EU regional aid leaves non-metropolitan regions poor

Outlook

The Czech capital Prague is one of the EU’s most prosperous regions, ranking 7th out of 281 EU regions in GDP per capita in purchasing power standards (PPS), 187% of the EU average. This seems due to the ‘capital effect’: Bratislava and Warsaw are in the top 20; the most prosperous region in every eastern EU member state surrounds the state capital.

Prague has always ranked high since Eurostat began publishing this measure; what is remarkable is how static relative wealth/poverty has been. The wide gaps between each country’s capital and least-prosperous region have barely shifted since accession.

Impacts

• The sense that poorer regions are stuck in relative poverty will exacerbate urban-rural political and social divides.
• It could reinforce a lack of sympathy between educated metropolitans with modern skills, and less educated and skilled provincials.
• EU regional policy seems ripe for revision: it has ‘raised all boats’ nationally while leaving many regions in relative poverty.