Política regional y cohesión europea: perspectivas 2014-2020

The slow pace of European Regional Policy since its creation knew a remarkable impulse thanks to the reform of 1988 and the beginning of the process of monetary integration. Later, it stopped abruptly, first, with budgetary constraints derived to the Maastricht criteria which led to a freeze of financial resources to it, and then with its links to the objectives of the socalled Lisbon Strategy, which have blurred and complicated its implementation and results. The future of regional policy for the next programming period (2014-2020), taking into account the known approaches of the European Commission, seems not only very complex but plenty of shadows too. The main reason of this perspective is connected with the link of the new regional policy to the objectives of the so-called Strategy 2020 largely away from what should be its primary objective: economic and social cohesion within an enlarged European Union of 27 countries, paying particular attention to reducing regional inequalities.