Description of the topic General View
Cohesion policy in the European Union has the intended purpose of reducing differences between the member states in matters of economic, social and territorial importance and works to ensure that each region achieves its full potential. Moreover, Article 174 of the Lisbon Treaty states that the policy aims to promote ‘overall harmonious development’ of the EU through the ‘strengthening of its economic, social and territorial cohesion’. According to the European Commission, ignoring the disparities that are apparent across the EU would undermine the single market and single currency, justifying the large percentage of the budget that is spent on these policies .
The Greek Case
As we know Greek regions have benefited from the inflow of community funds since 1981,when Greece joined the European Union. At this point we believe that we have to present briefly the main funding that Greece has received from 1986 to 2006.Firstly, we have to mention the Mediterranean Integrated Programmes (MIPs) from 1986 to 1993,which <<pushed>> the available funds to small infrastructure projects in Greece. Moreover, we have also to state that the 1994-1999 Community Support Framework, gave the incentives to the country to implement the major infrastructure projects of national character. These infrastructures (railway network,ports,highways) helped Greece not only to connect with other countries but also to be prepared to enter in the Economic Monetary Union.
In the meantime PASOK (Greek socialist party) started (1994) to decentralize the structure of the state. Firstly, PASOK established the direct election of the prefects and prefecture councils. Furthermore, in 1997 an independent and unitary regional administration was established, primarily through Law 2503/97. This legislation gave to the regions the competences of planning,