Regions and regional policies in the European Union

Regions which are formed on the basis of similar cultural, administrative values and economic interests have a five century long history. Regions had an essential place in the administrative structure until 16 century when social and administrative environment changed drastically. In the following centuries, as a consequence of advances in the trasportation and communication technologies, the understanding of the state in the center evolved into the central state. Unlike the former, the central state dealt with not only the privileged functions such as defence and foreign affairs but also started to provide the daily services of the citizens in the whole country. The newly emerged central state eroded the significance of regional administration whose primary functions diminished in a considerable manner. Regions which had their peculiar administrative tradition and cultural values were under a strict control and even their vital demands always disregarded by the center.The degraded importance of regions was a natural outcome of administrative centralization which accelerated following the French Revolution. Centralization based upon the principles of standard services throughout the country and the homogenous society composed of equal citizens. The problems related to these principles created a fertile sphere for the regional administrations as an alternative level of government. Regional administrations as a means of opposition always were on the agenda yet the breakthrough was II. World War during which the necessity of regions became undeniably apparent. Following the war, regions were included into administrative structure officially.In spite of being a part of administrative structure, the roles of regions could not enhanced as expected because centrally planned huge economic developments projects were inevitable and only central government was able to implement such projects. Furthermore, in Europe, the rise of welfare state policies aiming implementation of the services related the health and education was an hurdle for the germination of regional administration.In the 1970?s unitary administrative structures were in great difficulty adopting themselves in line with social demands mainly about experiencing cultural peculiarities. Moreover, economic projects which were carried out by the central government resulted in the concentration of the industry in a few cities and therefore economic and demographic balances were far from sustainability. So, regional administration appeared as an inevitable product of the new social and economic conditions of 1970?s. The huge financial burden on central government stemming from welfare state services also made central governments eager for devolution to regional administration. Finally the perception of European Union that the development gap among European regions as the main impediment before European integration gave moment to regional administrations. As a result of all these new conditions, regions, after two centuries, became one of the most prominent level of administration in Europe.