The book examines the law of the regional policy of the European Union. The issue is gaining importance because of the challenges to european union regional policy entailed by German re-unification, creation of the European Economic Area (EEA) and enlargement of the union, including some of the EFTA states and probably several countries of Eastern Europe.

The nature of the context in which the issues arise and of the procedures whereby they are tackled in Union practise means that reliance on traditional legal sources may be inadequate for effective analysis. In this sense, judgments of the European Court, on which most analysis of union law focuses, constitute little more than tips of the iceberg . The materials examined in the course of the research for this book include union legislation and judgments of the European Court as well as literary works. Above all, European Commission desicions under article 92-93 of the EC Treaty regarding the grant of regional aid by national authorities, which tend to be neglected by legal writers, have been systematically examined.

The book gives a complete description on the law of the EU regional policy and how it is carried out in actual life. It may be important reading for everyone working with or just interested in the issues.