The Cohesion Policy is certainly the most important policy area for the EU budget. Over the decades it has also progressively grown in size and relevance. The founding fathers’ acute awareness of the centripetal forces that the Union would determine in the economic sphere, and consequently of the need for a policy to counteract the potential polarisation between central, high-growth regions and peripheral, lagging areas, determined the adoption of an EU-wide policy for territorial cohesion. The main funds of the policy are regional in nature, although nothing precludes their use in a coordinated manner at the national level. As such, the ERDF is the development policy fund, and the ESF, the social pillar fund. From 2007 on, due to the accession of new member states with lower per capita incomes, some resources have been allocated to a “national” fund, the Cohesion Fund (CF). This fund has mostly been used for infrastructure development in the new MS (as well, since 2013, as in some of the old MS whose per capita average income slipped below the 90% EU average threshold).
Cohesion Policy and Public Investment in the EU
G. Coco;R. Lagravinese
2021-01-01
Abstract
The Cohesion Policy is certainly the most important policy area for the EU budget. Over the decades it has also progressively grown in size and relevance. The founding fathers’ acute awareness of the centripetal forces that the Union would determine in the economic sphere, and consequently of the need for a policy to counteract the potential polarisation between central, high-growth regions and peripheral, lagging areas, determined the adoption of an EU-wide policy for territorial cohesion. The main funds of the policy are regional in nature, although nothing precludes their use in a coordinated manner at the national level. As such, the ERDF is the development policy fund, and the ESF, the social pillar fund. From 2007 on, due to the accession of new member states with lower per capita incomes, some resources have been allocated to a “national” fund, the Cohesion Fund (CF). This fund has mostly been used for infrastructure development in the new MS (as well, since 2013, as in some of the old MS whose per capita average income slipped below the 90% EU average threshold).I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
