Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
THE COMPETENCE ISSUE: THE LEGAL BASIS FOR SPATIAL PLANNING
AT EU LEVEL
Despite this increasing understanding of interdependences of the spatial impacts
of policy sectors, the European Community has no legal competence in spatial
planning. One of the main reasons for this are the very divergent views on the
necessity, function and institutional capacity of a European spatial policy amongst
the different EU member states (cf. Faludi, 2003). Yet, while there is no direct com-
petence, there is a certain consideration of 'spatial planning' issues in the Euro-
pean Treaties, which are often related to the EU's regional policy or other spatially
relevant policy areas such as environment or transport.
The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) was initiated on the basis
of Art. 235 of the Treaty of Rome by a 1975 Council decision in order to deal with
regional economic disparities within the European Community (Fit and Kragt,
1994). The regional policy objectives were reinforced in the Single European Act
(1987), which stated that 'the Community shall aim at reducing disparities between
the levels of development of the various regions and the backwardness of the
least-favoured regions' (Art. 130a). The Single European Act removed restrictions
and trade barriers in many areas of European activity. The 'four freedoms' of the
single market were expected to contribute to economic growth, though mainly in
the inner core of Europe and thus possibly leading to a more uneven distribution of
development potential (Faludi and Waterhout, 2002).
The Treaty of Maastricht on the European Union of 1992 provided for a
'Cohesion Fund', which financially contributes to projects in the field of the environ-
ment, and in the area of transport infrastructure to Trans-European Networks
(TENs). The Treaty of Maastricht gave a new emphasis to European spatial devel-
opment policy by:
•
increasing democratic control by the European Parliament in the form of a
right of veto over the formulation of the structural funds (Art. 130d EU Treaty);
•
introducing the principle of subsidiarity
3
(Art. 3b EU Treaty); and
•
establishing the Committee of the Regions (CoR) consisting of regional and
local authorities (Art. 198a-c EU Treaty).
Beyond that, the treaty contained general ideas on the spatial development of the
Union regarding 'the creation of an area without borders' and 'the promotion of
economic and social cohesion', to be achieved through the following objectives
and measures:
•
reducing disparities between the levels of development of the various regions
(Art. 130a EU Treaty);
