Abstract

This is a review of issues concerning the role and effectiveness of the EU Structural and Cohesion Funds in different countries before and after the EU enlargement since 2004. Based on Ireland's experience this analysis focuses on the impact of the cohesion policy on the small open economies under the conditions of economic crisis and the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy '2000. An integrated micro-macro approach is presented, attempting to elucidate the policy contradictions and the results from the applied programs at a highly aggregated level, making use of macroeconomic models (macro or top-down) and at a disaggregated level (micro or bottom-up). The thesis is defended, that the interaction of both approaches shall enable the impacts on the micro-level to be linked with the impacts on macro-level (GDP and employment).