Capitalisation study of European experiences of decentralised cooperation

LAs in developed countries, especially in Europe, have begun to create cooperation relationships with their counterparts in developing countries, establishing partnership agreements focusing mainly on strengthening and enhancing their institutional and operational capacities. This modality of cooperation, defined as decentralised cooperation, has become an emerging phenomenon in the last decade engaging thousands of cities and regions all over the world.

The main objective of the study, which covers a five year period (2007-2011), is to provide an analysis of the EC financial instruments in the area of decentralised cooperation as well as to give an overview of the main strategies and tools of the EU and its Member States in this field. Through the findings of the research a set of recommendations has been defined, with a focus on good practices, to improve the added value of the future EU initiatives and their complementarity with MS strategies.