Behind the myth of European union

About this book

Despite the rhetoric of 'integration' and a 'single Europe', Europe is marked by sharp social and regional disparities. More acutely than ever, Europe faces the dual problem of how to ensure sustained growth and how to combine it with social equity. 'Cohesion' is the term coined by the European Union for its aim of reducing the social and regional gap in Europe. This book explores the real prospects for cohesion in Europe. It assesses the difficulties facing Less Favoured Regions in the context of the EU's policies on economic integration and social cohesion, and the wider processes of industrial change in Europe. It argues that current measures which purport to facilitate cohesion will not be adequate. Most of the chapters argue that the EU's measures for promoting growth and productivity are biased towards the interests of the advanced regions and the major corporations. At its core lies a critique of the prevailing neo-liberal growth philosophy which decouples the link between economic efficiency and social equity. . The book concludes by making a case for putting cohesion measures at the centre of economic policy, rather than making them an adjunct to attempts to make Europe more 'competitive'. In doing so it defends a growth philosophy based on expansionist macro-economic policies, active industrial intervention, protection of worker rights and active supply-side growth measures in the regions. Without such measures the pursuit of cohesion will remain an elusive goal.