From initial state, European Community (European Union) made effort to reduce regional inequality and to get over the retardation of less deveolped countries. In case of Greece, since the 1990’s the close cooperation between the Greek government and the Community Support Frameworks[CSF) of European Community has proved the intensification of regional innovation and the improvement of enterprise management, based on the joint ownership and dissemination of technology and information.
However, the items enforced by European Community on the one hand, and the Innovative politics downwards from the central government of Greece on the other hand, used to form a cause of discord between the central and the local governments, not making much account of regional particulars. And, inspite the efforts for innovation, a small scale of companies and research institutes disturbed the self development and mutual transfer of technology. Meanwhile, remarkable Regional Innovation Strategy(RIS) of Greece set up with the Regional Technology Plan(RTP) of Macedonia in 1995. And the example of Macedonia was followed resulting in 11 projects of RIS and RITTS(Regional Innovation and Technology Transfer Strategy), regionally balanced and spread over various regions of Greece.
On the other hand, close relation with European Community had an effect not only on economic but political phases. The development of regional self-government system of Greece came into effect in the decade of 1990’s, when the relation between European Community and Greece intensified.
Then, since the decade of 1990’s European Community furnished transitional fund to the Central and Eastern Countries, who were not then it’s members yet, for preparing to enter European Community. The regional unbalance, however, got intensified in the majority of the 10 countries who got the benefits of transitional fund. In partiuclar, the more the role of market increased, the more regional inequality deepened. Futhermore, it seems that in future European Community would give much more weight on promoting economic integration of the European Union than reducing regional inequality upon traditional strategy.
Answering to these tendencies, members of European Community in Central and Eastern Countries strive not only for economic integration with the world of European Community by means of technology Innovation and intensifing interaction between enterprises, but also seek after organizational, institutional reformation.
The point calling attention here is that, in less developed countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the politics attracting foreigner’s investment, which is properly to accelerate the economic integration into European Community, should be carried out keeping consideration for the existed industry structure as well as regional balance. Especially in retarded regions, the effort for realizing regional balance used to be closely connected with reducing the social gap between the rich and the poor. Actually, however, it is not an easy job to harmonize between the politics for the sectorial development in industry and the regional development in balance. The horizontal, sectorial support and intensification of market economy, which seek after competitiveness and profit, tended to increase social inequality, intensifing the social disparity between the rich and the poor as well as the regional concentration of industry. Then, the effort to exploit potential capacities of less developed regions accommodating the integrated economic structure of European Union should be assumed in every aspect by cooperation of the three authorities, that is, region, state, and European Union.
Furthermore, the development of market economy is inevitably coupled with the accomodation of much more liberal political structure of Western Europe, so as to call for revision of traditional political structure of socialism in Central and Eastern Europe, resulting in a fine prospect of economic development. Thus, as the local autonomy has developed in Greece under the influence of European Community, it is inevitable to diffuse central power to each region and to materialize political democracy, which is in turn to improve the creativity of enterprises on the one hand, and that of regions on the other hand,. And these movements in the end will do much for reducing the inequality among various regions as well as social classes.