Proceedings of the 14th International Academic Conference, Malta

POLITICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE BARRIERS OF IMPLEMENTATION OF COHESION POLICY IN SLOVAKIA

MIROSLAV ŠIPIKAL

Abstract:

We can observe an increase assessment of cohesion policy. It is linked with the growing amount of support spend on this policy as well as need for greater efficiency in the use of these resources due to the crisis in government spending . Evaluations are dedicated to a large number of areas a including assessing the impact of aid, its effectiveness at reducing regional disparities or procedural aspects of implementation of the support. Only a limited number of studies is devoted to political and administrative burdens and their influence on cohesion policy. That impact is difficult to measure, although it greatly affects the ability of cohesion policy to achieve its objectives. The most significant problems should be considered e.g. the way the procurement of evaluation is done, methods of making the criteria for project evaluation and their control or non-publication of results and poor feedback for applicants. The article also analyzes the factors affecting the speed of the whole evaluation process, where the most significant factor seems election and not the number of projects or their content.

Keywords: structural funds, cohesion policy, political influence, Slovakia

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