EU Cohesion Policy and European Integration: The Dynamics of EU Budget and Regional Policy Reform

摘要

About a third of the European Union's (EU's) budget is devoted to cohesion policy, the primary instrument for supporting regional economic and social development, especially in the poorer states of the Union: also, since its inception in 1975, cohesion policy has been crucial to the drive for European integration. During periodic reforms-often complex, contentious, protracted and mostly decided behind closed doors-it is pleasing to learn that outcomes have been tracked and analysed through two long-term research projects managed by the University of Strathclyde, and this volume provides a comprehensive account of the dynamics and budgetary politics that have shaped the policy.