ABSTRACT
Regional disparities in the EU are substantial and represent one of the main challenges to its cohesiveness. Indeed, “economic and social cohesion” is identified in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union as one of the fundamental objectives of the EU. Regional policy, however, was not initially a formal competence of the Community tier of government, but this changed in 1975 with the establishment of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Spending on structural policies has increased progressively since then as greater attention has been paid to the need to go beyond the common market that was the original raison d’être of the European Community.
