The eighth progress report on economic, social and territorial cohesion highlights the regional and urban impact of the crisis. This report was adopted during the final days of the negotiations on cohesion policy period 2014 to 2020. This new period of Cohesion policy will start amidst the wreckage of the worst recession in the last fifty years, while some regions and countries continue to face a shrinking economy even in 2014.Between 2008 and 2012, unemployment increased in four out of five regions in the EU. In addition, GDP shrank in two out of three regions between 2007 and 2010. This crisis has a widespread effect including both more and less developed regions. As a result, the disparities between EU regions have started to grow again after a long period of convergence. Most capital metro regions have managed to withstand the crisis better than the other metro regions. Now the challenge is to ensure that all regions return to a positive growth path.