EU Cohesion Policy and new convergence clubs

European regions form an extraordinarily heterogeneous group due to their wide differences in terms of sense of identity, tradition, economic development, political and constitutional powers and so forth, which are significant for the pluralistic structure of the European Union. Several factors have affected the European regional equilibrium, starting from the EU enlargement to new Member States with a lower level of development compared to the EU average, such as the accession of Ireland in 1973 and of the Iberian Peninsula in 1986, which had worsened the statistical indicators of the real convergence of incomes between European regions.

Moreover, the process of economic integration itself has showed fluctuating periods relating to its implementation in the Member States: indeed, greater integration encourages a further convergence of local development, whereas times of crisis for the European integration are capable of making such process stop or even step back. Additionally, the European Community is heavily hit by the dual development phenomenon occurring in some Member States, such as the emblematic case of Southern Italy and the annexation of the Eastern Länder by Western Germany in 1990. As a result, the Community could be damaged in so far as such countries do not internally solve these asymmetric growth problems, since the European convergence analysis takes into consideration the development gap at the level of individual regions and not at the national one.

In considering economic disparities, though, a significant role has always been played by the uneven distribution of GDP per capita among European regions. In fact, a tendency towards a core–periphery polarized distribution has been observed, according to which GDP per capita is lower in peripheral areas in Southern and Eastern Europe while is higher in Central Europe, and the highest level of productivity rates and GDP are concentrated in State capitals. In connection with this, the phenomenon of cumulative causality has been observed as well, generating an agglomeration of big cities with intense economic activities and dense population, while leaving the remaining periphery with increasing levels of unemployment and population loss.