The Reform Treaty and its impact on structural and cohesion policy: A step forward for the European Parliament

This paper retraces the path towards a new treaty and examines its impact on structural and cohesion policy. It is also based on responses and contributions from the main players, the European institutions and representatives of civil society – Parliament, the Commission, the European Central Bank, the Committee of the Regions and the European Trade Union Confederation, to name but a few. It concludes with a review of the ways in which the treaty will be ratified once the final text has been adopted.