From Regional to Cohesion Policy and Further: Intergovernmental Bargaining and a New Policy Network Leading to the PEACE Package in Northern Ireland

As early as 1989 – almost ten years before the Good Friday Agreement – President Jacques Delors committed himself and the European Commission to contribute to peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland. Therefore, the Europeanization of the Northern Ireland conflict goes way back, with the 1984 report being “drawn up on behalf of the Political Affair Committee on the situation in Northern Ireland” (N. J. Haagerup, 1984). Hence, by the means of the structural funds, the EU institutions and policies have influenced national institutions and policies in Northern Ireland for more than 30 years. This article aims to place a dual emphasis while tracing this process: firstly, on the Multi-Level interdependence of territorial governments at the European, national and subnational level. Secondly, on the development of a new public-private policy networks in Ireland, Northern Ireland and United Kingdom, transcending all these three levels. Following these challenges this article will explore: empirically how the 1980s structural funds implementation contributed in actuality to peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland; theoretically, how this implementation shows the varied and nuanced influence of the EU policies on territorial governance, documenting the achievements and failures, which lead to the creation of the PEACE package in 1994.