A New ESPON tool for macroregions in Europe

The new European and Macro-regional Territorial Monitoring (EMTM) Tool aims to provide support for EU macro-regional strategies through an interactive, simple and highly communicative online tool. It addresses the macro-regional strategies of four macro-regions: the Alpine region (EU strategy for the Alpine region – EUSALP), the Baltic region (EU strategy for the Baltic Sea region – EUSBSR – plus the Vision and Strategies around the Baltic Sea – VASAB), the Danube region (EU strategy for the Danube region – EUSDR) and the Adriatic–Ionian Region (EU strategy for the Adriatic– Ionian region – EUSAIR).

The new tool has the functions listed below.

Continuously monitors development trends and patterns at different geographical levels

Gives support to European, macro-regional, national and regional policymakers and other stakeholders by providing territorial information, data, maps, graphs, analytical features and short reports

Helps policymakers to identify development opportunities and territorial challenges, and to better understand the diversity and position of regions and cities in the heterogeneous European context.

Offers a selection of relevant indicators for Europe to give context in the framework of current European policy themes. These are available in a number of territorial divisions depending on each indicator (from NUTS0 to NUTS3, LAU and FUA)

Creates a set of indicators to assess territorial development trends in the EU’s macro-regional strategies

Provides insight on the activities and projects of the various macro-regional strategies

Allows the user to explore the data including through comparisons over time

Guarantees an up-to-date database by linking through web services to main data providers (ESPON Database Portal, Eurostat)

The tool is being built through a participatory process involving stakeholders of the macro-regional strategies, VASAB and the European Commission.

It is structured into five modules: a European module presenting macro-regions in the overall European context, and allowing for comparisons between different macro-regions, and four macro-regional modules.

The tool will be launched in June 2020.

European module

Given that the EMTM tool will be actively used in the 2021–2027 EU funding period, it reflects the general policy themes that will guide EU Cohesion policy in the years to come. These ‘policy objectives’, according to the Common Provision Regulation ( ), are the following:

a smarter Europe through innovation,

a greener, carbon-free Europe,

a more connected Europe (with strategic transport and digital networks),

a Europe more social (delivering on the European Pillar of Social Rights and supporting high-quality employment and skills);

a Europe closer to its citizens (with the support of locally-led development strategies and sustainable urban development).

For each policy objective, a selection of indicators is available, to measure the progress of regions and territories in reaching targets. This measuring of progress is also considered in the context of the macro-regional strategies, allowing benchmarking.

Macro-regional modules

A specific module for each of the macro-regional strategies shows the structure of pillars/priority areas (PAs)/action groups defined in the action plans related to the four macro-regional strategies. For each element of the action plans, the tool offers a description and policy insight. Linked to each pillar/PA/action group, a selection of indicators helps to measure trends in the macro-regions, both over time and in terms of geographical coverage, as well as monitoring progress towards achieving objectives and targets.

At the indicator level, the tool offers a map and a relevant policy description. The map itself is interactive, and provides the options of zooming and panning, as well as changing the years displayed. The information shown on the various maps is retrieved from different data sources. The majority of indicators comes from the ESPON database and Eurostat. These data are retrieved automatically from the original data providers every time they are requested, ensuring that they are always up to date. All maps can be easily downloaded by users in various formats and inserted into documents or used in presentations. It is also possible to download the data linked to a map in an Excel table.

The EMTM tool has to be seen as a starting point for a continuous monitoring activity. The indicators can be updated and adjusted in response to ongoing policy discussions and revisions of action plans. Over the coming months, more information on individual indicators and on the activities and objectives of the four macro-regions will be added to the tool. In this regard, the tool offers a unique opportunity to rethink the development of macro-regions in the European context, while also providing inputs to support discussions on longterm development perspectives and their relationship to contemporary activities.