LEGAL ASPECTS OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF EU FUNDS 2007-2013 IN POLAND – PRACTICE AND CHALLENGES

TitleLEGAL ASPECTS OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF EU FUNDS 2007-2013 IN POLAND – PRACTICE AND CHALLENGES
Publication TypeConference Proceedings
Year of Publication2013
AuthorsMusiałkowska, I., & Talaga R.
Conference NameRegionalisation and Inter-regional Co-operation. 21th NISPAcee Annual Conference
Number of Volumes1
Date Published09/2013
PublisherNISPAcee
Conference LocationBelgrade, Serbia
ISBN Number978-80-89013-68-5
ISBNyes
Keywords2007-2013, adoption of operational programmes, coordination, EU funds, EU law, operational programmes, Poland
Abstract

Poland, since the pre-accession period, has been dealing with the European Union financial and technical assistance. However, current financial perspective of the EU gave Poland opportunity to be involved in the whole programming period and participate in each phase of the Cohesion Policy cycle. The responsibility of the implementation of this policy is shared between the European Commission and the Member States of the EU. Therefore, one of the key elements of the use of EU funds is the regulatory environment and legal acts adoption that enable proper use of the EU budgetary allocations. Besides, the strong impact of the European Union has been visible on the processes of governance and law creation on both central and regional levels of administration. It has resulted in appearance of multilevel governance and creation of  multilayered legal system in terms of the use of EU funds. One of the main aims of the article is to present Polish experiences with the implementation and creation of legal acts referring to the area of Cohesion Policy in the years 2007-2013 (including strengths and weaknesses). From comparison made to previous period 2004-2006 changes in the process of adoption and implementation of legal acts are noticeable. Moreover, some shifts towards stronger coordination in the phase of programming of the policy are visible. Challenges and remedies to weaknesses with reference to legal and management aspects of Cohesion Policy would be also discussed in concluding section of the paper. The methodology of the paper bases on the analysis of types of legal acts, legal and administrative procedures comprising EU regulations, Polish legal acts, Ministry of Regional Development regulations and guidelines, regional/local law, confronted with the consequences for system of EU funding and for potential beneficiaries. The results of the analysis can help to formulate recommendations for improvement in the forthcoming years 2014-2020 that can be useful not only in the Polish case. This particular experience can serve as in-depth case study for countries preparing themselves to join the EU and also provide some lessons for inter-regional co-operation in the area of regional development and consequences of multilayered law creation. 

URLhttps://www.academia.edu/3578342/Legal_aspects_of_the_implementation_of_EU_funds_2007-2013_in_Poland_-_practice_and_challenges