This conclusion can only be tentati

This conclusion can only be tentative, however, due to the difficulties
related to the evaluation of these projects. For one thing, the
applicability of the criteria concerning the contribution to national
wealth – as a justification for active national involvement – depends
upon the ability of the national government to uphold its
initial criteria in the selection of projects in which it wants to become
actively involved. In the Netherlands,the government has
not always succeeded in this. Indeed, the Dutch case shows that
strict criteria for national government involvement evolved during
the selection of projects, for example, due to political lobbying by
local actors to include an urban project in the national urban programme.
This can undermine the clear-cut criteria for the involvement
of the national government in local urban redevelopment
projects, leading it to intervene in projects that actually do not
meet the criteria that were initially set, and where the expected
surplus value perhaps cannot therefore be realised. Moreover, if
the national programme encompasses too many projects, cities
may end up competing with each other with the assistance of national
public funds.