The European Union (EU) comprises 27 Member States which form a Community, and a single market, of 493 million citizens. Within this Community, there remain considerable differences in standards of living and levels of opportunity among its 271 regions. It is against this background that the EU has developed a regional policy to enable all regions to compete effectively in the internal market and hence to promote economic and social cohesion. While this has always been the primary role of regional policy, the challenges faced by Europe's regions have changed over time. To deliver a more strategic and effective response, the policy too has evolved to meet the new realities, and, indeed, to anticipate change.

The period of office of the European Commission from 2004 to 2009 has coincided with a time of momentous change in the Union as a result of enlargement and against a background of increasing globalisation, concerns about energy supplies, demographic decline, climate change and more recently, world recession. This overview of the past five years describes the main challenges since 2004 where regional policy has been a key part of the response at European level. The report sets out these achievements and policy innovations, as well as describing the steps which have been taken over these past years to prepare the groundwork for the future policy.

23/06/2009

policy

Urban Policy