Over its 35 years of formal existence, the European Union’s Cohesion Policy (ECP) has grown to become a significant share of the Union’s budget and the largest source of investment in socioeconomic and environmental development EU-wide. In its lifetime, this Policy has adapted to the frequent changes in mainstream European Union (EU) policy agendas; ; it has nevertheless maintained its core principle of orientation: to support the balanced and sustainable development of Europe’s regions. Profoundly preconditioned by systematic EU enlargement processes resulted in increasing territorial imbalances, ECP has prioritised the allocation of funding to socioeconomically less developed regions of Europe (below 75 percent of the EU’s average Gross Domestic Product (GDP)). However, several factors have contributed to the relative lack of success in the achievement of the Policy’s ultimate goal—namely, territorial cohesion at the national level. Indeed, in several cases, after more than 30 years of continuous ECP investment, some EU regions have not lost the ‘less developed’ label.. This chapter critically discusses the trajectory of ECP since 1988 and its potential future transformation into a more effective and integrated territorial development policy in the context of increasing global urbanisation trends and environmental sustainability concerns.

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• Geografia Económica e Social - Ciências Sociais