PERCEPȚIA CETĂȚENILOR vs. PERCEPȚIA PRACTICIENILOR CU PRIVIRE LA POLITICA DE COEZIUNE A UE (CITIZENS' VS. PRACTITIONERS' PERCEPTIONS ON EU COHESION POLICY)

This paper targets to synthesize the citizens’ and practitioners’ views on EU Cohesion Policy and to compare them in order to understand if there are different perceptions of this policy and its implementation between these two categories of regional actors. Nine EU regions are included in this study representing the complex and heterogeneous reality of EU Cohesion Policy performance and its multidimensional determinants in terms of socio-economic, political, and demographic development. For each region, the identification of the relevant regional needs is considered, followed by an assessment of the EU policy effectiveness in responding to the revealed issues. Both have been pursued at the level of citizens and of Cohesion Policy practitioners and are followed by a comparative analysis that helps to understand whether the EU Cohesion Policy is perceived and understood by citizens in the same way as it has been conceived by practitioners.

The comparative analysis helped shed light on the convergence and divergence points between citizens and experts with regard to the public intervention needs through Cohesion Policy and in the evaluation of the effectiveness of these interventions, thus contributing to a better understanding of the general perception of the EU by the large public