Financial Governance: Policy Implementation and Solidarity through EU funding

2026-07-22

‘FINGOV – Financial Governance’ tests the hypothesis that EU funding could play a crucial role in steering policy implementation and enhancing inter-state solidarity in migration, an area European citizens identify as a key challenge for the EU. The project undertakes a cross-policy (migration and cohesion policies) and comparative (Greece and the Netherlands) analysis of the legal design and administration modes of two types of EU funding: Migration Funds and Structural and Investment Funds. It adopts an interdisciplinary approach, and combines doctrinal legal research with empirical qualitative research, incorporating findings through semi-structured interviews with institutional and civil society experts at EU level, the Netherlands and Greece. It delivers an evidence-based evaluation of EU funding’s impact to steer policy implementation and realise inter-state solidarity, yielding proposals to reform EU migration funding. Conceptually, it analyses trends the management of EU funding reveals about the changing nature of the European administrative system, advancing debates on federalism, governance and public policy. To achieve these objectives, I will be based at Maastricht University’s Centre for European Law, a top research institute, home to one of the largest groups of scholars in the world studying EU law. I will follow training in public policy and in problem based learning teaching methodologies, and will acquire transferable skills in leadership, project management, and communication under Prof. De Witte’s supervision. The research is relevant for academics, policy-makers, and civil society: I will distil findings in a journal article and a book manuscript, and formulate evidence based proposals to reform EU migration funding in a policy brief. Dissemination to the scientific and policy community will culminate in a conference. Communication targeting wider audiences will include contributions in open access blogs, online newspapers, and social media.

Netherlands

2026-02-01