Because it measures the production level of a country, the Gross Domestic Product is one of the commonly used indicators in the European Union. In the context of Cohesion policy, the regional level gives an overview of disparities in the core of European Union and in neighbouring countries. Improving the efficiency of cohesion policy translates as integrating approach of European policy and better governance from local to Europe. The Gross Domestic Product per capita in this context is an instrument for measuring the effectiveness of Territorial Cohesion policy.

 

• This map produced for the Green paper on territorial Cohesion: 'Turning territorial diversity into strength', represents the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita (in Euros) by region in Europe, in countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea and in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe including Russia. Areas shown in orange are characterized by a GDP per capita above average of European Union (EU27 = 100). Conversely, regions shown in green are characterized by a GDP lower than the European Union average. The map shows a centre/periphery model: the further away a region is from the pentagon of the main metropolitan areas (London - Paris - Milan - Munich - Hamburg), the lower its GDP is, except for Nordic countries. It also can be noted that border regions of Southern and Eastern EU have a GDP (Euros) even lower.
• The presentation of Southern and Eastern neighbourhood is very interesting as it suggests that, in the future, more linkage could be developed between regional policy and neighborhood policy. It is indeed difficult to imagine that convergence of GDP per capita (or other criteria) could be realised on the whole territory of EU without partnership with regions located immediately outside.
• The use of GDP per capita in Euros increases the contrasts, generally slighted by the usual maps of regional policy in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).