The Impact of the Economic Crisis on the Cohesion Policy

“One basic formula for understanding the Community is this: Take five broken empires, add the sixth one later, and make one big neo-colonial empire out of it all.”[Professor Johan Galtung, Norwegian sociologist] The EU represents a unique economic and political partnership, formally recognised on 1 November 1993 through the Maastricht Treaty, uniting 27 States around common political, economic, cultural and social values – a Community which evolves towards the Economic and Monetary Union, based on internal and external policy cooperation between States. Based on these priorities, but being aware of the numerous differences between Member States/regions regarding the level of development, the EU assumes the task of reducing the existing gaps through a common regional policy, aiming to reinforce economic and social cohesion. This paper intends to examine the effects of the economic crisis on the cohesion policy 2007-2013 and the measures adopted by the EU in order to reduce them.