EU structural support and its impact on Lithuania's progress

Abstract

Abstract During the last years the changes of social ‐ economic situation have been fast, however, according to individual macroeconomic indexes Lithuania is still significantly below the average of EU countries. To decrease these discrepancies the EU grants the structural support, the use of which is anticipated to establish strong and competitive economy, to train qualified labour force and stimulate social and economic cohesion. The efficient and expedient use of the EU support would enable Lithuania to implement the national Lisbon strategy programme and contribute to the implementation of the very Lisbon strategy guidelines. However, the investigations showed that the use of the support is not sufficient enough to secure the efficient progress of the country. The article analyses the aspects of the EU regional policy financing and the expected results of implementing the Lisbon strategy actions; it analyses economic, social, environmental, and other indexes of the economies of Lithuania and EU countr...