EU Territorial Impact Assessment

Abstract

Report Commissioned by the Ministry of VROM. Since the start of the making of the ESDP, back in 1989, there has been interest in a ‘Territorial impact assessment’. This interest has been revamped now that the Territorial Cohesion green paper is out. Yet, at the EU level there is still little guidance on how a TIA might be done and on what it actually is or could be. This report aims to ask and answer a set of fundamental questions that need to be addressed before engaging into developing an EU TIA instrument. We start with an historic overview discussing early initiatives and pleas to carry out territorial impact assessment at the European level. We continue by addressing the question what can understood under the heading of territorial impact. The next section focuses on territorial impact assessment in a multilevel context. Section 5 addresses the EU’s impact assessment procedure in detail. Section 6 switches to the level of discussion by particularly raising the question how impact assessment could be carried out in a way that territorial issues come to the fore. Section 7 rounds off with conclusions.