ABSTRACT
The tale of cohesion and convergence constitutes an important element of the legend of European integration in Western Europe after World War II. This chapter looks at the real structures behind the EU integration narrative of cohesion and convergence from the point of view of critical political economy. It argues that it is uneven development rather than cohesion and convergence that reflects the structural imbalances that seem to have haunted the EU from the early days. The chapter distinguishes different types of accumulation regimes in both EU core and (semi-)periphery which entail different configurations of asymmetric relations between EU core and (semi-)peripheral economies. The countries in the different sub-groups of core and (semi-)periphery have followed different though interlinked trajectories in the post-crisis period. The Mediterranean growth model that had relied on high capital inflows in the pre-crisis years, could not be continued in the wake of the crisis.
