The European Union's Structural Funds and their role in developing a European Identity are the main themes of the present paper. It gives a brief historical overview of the EU Regional Policy and goes on to analyse two case studies: The Shetland Islands in Scotland and the island of Karpathos in Greece. Research was conducted on both islands on the basis of an identical questionnaire. In the end, a direct link between EU Structural Funds and the creation of a European Identity was not established. Nonetheless, other interesting conclusions are drawn.