The Price of Europeanization: Why European Regional Policy Initiatives Are a Mixed Blessing

Over the last three decades, European regional policy has developed into one of the principal areas of EC activity.1 From the creation of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in 1975, it has developed into the second most important policy area within the EU in budget terms taking up 35 per cent of the EU budget in 2000 (European Commission, 2000). While the European regional policy’s impact on the reduction of regional disparities has remained limited at best (European Commission, 2001) its impact on European governance, i.e. the question of how regional policy should be conducted in Europe, has been much more significant. Reasons for this can be found if one acknowledges the importance of three key dichotomies that have shaped the evolution of the European regional policy regime: (1) development versus compensation; (2) intergovermentalism versus multi-level governance; and (3) cohesion versus competition. A closer analysis of these dichotomies can help to eliminate certain myths that have been persistent in this policy area. First, i