Fighting Spatial Disparities, Enhancing Territorial Competitiveness: European Union Regional Policy Paradoxes

Competitiveness strategy agreed in Lisbon in 2000 was seen as a radical change in the economic and social policy of the European Union. However, this strategy, meant to be a response to globalization, mass unemployment, and deindustrialization, has disappointing results. This failure may be partly explained by the structural funds dispersion between the traditional objective of territorial solidarity, the Lisbon imperative of competitiveness and after 2001, sustainable development.