SCENARIOS OF ECONOMIC AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN EUROPE

Scenario building is one of the most important instruments of long-term economic and regional planning, even at European level. With the help of scenarios one can explore the manoeuvring space of economic policies and make more conscious the choice of political action. The scenarios described below, have been prepared for the ESPON programme of the European Union, where I participated as a member of a team working on scenarios of the future of the European regional development with special respect to the economic aspects. The four scenarios described are introduced from the aspects of driving forces, supporting EU policies, the enlargement, migration, rural and urban development and regional disparities