ABSTRACT
The preamble to the European Economic Community (EEC) Treaty of 1957 contained a statement that the contracting parties intended to integrate their economies by reducing the disparities between their regions and the backwardness of the least-favoured areas. The Single European Act, in amending the EEC Treaty, subsumed this statement into Article 130A of the new Title V, dealing with economic and social cohesion. Article 130B specifies the means of achieving these objectives in the form of policy co-ordination, common policies and the Structural Funds. Article 130C explicitly incorporates the already existing Regional Fund and states that it has to contribute to redressing the principal regional imbalances. The next Article calls for the reform of all structural funds, which include the Regional Fund, the Social Fund and the Guidance section of the EAGGF, through the medium of a new framework Regulation aimed at co-ordinating the activities of the Funds with those of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the other financial instruments of the European Community (EC).
