This chapter aims to focus and further develop the issue of the importance of the EU integration process for the improvement of the regulatory quality and rule of law in Western Balkan countries. The process of legislative reforms started in parallel with their transition process from socialist...

This Paper analyses the importance of regulatory reform for the creation of an effective legal and regulatory system in Western Balkan countries. The authors explore the progress achieved in this reform area, arguing that regulatory reform was mostly partial, focused on specific sectors and...

Supporting its developing member countries (DMCs) affected by fragility and conflict is a high priority for the Asian Development Bank (ADB). This is demonstrated by ADB’s adoption of its 2007 approach, which responds to the special challenges faced by DMCs experiencing conditions that are now...

Manejar uma floresta é administrar a obtenção de benefícios econômicos, sociais e ambientais, respeitando-se os mecanismos de sustentabilidade do ecossistema. O objetivo do artigo é identificar as etapas que compreendem o manejo florestal sustentável e propor um plano operacional para...

The aim of this paper is to analyse the supply effects of the EU funds received by the Andalusian region, with special emphasis in the Community Support Framework 1994-1999 (CSF 94-99). To that end, we examine the effects derived from a greater and better endowment of productive factors and...

The present work endeavours to carry out a study of the weaknesses/errors detected by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) in the reports presentedby 15 European countries on the economic and financial management of StructuralFunds in the period ranging from 2000 to 2006. The aim of our study is...

This paper reviews the few regional studies on the impact of European Structural funds in Spain using Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) Models. While the models in these studies are widely used to evaluate the effects of very different public policies, they rarely have been used to quantify...

This article investigates the pair-wise convergence hypothesis of 17 Spanish regions with respect to the European Union (EU) and Euro-Zone (EZ). Several definitions of convergence are taken into account. The IB-MPI unit root testing procedure is then applied. A simultaneous approach based on the...

Comparing the current economic situation of the internal markets of the US and the EU, two things are noticeable. On the one hand, the EU is conducting massive regional policy programmes (notably with their Structural Funds) to foster economic cohesion among the 27 nations belonging to the...

Croatia is at the very end of its pre-accession process of joining the European Union, during which many institutions and entities had the opportunity to apply and obtain the pre-accession funds. Th e aim of these funds was to reduce regional disparities between Member States and candidate...