EU funds 2021–2027 in the Strategy for Responsible Development. The normative approach

Abstract

Responsible development is development driven by suitable relations between the competitiveness of the economy, care for the environment and quality of life. The Strategy for Responsible Development is drawn up by the government in order to set directions for actions intended to achieve the intended policy objectives in this area. The implementation of this strategy requires, for example, financial tools, including EU funds. Programming of EU funds for the years 2021–2027 is worth analysing for both pragmatic and theoretical reasons. This analysis is particularly important in the context of implementing a Strategy of Responsible Development for the period of EU fund programming. The aim of this paper is to assess the possibilities of using the EU funds proposed for years 2021–2027 to implement a Strategy of Responsible Development in Poland. The article uses a method based on the critical analysis of documents covering legislative sources (Conclusions of the Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council) as well as commentaries. Three EU funds were selected for analysis: European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Cohesion Fund (CF) and European Social Fund Plus (ESF+). The aforementioned funds were selected due to their historical anchoring in the structure of EU support (ERDF and CF) and the proposed integrated approach to ESF+. The results of analyses are presented from a normative economics perspective. The study shows that the role of EU Funds 2021–2027 in implementing the Strategy for Responsible Development has not been sufficiently exposed. This applies to lacks in: – taking into account changes in construction of the ERDF, CF, ESF+; – synchronization of the scope of intervention in the Strategy with the area of support from EU funds; – assessment of financial effects for state and local government budgets when applying for these funds in the new EU programming.