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European
cohesion: contradictions in EU integration
 The book addresses the problem of cohesion in the European
Union. It examines not just those policies designed to bring about
cohesion, but also those which significantly reduce the likelihood
of cohesion being achieved. It also examines the relationship between
policies generated by the EU and those initiated by member states,
as these are not always complementary. The book focuses on three areas
of EU activity: regional policy, trans-European networks, and state
aids to industry, and challenges some assumptions about cohesion;
for example, that regional policy is a form of redistribution of wealth
from richer to poorer areas. It argues that cohesion, rather than
being an objective in its own right, has been systematically redefined
as a tool of competitiveness. It further argues that in order to understand
the EU we must look at the ways in which neo-liberal economic priorities
have led to the privileging of regional autonomy over cohesion.
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