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Can anyone on crit-geog solve a 'domestic' please? As an economic geographer I wondered why the EU doesn't give incentives to industrialists to set up plants in poorer areas. Maybe have some formula like % region is below EU average per capita GDP = % grant available. So if e.g. Volvo wanted to set up a car maunfacturing plant in Romania or Greece, the region had a per capita GDP that was 71% of EU average, a 29% grant to Volvo would be paid by Brussels. After all the EU does have regional grants to poorer areas, even Cornwall qualified for that. there are parts of Romania with beautiful scenery, forests ,mountains, but the area is desperately poor, old mining towns now defunct, unheated Stalinist blocks of flats etc. Greece could then be a good place for e.g. Volvo to set up car plants, creating demand for building materials, car parts, giving Greece a decent export industrial base. My partner who is a lawyer with interests in EU law said this would be interference with free trade, against the principles of the Treaty of Rome, anit-subsidiarity etc. Who is right? If she is right why wouldn't this be a good idea, even of it meant amending the Treaty of Rome? (I won't even begin on whether Greece should vote YES or NO today, another area we differ on). Dr Hillary J. Shaw Director and Senior Research Consultant Shaw Food Solutions Newport Shropshire TF10 8NB www.fooddeserts.org