Evaluation of EU structural support for enhancement the development and diminishing the disparities of Lithuania's regions

Straipsnyje analizuojama ES struktūrinių fondų paramos tikslingumo ir daromos įtakos regionų plėtrai bei išsivystymo netolygumams mažinti vertinimo problematika. Lietuvos apskričių plėtra įvertinta regionų plėtros indeksu, kurį sudaro 20 ekonominių, socialinių ir aplinkos būklės rodiklių, 2004-2006 m. bei 2007-2009 m. laikotarpiams. Straipsnyje taip pat atlikta palyginamoji analizė apimanti Lietuvos apskrityse įvykdytų ir vykdomų projektų pagal Sanglaudos skatinimo veiksmų programos 1 prioriteto "Vietinė ir urbanistinė plėtra, kultūros paveldo ir gamtos išsaugojimas bei pritaikymas turizmo plėtrai" skirto finansavimo sumas ir ES dalies finansavime dydžius, tenkančius vienam gyventojui. Palyginus informaciją apie struktūrinių fondų remiamus projektus su apskaičiuotu regionų plėtros indeksu. Ši analizė leidžia daryti išvadas apie ES struktūrinės paramos įtaką regionų plėtrai ir netolygumų mažinimui bei pateikti siūlymus, susijusius su ateityje planuojamu projektų finansavimu bei skirstomos paramos tikslingumo didinimu.EU structural assistance for Lithuania in the period of 2007-2013 is provided according national strategic Operational Programme with consistent priorities committed to implement the programme. Planned EU support for this period is 23394,42 mil. Lt. For Human Resource development Operational Programme 13,80 percent of total budget is assigned, for Economic Growth Operational Programme - 45,72 percent and for Cohesion Promotion Operational Programme, the vision of which is more integrated Lithuanian society which, irrespective of place of residence, is surrounded by a similar environment and quality of life - 39,08 percent from total EU structural assistance for Lithuania in the period of 2007-2013. This assistance should also be a help for sustainable development of Lithuania's regions, decreasing differences and enhancing economic growth. Different analysis studies provide various EU structural assistance assimilation and effectiveness valuation directions, however in the majority of these cases only managerial aspects are presented. Economical effectiveness and influence valuation for regional development enhancement are rare, especially in Lithuania academic research. Aiming to assimilate purposeful future EU structural assistance for Lithuania regions' development and diminishing the disparities, it is necessary to analyse and identify the influence of structural assistance to regions development and reduction of differences and define the prospects for strategic development directions. The aim of the article - to evaluate EU structural assistance influence for Lithuania regions' development enhancement and diminishing the disparities and propose strategic assumptions in implementing national Operational Programme for the period of 2007-2013. In the article Lithuanian regions development by Regional development index is analyzed and evaluated for the period 2004-2009. Regional development index consist of 20 economical, social and environmental indicators. At the same time comparative analysis is performed about already implemented or still implementing projects with EU structural assistance in the period of 2004-2006 and 2007-2009. Comparative analysis of EU structural assistance and regional development index dynamics allows to make conclusions about possible influence of these financing sources to regional development in the period analyzed. The comparative analysis showed, that there is misbalance between regional development index and projects' financing for some regions. This is because in some regions index is low, but at the same time projects' financing (calculated per capita) is also at the low ranking positions. Also, financing intensity for projects, depicting financial support proportion from EU structural funds, in some low regional development index regions is at the lowest ranking positions. Such inconsistent results can be the source for strategic planning of regional development in order to create and improve flexible planning and projects' financing system