠΑΡΟΥΣΙΑΣΗΣ ΑΠΟΤΕΛΕΣΜΑΤΩΝ DISINREG – ΕΛΙΔΕΚ
Presentation at the 9th International Conference on Applied Theory, Macro and Empirical Finance (AMEF)
Stavroula Alexiou, Ph.D. Candidate of the Department of Planning and Regional Development, presented the paper (co-authored with Professor George Petrakos and post-doc researcher Alexandra Sotiriou) with the title: “Case study of Greece: Weak growth performance, regional inequalities, unbalanced integration and political discontent” at the 9th International Conference on Applied Theory, Macro and Empirical Finance of the Department of Economics of the University of Macedonia on April 15th, 2025. The presentation was included in the Special Session: The Economic Geography of a Complex World: Tracing Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities. The paper is part of research conducted within the DISINREG research project and funded by HFRI.
New Publication: The Drivers of Regional Discontent in the EU
Sotiriou, A., Petrakos, G., and Alexiou, S. (2025). “The Drivers of Regional Discontent in the EU.” Global Challenges and Regional Science, vol. 1, 2025, p. 100002.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gcrs.2024.100002
We are pleased to announce the publication of a new paper based on the research conducted within the DISINREG project. The study focuses on identifying the drivers of discontent at the EU regional level by estimating the interplay between regional inequalities, the unbalanced growth returns of EU integration and the rise of discontent as expressed in the regional Eurobarometer data.
The paper provides policy-relevant estimations of the sensitivity of discontent to economic and social conditions in the EU regions. The key finding is a strong association between low regional growth, persisting regional inequalities, the spatially uneven distribution of the benefits of the EU integration process and widespread discontent in the EU that require immediate policy attention.
You can access the publication:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S3050502X24000020
Report of Work Package 2: Detecting the sources and drivers of political discontent
The report investigates the rising trends in discontent at the regional level and the causes of anti-EU sentiments and Euroscepticism in a wider and more integrated EU with regional inequality challenges. The analysis provides solid empirical evidence revealing a strong association between low regional growth, persisting regional inequalities and widespread discontent in the EU.
The findings show that the spatially uneven distribution of the benefits of the EU integration process, the high asymmetries and gaps in development levels and unemployment, as well as structural deficiencies, the imbalanced human capital conditions and demographic processes have made regions less immune to a thriving anti-EU rhetoric which threatens the stability of the Union. One of the novelties of the study is that it identified an independent effect of the EU integration process that influences perceptions and disappointment with the EU structures, as the economic realities of significant number of regions and social groups are far apart from the expected “promised land” of the single market.
Presentation at the Online Early Career Colloquium RSA-BIS 2025
Stavroula Alexiou, Ph.D. Candidate of the Department of Planning and Regional Development, presented the paper (co-authored with Professor George Petrakos and post-doc researcher Alexandra Sotiriou) with the title: “A generalized model of growth, integration, discontent and endogenous cohesion policy” at the Regional Science Association – British & Irish Section Online Early Career Colloquium 2025 on January 23rd, 2025. The paper is part of research conducted within the DISINREG research project and funded by HFRI.
Presentation at the 1st Scientific Conference on Spatial Planning and Development: Challenges and Prospects (ESHSA 2024)
Stavroula Alexiou, Ph.D. Candidate of the Department of Planning and Regional Development, presented the paper (co-authored with Professor George Petrakos and post-doc researcher Alexandra Sotiriou) with the title: “Endogenous Cohesion Policy” (in Greek) at the 1st Scientific Conference on Spatial Planning and Development: Challenges and Prospects (ESHSA 2024) of the School of Spatial Planning and Development – Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) on June 18th, 2024. The paper is part of research conducted within the DISINREG research project and funded by HFRI.
Paper presentation: “Detecting the sources and drivers of political discontent in the EU”
Stavroula Alexiou, Ph.D. Candidate of the Department of Planning and Regional Development, presented the paper (co-authored with post-doc researcher Alexandra Sotiriou and Professor George Petrakos) with the title: “Detecting the sources and drivers of political discontent in the EU” at the 18th Scientific Conference of the Greek Section of the European Regional Science Association (ERSA GR) in Athens on September 22nd, 2023. The paper is part of research conducted within the DISINREG research project and funded by HFRI.
Presentation at the 2nd International Seminar on Sino-Greek Research Center for Sustainable Urban and Regional Development
George Petrakos Director of the Confucius Institute and Professor of the Department of Planning & Regional Development University of Thessaly, presented the research findings from the project DISINREG of the paper entitled “The Integration and spatial inequality in the EU” in Beijing at the 2nd International Seminar on Sino-Greek Research Center for Sustainable Urban and Regional Development Central University of Finance and Economics in July 2023.
10th PhD Symposium on Contemporary Greece and Cyprus of the London School of Economics
Stavroula Alexiou, PhD Candidate of the Department of Planning and Regional Development, presented at the 10 th PhD Symposium on Contemporary Greece and Cyprus of the London School of Economics, in London, on May 26th, 2023. The paper (co-authored with Professor George Petrakos) with title: “The impact of integration on regional growth and cohesion in Greece ” is part of research that is being conducted within the DISINREG research project and funded by ELIDEK.
UNTANGLED WORKSHOP: OLD AND NEW INEQUALITIES IN DISRUPTIVE TIMES – Politecnico di Milano
Professor George Petrakos was the guest speaker (keynote speaker) at the conference : UNTANGLED WORKSHOP: OLD AND NEW INEQUALITIES IN DISRUPTIVE TIMES, which was organized by the University: Politechnico di Milano in Milano, on February 1, 2023. The title of his presentation was: “Geographies of inequality in Europe: Drivers, implications and policy dilemmas”. His presentation was based on research that is being conducted within the DISINREG research project and funded by ELIDEK.