The structural funds and the Cohesion Fund operate within the framework of the Community's structural policy destined to reduce the distance between the levels of development of the regions and States that make up the European Union. Already the Treaty of Rome, back in 1957 was the seed from which the current European Union sprouted. It established the need to promote, through the creation of a common market, harmonious development of economic activities throughout the whole Union. It was soon clear, however, that the power of the market could not guarantee the desired cohesion and reduce the differences among the different regions and States and the Community started involving itself more and more in the development of a common structural policy.