FINAL CONCLUSIONS CONCERNING THE NORDIC-SCOTTISH REGIONAL POLICY CO-OPERATION FOLLOWING THE HIGH-LEVEL CONFERENCE IN ÖRNSKÖLDSVIK 6-9 SEPTEMBER 2003

Background to the cooperation

The "modern" Nordic-Scottish regional policy cooperation started in 1994. Due to the foreseen new membership in the European Union (EU) for Finland, Norway and Sweden, increasing common interests between these countries and Scotland were identified. Geographically, for instance, peripherality and sparsity of population are characteristics of both the northern parts of the Nordic area and of the northern-most part of Scotland. Politically and practically, officials from the Nordic countries were keen to learn about the administration of the EU Structural Funds and Scottish representatives saw a possibility of cooperation within the EU concerning common challenges.

"First phase" of the cooperation (1994 - 2000)

The cooperation started with projects within mainly four areas:

- Development of small and medium-sized companies within peripheral economies
- Information technology development in peripheral areas
- University networking focused on cooperation with business and rural development
- Development of a forestry network

After some, mainly funding, difficulties at the beginning it was confirmed in 1997, at the third annual review meeting of the cooperation, that significant results had been achieved in all four sectors: "Useful networks had been established … and a number of projects and seminars had been planned."

The cooperation at this time also played an important role for the creating of the Northern Periphery Article 10-programme within the EU Structural Funds regulations. The programme came to cover the northern parts of the United Kingdom, Finland, Sweden and Norway and the total expenditure during its implementation 1997-1999 was over 13 million ecu.

In 1999 an external evaluation of the cooperation was made by European Policies Research Centre (EPRC). Its conclusions were overwhelmingly positive and virtually all partners involved were keen for the cooperation to continue. The evaluation was made for cooperation at both policy-and project levels. Among the recommendations were that Scottish and Nordic officials should provide a clear statement of their respective future interests in the cooperation, that cooperation should continue to be promoted outside the Article 10 programme, that the cooperation should be widened to involve local and regional authorities more actively, that the cooperation should be managed by a secretariat and that information dissemination should get a higher priority.

At the end of this first period of cooperation it seems that active cooperation was suspended for some time. One reason was the need for more detailed discussion within the Nordic countries in the context of planning for a new programme for Nordic regional policy cooperation (2001 - 2005). Another that major constitutional change was underway at this time in Scotland. At the same time the Article 10 programme was seen as so successful that it was continued in a new Interreg IIIB-programme for 2000-2006 within the EU Structural Funds: "The Northern Periphery". Also the new Interreg IIIB-programme "North Sea" came to cover areas of interest for the Nordic-Scottish cooperation.

Present cooperation (2001 - 2005)

A review and a new start for the cooperation came about after a high level conference at Skibo castle in Scotland in spring 2001. The continuing common interests between the Nordic countries and Scotland were underlined in the conclusions from the conference, as well as the benefits from joint working to address the issues. New and wider possible areas of cooperation were identified, not only in rural and peripheral areas.

As a result of the new start an "Action Plan for Nordic-Scottish Cooperation on Regional Policy and Sustainable Economic Development (2001-2005)" was approved by Nordic Senior Civil Servants´ Committee for Regional Policy (NÄRP) and Scottish Executive in autumn 2001.

According to the Action Plan, the aim of the Nordic-Scottish cooperation is to promote the development of common approaches to shared challenges in the fields of regional policy and sustainable economic development in the Nordic and North Atlantic areas. This shall be achieved by working together on

- identifying solutions to common regional challenges, particularly for remote, sparsely populated areas,
- improving the efficiency of interregional cooperation programmes,
- institution-building and policy development in the candidate countries, in particular through "twinning" activities, and
- where appropriate, advancing common interests at the European Union level, for instance on EU Structural Funds, competition policy and enlargement issues.

In the Action Plan the areas of cooperation are also divided into three forms of cooperation according to available instruments:

- Policy cooperation (joint studies and policy papers, exchange of experiences, networking and exchange agreements), funded by NÄRP, Nordic governments or Scottish Executive
- Practical cooperation (mainly within projects in Interreg programmes), funded within the programmes
- Institution-building in Central and Eastern Europe (by twinning and other activities), funded by other EU programmes.

The policy cooperation is organised informally through liaison between senior officials of the Nordic countries and Scotland, working with the support of existing organisations and research institutes. A "Liaison Group", with one representative per country, as well as representatives from The Nordic Council of Ministers, EPRC and Nordregio, has responsibility for discussing the cooperation, disseminating information, monitoring actions and coordinating preparations for meetings. The chair is rotating between the Nordic countries and Scotland.

The practical cooperation is mainly taking place within the framework of the two mentioned European Union Interreg programmes and the institution-building activities through Nordregio and EPRC.

