The phenomenon of industrial rationalization is part of our economic reality. The several rhythms of economic growth, besides the changes in the dynamic of the markets, the endowment of productive factors and the technological change, have made their study a complex task, in which there are elements to keep in mind and numerous points of view that could be adopted. Coal in Europe is in a particularly delicate situation. After more than three decades of restructuring and modernisation, the coal industry is still not competitive, when compared with world market prices, and the social situation of coal workers and coal communities is hard. The importance of these processes and their effects on the economic and social development in areas or regions in which the coal industry affects their whole activity, in our opinion, justifies our interest in deepening the knowledge of the complex reality of coal rationalization. Our objective is to offer an overall impression of the coal sector in the European Union as well as the main instruments for economic and social regeneration in the coal regions. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.