General Introduction
4. One MA Thesis produced by a postgraduate student from the University of Palermo. This was written under the supervision of my Italian coordinator for the research stay in the case-study area
The main aim of the study was focused around an assessment of the programme for the 2007-2013 financial framework. Consultation was useful in terms of analysis and background-understanding of the INTERREG instrument in the CBR (Custro, 2013). However, it did not consider matters of cross-border governance nor the inclusion of Euroregional organizations;
5. Analysis of 23 semistructured interviews produced during fieldwork in the case-study area (one research period of 3 months in Sicily and a one-week trip to Malta, both in 2016). The interviewing process was directed both at the stakeholders participating in CBC projects between 2007-2013 (18 interviews) as well as political and INTERREG management-related actors (5 interviews). A complete listing can be consulted below (see Table 7 or chapter 6), while further detail on the interviewing process is described in the next section (4.4). Overall, satisfaction can be expressed when considering the many typologies of actors reached. Admittedly, there is a certain preponderance of Sicilian actors in the total recount. However, this can be explained in terms of the lead-partner position that Sicilians exert in the INTERREG projects and through their logically wider presence due to the number of inhabitants. Conversely, Malta’s smaller population contributed to the identification of partners often managing multiple CBC projects. One final remark is based upon the explicit requests for anonymity received. As a consequence, I have always avoided direct references to the interviewed person and rather referred to them through their technical charges. This has also conditioned the final decision to exclude full-text transcriptions from the Annexes section;
6. Finally, I have also employed digital press articles providing coverage of cross-border issues between Sicily and Malta (i.e. 4cOffshore, 2015; The Independent, 2015).
Table 7 - Listing of Interviewed partners in Sicily-Malta CBR Fieldwork (2016) (Source: own elaboration)
4.4 Data Management Techniques
Different types of techniques were employed to process the data in this Dissertation. In broad terms, the two main procedures are divided by their quantitative and qualitative natures.
The quantitative work was mainly referred to Stage 2, elaborating upon data from the RECOT Database and employing a sample of 60 Euroregions9 (see 1.3 and 4.1). The main techniques employed were basic calculations and filtering of results by means of Excel sheets. Detailed explanation of the theorization
9The original sample amounted to 61 units and this was due to the experimental inclusion of the Sicily-CBR in the recount. There were two purposes in the intentions of the RECOT research group: a.to include a “proto-euroregional”
territory in the recount akin to my theorization; b. to select another case from the Central Mediterranean and Adriatic area as to include geographical balance in the sample. Of course, the implications derived from the doctoral research led to exclude the case-study from the sample used in the model.
Field of Activity Organisation / Institution Member or Partner Interviewed Involvement in CBC activities or projects Joint Secretariat (JS) Director of the JS Management, evaluation and moritoring
of INTERREG calls for projects Maltese National
Coordination Authority (MNCA)
2 Officers Same as the JS; assistance on the Maltese side of the border (increased proximity) DGRegio
2 Members: Deputy MP and his former Policy Assistant
Proposers of CBC institutionalization in 2012 to the ARS (EGTC Sicily-Malta) Maltese Consulate in Sicily Honorary Consul in Catania
Siculo-Maltese institutional relations (beyond CBC); assistance to Maltese population in Sicily
3 Researchers (Engineering) CALYPSO; SIMIT; RESPIRA 2 Researchers (Architecture) LITHOX; WATERFRONT Honorary Fellow and Scientific
Director ( Biology) IMAGENX
Researcher (Engineering) BIODIVALUE
Researcher
(Agricultural Studies) MORISO
University of Malta Researcher (Geosciences) PANACEA; BIODIVALUE Institute of Earth Systems
(Univ. Malta)
Head Researcher
(Agriculture & Foods division) T-CHEESIMAL; PROMED; VINENERGY Argotti Botanic Gardens
(Univ. Malta) Director of the Garden GARDMED
Province of Siracusa General Staff Member RESI
Province of Agrigento Staff Member (EU funding) SIBIT Port Authority (Catania) Director of Port Authority PORT-PVEV
Regional Institute for
Wines and Oil (Sicily) 2 Researchers & Project Officers PROMED; VINENERGY National Institute of
Geophysics and Volcanology (Catania)
Researcher & Project Leader VAMOS SEGURO Heritage Malta EU Funding Management Officer REMASI; LITHOS; ARCHEOTUR
NGO Legambiente (Sicily) Project Officer REMASI
Public Owned
behind the quantitative work can be found in Publication 3. In this sub-section, I strictly provide methodological explanation of the work of analysis performed.
