THE EU’S REGIONAL AND COHESION POLICY – EVOLUTION AND PERSPECTIVES1
THE EU’S REGIONAL AND COHESION POLICY – EVOLUTION AND PERSPECTIVES1

Summary/Abstract: Created as a policy of solidarity at European level, the regional policy is based on the principle of financial solidarity that allows the redistribution of a part of the Community budget made up from contributions of Member States, towards regions and social groups less developed. The Structural Funds (The European Regional Fund, the Cohesion Fund and the European Social Fund), which represent the main instruments for the implementation of the regional policy, are about a third of the EU budget. These instruments account roughly a total of 437.4 billion Euro in between 2007 – 2013, out of which 82% will be invested in the poorest regions of the Union. The Treaty of Lisbon extends the field of application of the regional policy and cohesion, recognising explicitly the „territorial cohesion” as a fundamental objective of the European Union, along with the economic and social cohesion

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