Stella Giannakopoulou

Abstract

While mountain regions face territorial disparities when set against lowlands, the EU’s post-2020 CohesionPolicy seeks to reduce such between regions by focusing on those that are most vulnerable. Along with regions that are otherwise remote, mountainous areas are mostly seen as in decline, and deprived of opportunities to achieve sustainable development. They face serious demographic issues connected closely with migrationout flows, while they are characterised by low-quality educational services and a paucity of employment opportunities compared with circumstances in the lowlands. It against this background that the work detailed here was carried out to investigate inequalities between mountain and lowland areas of Greece. Specifically,the focus is on disparities in levels of education and unemployment, as well as population shifts. While the temporal frame comprises the period 2001-2011, the locality is the mountainous Municipal Unit of Ioannina,in the Region of Epirus. The findings reveal high level of inequality in all sectors of vital importance to one of the EU’s poorest regions, while the further aim of the paper is to reveal the main drivers underpinningdisparities in the context of post-2020 policy.

Keywords: inequalities, Cohesion Policy, mountain regions, demographic changes, education, employment, Greece

Stella Giannakopoulou [stellina@topo.auth.gr], School of Rural and Surveying Engineering Aristotle University of Thessaloniki University Campus, 54124 Thessaloniki: Greece
Polychronis Kolokoussis [pol@survey.ntua.gr], Remote Sensing Laboratory, School of Rural & Surveying Engineering National Technical University of Athens NTUA, Heroon Polytechniou 9, 15780, Zografou: Greece
Apostolos Arvanitis, School of Rural and Surveying Engineering Aristotle University of Thessaloniki University Campus, 54124 Thessaloniki: Greece