Cohesion policy of the European Union, the importance and difficulties in its implementation in the Republic of Slovenia

Diplomsko delo si prizadeva čim bolj celovito in pregledno opredeliti kohezijsko politiko Evropske unije. Osrednji namen je predstaviti, kakšen pomen ima tovrstna politika za Republiko Slovenijo. Eden izmed temeljnih ciljev Evropske unije je doseči čim bolj enakomeren in skladen razvoj v vseh delih Unije oziroma zmanjšati razlike med regijami in državami članicami Evropske unije. Da bi dosegla ta cilj, je oblikovala kohezijsko politiko. Ta obsega vrsto instrumentov in programov, ki se izvajajo na evropski, regionalni, nacionalni in lokalni ravni. Kohezijska politika deluje tako, da pospešeno spodbuja rast in sodelovanje na ekonomskem, socialnem in teritorialnem področju v podpovprečno razvitih delih Evropske unije. Ker je kohezijska politika precej kompleksno področje, je diplomsko delo zaradi razumevanja vsebinsko razdeljeno na dva večja sklopa. Prvi opisuje oblikovanje in razvoj kohezijske politike oziroma izvedbo ustreznih reform po posameznih obdobjih ter opredeljuje instrumente in načela, na katerih temelji kohezijska politika in katerih poznavanje je nujno za njeno razumevanje. Drugi sklop obravnava kohezijsko politiko z vidika Republike Slovenije kot članice Evropske unije. Prvo podpoglavje prikazuje razsežnost kohezijske politike v državi, nadalje so opredeljeni vsi udeleženci politike, vključno z vršilci nadzora nad porabo evropskega denarja, nazadnje pa je opisan tudi postopek izbire operacij. Drugo podpoglavje se osredotoča na težave, s katerimi se sooča Slovenija pri izvajanju politike in išče vzroke zanje. Pri analizi se opiram na dosedanjo in preteklo pravno ureditev, na razpoložljivo literaturo, priporočila in ugotovitve posameznih institucij ter organov in na primere tako dobre kot tudi slabe prakse izvajanja kohezijske politike v Republiki Sloveniji in ostalih državah članicah.The thesis endeavours as comprehensively and transparently as possible to define the cohesion policy of the European Union. Its central purpose is to present the importance of such policy in the Republic of Slovenia. One of the fundamental objectives of the European Union is to achieve the most consistent and harmonious development in all parts of the Union and to reduce disparities between regions and Member States of the European Union. The cohesion policy was created, in order to achieve this objective,. It contains a series of instruments and programmes which are implemented at European, regional, national, and local level. Cohesion policy works by accelerating growth and cooperation in the economic, social and territorial area of the under-developed parts of the European Union. Since cohesion policy is quite a complex area, for the sake of understanding, the thesis is divided into two major parts. The first describes the formation and development of the cohesion policy and the implementation of appropriate reforms in the individual periods. Moreover, it defines the instruments and the principles on which the cohesion policy is based up on, and the knowledge of which is essential for its understanding. The second part deals with the cohesion policy from the perspective of an individual Member State, i.e. the Republic of Slovenia. The first section shows the dimension of cohesion policy in the country, further defines all the policy participants, including the actors who control the spending of European money, and finally describes the operation selection procedure. The second section focuses on the difficulties facing Slovenia in the implementation of the policy and seeks their causes. In the analysis the thesis relies on the present and the past legal regulation, on the available literature, the recommendations and findings of the various institutions and bodies and on the examples of both good and bad practice of the implementation of cohesion policy in the Republic of Slovenia and in the other Member States