WHAT DO CITIZENS THINK OF COHESION POLICY AND DOES IT MATTER FOR - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

WHAT DO CITIZENS THINK OF COHESION POLICY AND DOES IT MATTER FOR EUROPEAN IDENTITY? Results from the COHESIFY survey Gabriela Borz, Heinz Brandenburg & Carlos Mendez University of Strathclyde COHESIFY Final Conference, Brussels 26 April, 2018 The COHESIFY project (February 2016-April 2018) has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 693127 1

Attitudes towards EU vary DRAMATICALLY 2

3

4

What can we do to REDUCE DISAFFECTION & INCREASE IDENTIFICATION? 5

Does EU Cohesion policy contribute TO EUROPEAN IDENTITY OF CITIZENS across the EU? 6

We ran a SURVEY to find out 7

8

COHESION POLICY MATTERS Perceived Funding benefits IDENTITY Awareness Communication 9

AWARENESS OF EU COHESION POLICY … varies considerably across funds Cohesion Fund ERDF ESF 10

What makes us AWARE of either of these funds? 11

1 MONEY 12

13

Net beneficiaries were 3 TIMES AS LIKELY to have heard of the Cohesion Fund as net payers But little to no impact on awareness of ERDF or ESF 14

2 YOUR SOCIO-ECONOMIC SITUATION 15

ERDF Cohesion fund ESF 16

3 MEDIA CONSUMPTION 17

ERDF Cohesion fund ESF 18

4 MEDIA’S TAKE ON THE EU 19

ERDF Cohesion fund ESF 20

5 EU’S COMMUNICATION 21

ERDF Cohesion fund ESF 22

6 COHESION POLICY AWARENESS, BENEFITS & EUROPEAN IDENTITY 23

WHICH FUND CONTRIBUTES MOST TO THE CREATION OF THE EU IDENTITY ? What Do You Think ? 24

Cohesion ERDF ESF fund 25

Few will paint their faces in order to celebrate EU Cohesion policy BUT Having heard about the Perceiving benefits in daily life or for Cohesion Fund & ERDF regional development from EU funds INCREASES THE LIKELIHOOD OF DEVELOPING A EUROPEAN IDENTITY almost as much as having lived in another European city! 26

… thinking your region benefitted from EU membership makes you MORE LIKELY to develop an EU identity … ONLY if you live in a region where allocation of funds exceeded €1,000 per capita (2007-13) Structural funds 2014-2020 (ERDF and ESF) eligibility 27

WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED FROM THE SURVEY If they want to increase identification with eu Upgrade visibility of communication Policy-makers need to Communicate positive achievements Benefits to them To make citizens aware of Benefits to their region Identity Communication 28

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION! 29