The Issue of Development Disparities Among Regions in the European Union and Its Regional Policy

Regional disparities in the European Union in development are regarded as an important problem, while economic and social differences in the Union have increased with the fifth wave of enlargement. The European Union via this policy aims to develop and contribute to those regions by building a strong regional policy in order to ensure economic and monetary union and carry out the internal market perfectly, by giving support to underdeveloped countries and regions. In order to reduce those disparities, a significant part of the Union budget is allocated within the content of regional policy. Regional policy is considered as complementary to other common EU policies and has become a type of policy that is put into practice not only in member states but also in the harmonization of candidate and potential candidate countries. This study aims to analyse evolution and instruments of the EU’s Regional Policy. As a concluding remark, the regional disparities still exist and remain on the agenda as an important issue despite the important progress made within the context of regional policiy in the EU, and furthermore, the EU should make more efforts concerning the issue.