Partnership-working as part of the Structural Funds programs in Poland: ‘shallow’ adjustment or internalization of the European mode of cooperative governance?

One of the main dimensions of the added value of EU cohesion policy is its capacity to enhance cooperation and coordination in the delivery of the regional development policy through the partnership principle. However, research to date suggests that the lack of traditions of collaborative policy-making in some Member States can result in patchy application of partnership. This prompts questions about the transferability of partnership to the Central European Member States characterized by weakly institutionalized sub-national authorities, traditions of centralized policymaking and limited inter-institutional trust. The research to date does not provide a clear cut answer to this question. This study is an attempt to bridge this gap by examining the functioning of regionallevel partnership arrangements in Poland, the main beneficiary of the structural funding, and thus add to the debate on added value of the EU cohesion policy and its capacity to promote multi-level and inclusive mode of governance. The paper draws on the concept of Europeanization, understood as a process of diffusion and institutionalization of EU policy rules practices within the Member States’ domestic policy arenas, to examine the implementation of the partnership in its horizontal dimension as well as the cooperation between the local authorities as part of the EU-funded projects. It explores the regional policy actors’ responses to this new practice to shed new light on the mechanisms of their adjustment. It also identifies the domestic factors which limit the scope for diffusion and institutionalization of the partnership approach, such as reluctance to cooperate, mistrust, competition for funding or the capture of the regional partnership bodies by clientelistic networks. Nevertheless, the findings also suggest that the partnership-working can be internalized over time provided that it is in line with the actors’ interests and that there are clear incentives for cooperation.