A mosaic of people and cultures, the European Union is made of more than 250 regions and therefore faces great diversities inside of its own geographic boundaries. The presence of national borders separates economically, socially and culturally the frontier communities and represents an obstacle to a consistent management of the territory.

In the past, national policies have often neglected these areas considered peripheral within the national territory. Nowadays, cross-border and transnational cooperation represent one of the greatest challenges for the future European integration and in order to reduce the disparity between the various regions, the EU has implemented a regional policy based on financial solidarity.

During the mid 80s Community regional policies have been founded on a certain number of development programmes financed by the structural funds, based on the will to secure economic and social cohesion between all European Union territories.

This solidarity has allowed territories in greater difficulties to better face their own handicaps. Therefore, for period 2000 - 2006, a third of the community budget (213 billions of Euro ), coming from Member States contributions, will be allocated to regional policies and will be distributed between the needy regions.