Managing EU Structural Funds. Effective capacity for implementation as a prerequisite

Book abstract:

As part of the Agenda 2000 reforms package, significant steps were taken towards a further decentralisation of the management of the EU Structural Funds. In essence, the Member States have become, even more than before, the authorities primarily responsible for ensuring effective implementation and management of the Structural Funds programmes. This book assesses the main implications of the Agenda 2000 reforms of the Structural Funds for current and future Member States. It analyses the present process of preparations of the candidate countries for their forthcoming management of the Structural Funds, and argues that the candidate countries will have to make considerable efforts, predominantly in the pre-accession period, in order to establish the necessary institutional, legal and budgetary frameworks that are required to effectively manage the Funds.

This concise book is split into four main parts: EU Structural Funds: principles, priority objectives and implementation; The Agenda 2000 reforms of the EU Structural Funds; Preparing for effective management of the structural funds; EU structural funds and the partnership principle.