The European Structural and Investment Funds

The Cohesion Fund (CF) is one of five European Structural and Investment Funds (Figure 1), used for helping Member States achieve economic, social and territorial cohesion (Article 174 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, TFEU). However, the CF differs significantly from the other funds for several reasons (see Box 1). Its creation in 1993 was closely related to the completion of the Common Market and the introduction of the European Monetary Union (EMU). The CF was intended to ensure that the least-developed Member States were able to benefit from the removal of barriers to market competition and to develop their basic infrastructure, while at the same time trying to meet the EMU’s tight criteria regarding public debt and deficits.