THE LISBON AGENDA AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP POLICY: GOVERNANCE IMPLICATIONS FROM A GERMAN PERSPECTIVE

With the Lisbon Strategy and mandate, the European Commission committed itself to promoting entrepreneurship as a major driver of innovation, competitiveness, and growth. This paper demonstrates that the renaissance of entrepreneurship policy along with the implementation of the Lisbon Agenda resulted in the localization of policy‐making, and re‐strengthened policy‐makers on the ground to successfully mobilize directly at the supranational level. Furthermore, it shows that EU entrepreneurship policy‐making has contributed to a shift from hierarchical government to a more horizontal and interactive form of governance in the new German Laender which were highly exposed to Structural Funds and the Lisbon Agenda. The focus of analysis on the sub‐national level helps to fill an academic void in Europeanization and governance literature. By integrating a region‐ and policy‐specific perspective, this contribution goes beyond theorizing the regional dimension of Europeanization in a multi‐level governance scheme.