Leiden University Student Repository

Dimitrova, Plamena (2022)

The EU’s Efforts to Influence the Absorption of Cohesion Policy Funds: A Comparative Analysis of Bulgaria and Romania

Master thesis | International Relations (MA)

Absorption capacity has been argued to be an essential indicator of the effectiveness of cohesion policy in European Union (EU) member states. Using the Principal-Agent framework to study the implementation stage of cohesion policy, this thesis aims to find whether the Commission as a principal can influence the absorption capacity of countries (the agents) through its control mechanisms, namely the ex-ante conditionalities and priority axes. By doing a comparative analysis of Bulgaria and Romania, findings suggest that while Bulgaria did not follow the Commission’s rules and absorbed a significant amount of funds, Romania, which strictly followed EU’s conditionalities, had its absorption capacity negatively influenced by the Commission. This negative influence is even more evident with the increased funding a member state receives for some of its operational programmes as larger financial assistance requires the country to follow more EU rules.

cohesion policy

European Union

European Commission

absorption

absorption capacity

Bulgaria

Romania

Author

Dimitrova, Plamena

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

European Union Studies

Supervisors

Moloney, D.

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en