An enlarged EU requires a reformulation of the basic structure that has so far characterized the EU's institutions, finances and common policies. This analysis focuses on the proposal that the EU Commission was made to reform the cohesion policy. There are significant economic implications for Spain and the economic agents must properly understand the key issues and terms of the Commission's proposal and also of the process that enlargement has set in motion in terms of community cohesion - a process that occurs simultaneously as average income increases in Spain as a whole and in each of the country's regions in relation to the average income in the Union, both before and after enlargement.