Cohesion policy challenges and discovery in 2021-2027. The case of Hungary

With the political agreement by the European Parliament and the Council on the Commission’s proposal for 2021–2027 on the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Cohesion Fund (CF) and the European Territorial Cooperation Programmes („Interreg”), and all the other instruments related to cohesion policy, we have entered the final stage of the provisions for the new EU programming period: the final approval of the legal texts (EC, 2020a). Thus, the main objective of our study is to present the most important challenges at the Member State level (Hungary) with a bottom-up and practice-oriented perspective. Methodologically, three specific factors were identified and studied in the paper that constitute significant challenge for national level policymaking, as follows: (1) as regards the soci(et)al aspect, the questions of the new “regions” (Central Hungary vs Budapest and Pest region); (2) regarding the economic aspect, the newly created territorial “units” (Economic Development Zones); and lastly (3) as a nature-focused aspect, the management of surface water. These factors are directly connected to the five investment priorities of the EU for 2021–2027 i.e. Smarter, Greener and carbon free, Connected, and Social Europe that is Closer to its citizens (EC, 2018) and represent criteria that reflect the reality on the ground. These factors were examined in specific case studies exploring their relations to national and interregional policymaking and EU level policies also, together with their presence in the planned programming documents, e.g. the Operational Programmes and Partnership Agreement. As a result, we aim to identify some direct causal relations between policy and practice, highlight some synergies (or their absence) between national and interregional level sectoral (horizontal) and EU-Member State level (vertical) processes, and additionally, shed some light on the possible future scenarios in these specific and important areas. Through these outcomes, our research could contribute to a more tailored approach to regional development, that is a major objective of the New Cohesion Policy.