The author evaluates the use of EU regional development funds (Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund) by Hungary, with particular consideration to the implementation in sectoral vs. regional (i.e. territorial) programmes, and to the “location” of specific interventions (with special regard to those of economy/business-development) in sectoral or regional programmes.
Problem Statement:
In Hungary from its accession it was a serious dilemma to implement EU regional development funds in regional or sectoral (so-called “operational”) programmes. This was especially true for economy/business-development interventions.
In the first period (2004-06) in addition to sector-wide programmes there was only one “country-wide” Regional Operational Programme, which included “regional” (territorial) measures, and which had one central decision-making body (so-called Managing Authority). For the period from 2007 besides a number of sectoral programmes seven Regional Operational Programmes were adopted for the seven statistical-developmental regions of Hungary, also with one single central decision-making body, but the so-called Regional Development Councils obtained a stronger involvement in decision-making.
Those arguing for regional programmes say that decisions should be taken at the lowest possible (but still efficient) level, by those who are affected by the interventions (principle of “subsidiarity\"), and that complex problems with territorial dimension are more effectively tackled in multi-faceted territorial programmes. Whilst those arguing for sectoral programmes reason with the efficiency of implementation, taken into consideration the relatively small extent of the country.
Purpose of the Study:
The author examines the above-mentioned problem through the results of the two periods roughly similar in length (2004-06; 2007-10), i.e. whether there is a “raison d’etre” for regional programs in Hungary, and if so, what types of interventions should they cover, what functions, competencies should the implementation-system bear and how it should be structured.
Methods: The author applies the following methodologies of evaluation: desk research, meta-evaluation, interview, secondary analysis of aggregated monitoring data, benchmarking.
Findings and Results:
The author concludes that in fact the question is not: regional or sectoral programme but rather under what type of programmes certain types of interventions should be implemented. The author also emphasizes the importance of the conformity of the implementation-structure and the location of tasks with the interventions to be implemented. In addition, the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the existing implementation-system, EU’s regulatory framework and the government\'s current policy on territorial policy play also key roles.
Conclusions and Recommendations:
The author outlines the frameworks of a hypothetic regional-sectoral programme and implementation-system setup fo
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Uvodni rad:
Da
Datum:
31.05.2011.
Br. otvaranja:
710
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