ABSTRACT

This chapter presents facts and figures related to the Community Initiative (CI). It helps the reader to gain a sense of perspective of these funds with respect to urban regeneration schemes in place at Member State level. Taking the 'extended gatekeeper' approach, the various stages of EU policy are linked and in order to explain central government action at one stage, we may require an understanding of government action at others. The implementation of URBAN took place within the broader framework agreed at the higher level Council/Commission negotiations for the 1994-1999 period where the strategic objectives and regulations regarding European Structural Funds were decided. The chapter seeks to illustrate the competition involved in applying even for the smaller sums allocated to CIs. It focuses on the negotiations for the allocation of the first wave of URBAN since both London and Marseille were allocated programmes within this. The chapter shows potential problems of coordination regarding the Commission's urban policy experiment.