ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to answer questions about the future of the Cohesion policy beyond the end of the present financial perspective. Until the mid-1980s, Cohesion policy, despite the expectations and the recommendations of numerous experts and politicians, did not play a significant role in European Union (EU) policies and budgets. Data published by independent researchers are less optimistic in their evaluation of Cohesion policy. Most of them suggest that, at best, the impacts of Cohesion policy are conditional, as they depend on the quality of the institutional system in a recipient Member State. A more conventional Cohesion policy would widen the territory of more active growth. ESPON does not provide direct answers; it limits presentation to the formulation of possible choices. Expenditure on Cohesion policy has been to a great degree, at least in recent decades, a function of the overall EU budget.
