The cohesion policy of the European Union has become its primary instrument promoting development in the peripheral member states. The enduring consequences of the 2007–2008 crisis and the economic governance agenda requiring fiscal discipline from the member states have raised the policy’s significance further. However, similar economic inequalities characterize the EU nowadays as several decades ago. The cohesion policy is by no means alone responsible for this, but the reasons for its ambiguous performance deserve further scrutiny. Empirical studies explain variation in fund performance with domestic institutional quality and absorption capacity, but the member states’ fund spending strategies have not been addressed so far. This is puzzling because they are important determinants of the economic effects of EU funds. The paper fills this gap by investigating the spending strategies of the Southern and the Eastern members in two recent programming cycles (2007–2013 and 2014–2020). Assessed on five expenditure categories, the paper reveals that physical infrastructure investments enjoyed priority over long-term growth-generating R&D and human capital projects and that the allocation of EU funds did not reflect domestic development needs.

中文翻译：

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欧盟东部和南部周边的凝聚政策：资金分配不当？

欧盟的凝聚政策已成为其促进外围成员国发展的主要工具。2007-2008 年危机的持久后果和要求成员国实施财政纪律的经济治理议程进一步提高了该政策的重要性。然而，与几十年前一样，如今的欧盟也存在类似的经济不平等。凝聚政策绝不是唯一的责任，但其模糊表现的原因值得进一步审查。实证研究解释了基金业绩随国内机构质量和吸收能力的变化，但迄今为止尚未解决成员国的基金支出策略。这令人费解，因为它们是欧盟基金经济影响的重要决定因素。本文通过调查最近两个规划周期（2007-2013 和 2014-2020）中南部和东部成员的支出策略来填补这一空白。对五个支出类别进行评估后，该文件显示，有形基础设施投资优先于产生长期增长的研发和人力资本项目，并且欧盟资金的分配并未反映国内发展需求。