ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the reform of the European Union (EU's) structural policy as part and parcel of the neoliberal Lisbon agenda. It evaluates the anti-crisis measures in the EU thus far and looks whether they are conducive to such an overhaul of the mechanisms of asymmetrical regulation. The chapter looks at member state performance, at disparity levels between sub national regions and highlights the intra-regional developments, notably within urban areas. It argues that a communitarian approach in the field of social policy seems rather utopian given the gap in levels of income and standards of social security among the 27 member states and given the absence of strong interest mediation of labour at the European level. The chapter explores actual patterns of convergence and cohesion in the EU. It discerns some kind of horizontalization of the Union's regional policy, and of the very concept of social cohesion.
