Efficiency of the EU structural support and its effects on the country's progress ; ES struktūrinės paramos panaudojimo efektyvumas ir poveikis šalies pažangai

Abstract

Of late years, changes in the social-economic situation in Lithuania are fast, however, according to separate macroeconomic indices Lithuania is still significantly behind the average of the EU countries. To decrease these discrepancies, the EU grants a structural support the use of which is anticipated to establish a strong and competitive economy, to train qualified labour force and stimulate social and economic cohesion. The efficient and expedient use of the EU support would enable Lithuania to implement the national Lisbon strategy programme and contribute to the implementation of the Lisbon strategy guidelines. However, investigations showed that the use of the support is not efficient enough to secure the due progress of the country. The article analyses the aspects of the EU regional policy financing and the expected results of implementing the Lisbon strategy actions; it analyses the economic, social, environmental, and other indices of the economies of Lithuania and the EU countries and assesses the result of the country's progress in implementing the Lisbon strategy. A research of the expedience of using the EU structural support and its impact on the country's progress was carried out. The research has shown that about two thirds of the measures correspond to the national programme for implementing the Lisbon strategy, but only few indicators have a complex influence on the progress indices. Therefore, while preparing the programmes of the EU support use for 2007-2013 and coordinating them with the EU Commission, a better harmonization of this support use measures with the national programme for implementing the Lisbon strategy is necessary, and the measures should implemented in a complex manner, as well as the horizontal compatibility of the measures should be maintained.