The ERDF and the Mezzogiorno: The Case of Apulia (1972-1992)

The paper deals with the transformation of regional development policies in Europe from the second half of the twentieth century. This process is associated with the increasingly important role of EC/EU Regional Policy and a contextual emergence of various forms of territorial power, represented by Regions and other local authorities. Literature has identified Community financial aid and structural funds as an important vector of transformation of the national intervention in the territorial imbalances. The paper tries to examine in depth this topic, focusing on the role of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in the political and economic context of the Apulia Region (Puglia), one of the most important regions of the Italian Mezzogiorno. Between the 1970s and the 1990s, the creation and consolidation of the ERDF coincided in Italy with the dismantlement of public policies based on the presence of special development agencies and strict control by national authorities. This overlap, maybe offhandedly described as the “Europeanization” of regional development policies, actually raises questions about the real nature of relations between Community, national and regional powers