Experiences of the present cooperation

Within the area of policy cooperation, high level political cooperation has been limited during the last years. But the Liaison Group has met regularly and discussed issues in line with the cooperation. One main item has been to contribute to the start of and to follow the ambitious analytical project "Transnational Nordic-Scottish Cooperation: Lessons for policy and practice" concerning experiences of Nordic-Scottish cooperation within projects in the earlier mentioned Article 10 and Interreg programmes. The analytical project has been carried out by Nordregio and EPRC, and the preliminary results were presented and discussed in Örnsköldsvik. Other tasks for the Liaison Group have been to start and keep updated a homepage for the cooperation (www.eprc.strath.ac.uk /nordic/) and to prepare this high level conference. The work in the two Interreg programmes is also closely followed. Exchange of civil servants and visiting scholarship programmes has not taken place during the last years.

The practical cooperation within the two Interreg programmes has, according to the aforementioned analysis, made a substantive and meaningful contribution to the key topics for Nordic-Scottish Cooperation. This was confirmed by the projects presented at the conference.

The results of the analytical project further conclude that important benefits from the projects in the programmes have been achieved in terms of information exchange, know-how transfer and extended communication networks, and, to a lesser extent, the generation of new ideas and new approaches to solving economic development problems. There is evidence of substantial impacts with respect to international understanding, well-functioning networks and individual learning, but there is a major challenge as to how individual benefits can be embedded and broadened to ensure better organisational learning. One deficit in comparison to the aims in the Action Plan is that it has not been possible to sufficiently follow Nordic-Scottish regional policy co-operation taking place outside the mentioned programmes.

Some challenges for the future cooperation

The main reasons for the start and continuation of the cooperation are the common challenges for regional policy created by similar geographic circumstances in the northern parts of the Nordic countries and Scotland. During the first phase this was also strongly reflected in the four areas with which the cooperation started.

In the last years there has been a considerable shift in the aims and the extent of regional policy in many countries. Regional policy today is more concerned of creating than distributing growth than before and it is no longer dealing only with peripheral and low population density areas, but in principle with all parts of the countries. This is also reflected in the Action Plan. One question for future cooperation is therefore whether a cooperation, that does not address only the special Nordic circumstances, shall be usefully organised in this way in the future.

Another important factor for the development of the cooperation is that the membership for Denmark, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom in the European Union now has institutionalised regional policy issues and cooperation between these countries in other forms than before. Also the other Nordic countries take part in these cooperations to a certain extent.

The forthcoming enlargement of the European Union will also bring new elements into regional policy prerequisites. Discussions about the European Cohesion Policy and Regional State Aid policy after 2006 are also well underway. To what extent will the Nordic countries and Scotland have common interests and benefit from co-operation in these processes during the forthcoming years?

Furthermore the present programme for Nordic regional policy co-operation ends in 2005. In NÄRP a decision has recently been taken to evaluate the Nordic-Scottish cooperation, its future role and direction in a broader perspective.

Conclusions

The fourth High level conference on Nordic-Scottish regional policy matters in Örnsköldsvik gave the participants a good overall picture of regional development trends and challenges for different parts of Europe, particularly the peripheral areas in the Nordic countries and Scotland. The conference also, through presentations of an ambitious analytical project, of individual successful projects and following discussions, provided valuable insights and experiences for policymakers and those who implement the projects.

The great changes foreseen in regional policy in an enlarged European Union were also highlighted.

The conference acknowledged the value of Nordic-Scottish cooperation in the regional policy field.

A further conclusion was that that the cooperation hitherto has well followed the intentions laid down in the Action Plan in force although it has not yet been possible to fulfil all aims.

The Action Plan guiding the present Nordic-Scottish regional policy co-operation lasts till the end of 2005. The work during the remaining of this period can with benefit basically be carried out within its present framework. A concentration on a limited number of strategic and innovative projects and/or themes that can be realised in an effective way should be considered. Better marketing of the strategic benefits of the programme at a European level and dissemination of the operational results of the cooperation is also essential. An ambition should also be to extend cooperation with surrounding structures on different levels, for instance by building bridges between different programmes. The Liaison Group should take a more proactive role in the implementation of the current Action Plan.

In order to gather data for decisions about future cooperation it is advisable to more extensively take care of the experiences of the present cooperation and to further discuss the basic conditions, values added, potentials, challenges and forms. An important factor in this context is the foreseeable future design of Interreg programmes comprising the actual areas. The values behind the Northern Periphery and the North Sea programmes should be carried forward. More cooperation in a wider geo-graphical context, for instance in North Atlantic area, should also be considered. In order to take care of these conclusions, the Nordic-Scottish Co-operation Liaison Group should be commissioned with the task to present findings and recommendations concerning future cooperation in good time before the Action Plan ends in 2005.