Tendencies in the Financial Implementation of Structural and Cohesion Funds in the EU

Abstract

The considerable differences between Member States of the European Union not only creates specific EU cultural diversity, they are also with an economical nature, with local specificities in each region of the Member States. In order to reduce the economic gaps between different EU Member States, each Member State being in turn divided into various regions, European Union grants financial assistance to Member States in the form of structural funds. In context of the efforts aimed at improving the overall competitiveness of the European Union, European cohesion policy is the most important financial instrument to support the Member States under the Convergence objective, namely to promote economic and social cohesion by reducing disparities starting from regional level .

Keywords

• cohesion policy
• absorption capacity
• the 'Convergence' objective 'Regional competitiveness and employment "
• programming period