22
adjacent regions as a result of unification. Second, this analysis affords us the opportunity to study
the location and distribution of the regions in geographic space in order to determine the
classification of regions positioned in the EU geographic periphery. Third, it allows for the exact
identification of the EU geographic core, as well as the independent core agglomerates that signify a
multi-agglomerate production structure (Krugman, 1991a)
The preliminary stylised facts indicate that the fifteen EU member states consist of 81
provinces, 222 regions, and 874 counties, including the regions of Denmark and Ireland, but excluding
the French Dependencies. The integrated market has a total of 2,449 urban centres, of which 355 each
have a total population greater than 100,000 inhabitants, 509 each with a total population greater than
50,000 inhabitants, and 1,585 with a population greater than 20,000 inhabitants.13 Urban areas with a
population less than 20.000 are not included in the above total.
The results of classifying the national regions into core, adjacent, and periphery are found in
Table 2. The periphery regions are subdivided into continental and island periphery regions. The Irish
and Danish regions are included.
[Figure 4]
The classification results reveal five salient points. One, Belgium has no periphery regions,
while Denmark is a predominantly peripheral area. Two, Germany has 29 core regions and two
periphery regions. Three, France consists of one core region and 15 periphery regions. Four, Greece,
Ireland, Austria, Finland and Sweden respectively have only one core region. Five, the countries with
the highest relative number of core regions are the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and Italy.
There is some change in regional classification after EU integration in 1992. This consists primarily of
the change of border periphery regions into adjacent regions.
5.1 EU Geography Ex Ante 1992
To address the issue of how the classification of regions changed after the removal of trade
barriers (i.e. Europe 1992), a more detailed overview of the regional classification is necessary.
13 Portrait of the Regions (1993)