EU Structural Support: Its Macroeconomic and Distributional Effects and Social Environment

This is a report about the fourth workshop from the seminar series of IIASA’s Economic Transition and Integration Project entitled “The Process of EU Accession: Preparation by Learning and Exchange”. The workshop was held in Prague in November, 2000. The first section summarizes recent developments in the accession process in the individual candidate countries. The second is devoted to the establishment of regional institutions for managing the structural support funds of the EU. The next section deals with the organization of planning, monitoring and evaluation of EU financed programs as experienced and perceived in the current members states and the candidate countries. The fourth section is devoted to the essence and realization of the principles of EU programs, while the fifth analyzes the macroeconomic effects of past and future such programs. Section 6 deals with the impact of EU funds on national and regional convergence, while section 7 with the issue of program selection. Finally, section 8 is devoted to the special problems of the two heavy weight sectors in EU programs: agriculture, as well as transport and infrastructure.