The European Union is highly diverse and its regions have different characteristics, economies and levels of development. The impacts of globalisation, deindustrialisation, technological change and other structural changes have been heterogeneously distributed among European regions. Territorial disparities have the potential of leading to social and political tensions.
Reducing social, economic and territorial disparities is an objective of the EU enshrined in the Treaties. Cohesion Policy has been a major investment tool for decades, channelling EU funding to less developed regions. The Policy has been subject to reforms, and today some are calling for its restructuring (also financially).
The EPC has worked on topics related to regional policy and territorial disparities, as well as the relationship with structural reforms, the growth strategy and, recently, industrial transformations.