From April to September 2017, the International Permanent Secretariat of Euroregion Baltic hosted Valentina Scandola, an intern from Italy. Enrolled at the Master’s degree in Local Development – University of Padova (Italy), she spent six months at ERB studying the process of integration and cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region. As the graduation day approaches, Valentina has finally submitted her thesis entitled: Multilevel governance and territorial cooperation. Opportunities for local authorities in Euroregion Baltic.
The thesis, whose “aim is to track whether and how the participation in the EU INTERREG program has enhanced the involvement of local and non-state actors and civil society in developing sustainable development policies at local level in the Euroregion Baltic”, is structured as follows: the first chapter is dedicated to the evolution of European integration and the concept of multilevel governance; the second chapter analyses the process of cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region and its historic evolution; the third one focuses on the overlapping governance architectures within Euroregion Baltic; the last one analyses case studies such as MOMENT and MOMENT UP PROJECT as well as INTERCONNECT.
With her thesis, Valentina Scandola intends to prove the fundamental role of INTERREG programme in enhancing cross-border cooperation in the region and benefit public actors at national, regional and local level.