A territorial analysis of the rural development policy in the Campania region in the period 1994-2006

The aim of this paper is to assess the impacts of the latest two EAGGF operational programmes (1994-1999, 2000-2006) in terms of territorial distribution of financial resources invested in the Campania region. The analysis shows that the implementation of Community strategic guidelines in the Campania region had different impacts over the two structural programming periods under review. On the one hand, it appears that there has been a more favourable distribution of financial resources in competitively more advanced areas. In the period 1994-1999 it was areas of intensive agriculture to have obtained most financial resources to improve competiveness of high value-added agricultural chains. On the other hand, the new programming approach as set out in Regulation no. 1257/1999 could not fail, in its turn, to have wide repercussions on the territorial effects of such policies. The results of the analysis reveal that the EAGGF operational programme 2000-2006 recorded a substantial demand of specific policies especially from inland areas, which -in this respect- largely outnumbered the coastal ones at provincial level. Moreover, a significant territorial mobility of the financial resources spent during the second stage of the regional operational programme has been observed. This demonstrate a predominant role of those territories which have always been traditionally identified as marginal suggesting that a territorial rebalance of policies had occurred. At the same time, the research has also highlighted that the objectives of the financial resources had also been reconsidered in a more balanced way leading to a more consistent and fairer implementation of interventions on the basis of specific territorial needs.