European Regional Competitiveness Index 2013

EU countries with a large gap or high variation in regional competitiveness should consider to what extent these gaps are harmful for their national competitiveness and if these gaps can be reduced. For example, the gap between the capital region and the second most competitive region in Romania, Slovakia and France is very wide, while regional competitiveness in Germany does not show any big jumps. Already in the 2010 edition of RCI, the lack of regional spill-overs was noted in particular around the capitals of some of the less developed EU countries. Although the crisis may have limited the potential growth in regional spill-overs, in the medium-term such spill-overs should be strengthened. The overall competitiveness of a country depends on the performance of all its regions and not just its capital region.

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