The Restructuring of Regional Policy in the European Community

For the past five years, regional policy in the European Community has been characterized by radical changes in the policies of individual Member States as well as the regional policy of the European Community (EC) itself. Particularly in northern Europe, traditional regional policy has come under considerable strain with the rise of competing policy priorities and public expenditure constraints. The increasing independence of the European Community in the exercise of its own regional policy, as well as interventions in regional aid by the European Commission under EC competition policy, have contributed to the pressures on Member States. The following paper reviews recent changes in regional policy in the EC focusing, first, on recent developments in the regional policies of the Member States and, second, in the policies of the European Community.