The new EU regional policy: implementation features in the context of modern challenges and risks

Abstract

The development of EU countries in the conditions of Ukraine’s war with Russia, the threat of challenges associated with new waves of the pandemic create new development imbalances, which are important to take into account when building EU regional policy. The purpose of the article is to research new approaches to EU regional policy and clarify current challenges and risks. The article highlights the paradigmatic changes in the regional policy of the countries of the European Union and explains the shift of the regional development model from resource-distributing to innovation-stimulating. An analysis of the financing of EU countries from structural funds was carried out and it was found that the impact of globalization, migration, climate change, and environmental pollution are inherent in all countries, not only less developed ones, which requires financial support from highly developed countries. New approaches to EU regional policy have been systematized and the main principles, financial instruments, key investment priorities, innovations for the 2021-2027 period and differences from previous periods have been clarified. The main challenges and risks of the EU’s regional policy in today’s conditions are identified: the «migration» crisis associated with the influx of migrants and refugees from Ukraine and countries with unfavorable living conditions into the EU; new twists of the «coronacrisis»; uneven load of refugees and different dependence of countries on Russian energy resources; the deterioration of the demographic situation due to the aging of the population, the emergence of a shortage of qualified workers due to digital transformations. The answer to the new challenges of EU regional policy should be sought in three directions: increasing stability and the ability to respond to unexpected shocks; adaptation to the strengthening of the demographic crisis, the fair distribution of the transition to a climate-neutral, circular economy.