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A growing number of European countries, especially new Member States, have focused on the absorption of EU funds, in order to restore growth after the outbreak of the financial crisis. These financial mechanisms are considered an attractive tool for financing investment opportunities, particularly in times of crisis, when private investment is low. However, the specialty literature has highlighted the role of European funds in support of economic growth in the short term macroeconomic only in empirical terms, including, in particular, the description of structural funds and key elements that define them (types of funds, objectives, areas of intervention, etc.). These issues are quite important because they define itself the project planning and development of the proposal, since the final selection of eligible projects is done monitoring the match, on the one hand, with the legislative regulations specific for each structural fund (same for all member states) but on the other hand, with the priority objectives and measures specific sectorial operational programs (country-specific). The basic regulations on the Structural Funds can be found in Council Regulation (EC) No EU. 1260 of 21 June 1999 on general provisions of structural and cohesion funds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The regional development of Romania in 2014-2020 should rely on the lessons learned from the 2007-2013 period. In this wider context, the paper analyses the effects of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) provided within the 2007-2013 programme focusing on the development of the economic competitiveness, on the large enterprises from the North-East region of Romania. Three hypotheses are tested within this empirical research. First, that the EU financial assistance granted to a large enterprise implies an increase in its net turnover, gross profit and number of staff. Second, we aim to see whether the increase in the net turnover, gross profit and number of staff is directly linked to the increase of the ERDF grant. Finally, we analyse if the increase of the three indicators is higher for the large enterprises that implemented more projects than for the enterprises that implemented a single project. The analysis also puts under discussion the quality and the availability of the information concerning the projects funded by the European Union in Romania, taking also into consideration the 2014-2020 e-cohesion requirement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the creation of a European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in 1975, the European Communities (EC) still lack a policy instrument to reduce the gap between its richest and poorest regions. Analyzes the size, nature, and geographical distribution of the fund's expenditures. The limitations of the ERDF can be partially explained by the continuing dominance of the wealthier member states within the EC. The Single European Act, adopted in July 1987, reasserted the belief that regional disparities must be reduced in order to maintain the "economic and social cohesion" of the EC and promised a shift toward qualified majority voting on matters relating to the ERDF, but whether these changes will lead to an effective ERDF remains to be seen.