Description:Regional policy is likely to remain an important feature of European integration for many years to come. The first part of this book shows why a fast, automatic reduction of the regional socio-economic disparities within the EU is unlikely. The book analyses the key features of EU regional policy and investigates whether European regional policy is well co-ordinated with other European and national public policies that have an impact on the regional distribution of economic activity. Three policy areas are looked at in detail: national regional investment grants, research and development policy, and transport and infrastructure policy. The analysis identifies shortcomings within EU regional policy and co-ordination problems with other public policies, notably EU state aid control. Moreover, the results indicate that the cohesion problems within the EU are to a significant extent home-made by the countries concerned.