Assessing the impact of EU cohesion policy on European economy

a review of empirical studies

Abstract

Political debate on forming the Community budget and the allocation of its resources among the policy areas of the European Union (EU) is crucial for its political and economic activity in any programming period, as well as when preparing policy interventions towards the 2021-2027 period. In any case, one of EU's main funding policies, is cohesion policy. The article examines the impact of this particular Community policy on economy and development, through the transfer of resources between EU member states/regions. To this end, the results of relevant scientific papers and empirical studies for all programming periods between 2000 and 2020 are examined, presenting, thus, a secondary overview of the effects of cohesion policy for the European economy as a whole, and Greece in particular.