Future Direction of EU Structural Fund Support

Tasks

The study includes a brief statement on the future direction of EU Structural Fund funding (ESI funding) with special reference to Bavaria. Against the background of the current preparations for the coming funding period (2021-2028), the reasons for EU Structural Fund funding in an economically strong region that is oriented towards the cohesion objective and how the funding successes to date can be assessed were examined. In addition to the State's fiscally motivated interest in EU financial participation in country-specific support programmes, there are hardly any good reasons for EU support in economically strong regions; in accordance with the subsidiarity principle, support programmes should be left to the regions themselves. In addition, the "European added value" of the projects carried out seems rather low. At best, EU participation in country-specific funding programmes can be justified with regard to cooperation projects between Bavaria and its European neighbours.