Territorial cohesion has always underpinned European Community policies on the basis of the principle of ensuring the harmonious development of the economies of the different regions by shrinking the gap between them and the backwardness of the least favoured territories.
The work carried out by the Member States within the context of the ’Territorial Agenda’, as well as the considerations of the Leipzig Charter on Urban Development and the Council Conclusions, highlight the challenge of taking the Union’s territorial diversity into account for cohesion policy.