Southern fringes and the process of European integration

Abstract

Regions and cities in southern Europe are facing major problems in the present phase of European integration. Current changes in their spatial division of labour seem not to have been adequately understood by national and EU policy-makers as both are preoccupied with the "gap approach" and a linear view of the development process. Furthermore, the Maastricht Treaty itself pays little attention to non-economic, non-competition issues and to urban and regional issues in particular. Southern fringes struggled a century ago for their integration into their national states and economies. For various historical reasons this project remained unfinished until the 1960s and 1970s. Now they have to start their struggle again under conditions of a zero-sum game in a culturally unknown environment.