Regional Policy: Disparities, Development and Future Direction

This chapter highlights the regional disparities within the European Union and discusses the need and rationale for a Regional Policy. It reviews various Regional Policy Programmes, including the European Communities’ Regional Policy up to 1975, the Mediterranean Integrated Programmes spanning 1986–1989/93, the post-1988 structural policy, and the First Community Support Framework (1988–1993). It further discusses the regulatory framework’s revision and the Second Community Support Framework (1994–1999), the Action Programme 2000, another revision leading to the Third Community Support Framework, and the subsequent structural policy review and the National Strategic Reference Framework (2007–2013).