The first step that I followed was the creation of the classification system based on the CBC territorial scale and filtered through the 3 model variants (Local, Supralocal, Regional Euroregions) and the 6 sub-typologies (Bilateral Eurocity; Eurocity Consortium; Multilevel Euroregion; Association of Municipalities; Bilateral Regional; Multilateral Regional). These were obtained through identification of a set of intervals included in the variables considered for the model (approx. size of Euroregions in Km2; institutional density; predominant levels of self-government).
It should be mentioned that multiple alternative variables observed in the Catalogue were considered for inclusion, but that they all underwent a process of exclusion. Despite exploiting previous data included in Publication 1, I did not encounter correlations between the selection of the legal form for regulating cross-border governance (i.e. NGO-type associations, ad-hoc public law agreements or other European instruments) and the partnership involved (Durà et al., 2018, p. 63-66). Likewise, geographical factors such as the total number of inhabitants of a Euroregion, their population density or the territorial profile (i.e. urban, rural etc.) also showed weak statistical correlations with governance formulas due to the large variety of contexts encountered (2018, p. 52-54).
Parallel to that, I also worked on the classification of Euroregional CBC projects according to their own territorial scale. By cross-referencing the territorial scale of CBC projects and their Euroregions, I found strong correlation between them, thus confirming evidence of my classificatory system. From there, I also proceeded in generating a new set of cross-analyses of the available data. The objective was to produce results demonstrating strong correlations between available variables and further classifications.
Unfortunately, many of the statistical correlations were too weak to demonstrate significative incidence.
They have only been included in the Annexes (see section IV).
Notwithstanding, the coherence of the classificatory system plus a smaller number of cross-data results revealed enough arguments for the construction of the general theory behind Publication 3 (i.e. Observation of n. 9 cases where CBC project scale-based typology was different from the Euroregional model variant; Distribution of Euroregions from the sample according to the scale-based typology across six geographical areas of Europe). A similar process was employed for the discourse regarding the territorial dynamics of cross-sea cooperation.
In qualitative terms, the Dissertation employed the analysis of the 23 semistructured interviews from the fieldwork. These were employed in Stage 1 and 3 of the methodology corresponding to Publication 2 and 4.
The methods for their realization involved the elaboration of two separate questionnaires for the different categories of stakeholders (project actors and politico-institutional figures). The semi-structured questions were meant to stimulate a naturalistic approach leading in turn to responsive interviewing and further in-depth argumentation. Each interview was recorded and approximately lasted from 20 to 65 minutes. They
were later transcribed as to obtain written material for qualitative analysis. The full text of the questionnaires can be consulted in the Annexes (see section IV). According to the question categories, the classification of the answers was also focused around wider thematic groupings (i.e. the origins of the INTERREG projects; debates regarding CBC institutionalization proposals, etc.) (see Publication 2 for more info).
Other examples of secondary techniques employed in the Dissertation have been:
- cross-data analysis of the global listing of 214 Euroregional organizations provided by the COOP-RECOT II project. They were all associated with their INTERREG initiative of reference (60 operational programmes). This was done in support of theorization on “proto-euroregional” territories(Publication 2).
- the cartographic representation of the Sicily-Malta CBR by means of the ArcGIS software both in its desktop and online versions (Publications 2 and 5);
- the production of summary tables across publications indicating schematization of the main findings. These include:representation and classification of “proto-euroregional” territories (Publication 2); the Euroregional model and the different dynamics of cross-sea cooperation (Publication 3); the governance structure and power relations of the Italy-Malta INTERREG programme (Publication 4); finally, multiple continuities and differences across the three historical terms of the Sicily-Malta CBR (Publication 5).