Sweco to study European regional policy

The European Commission has launched a project to study the cost of managing the EU Structural Funds. Sweco has been chosen to perform the study and awarded a contract worth close to EUR 825,000.

“Our specialists in growth policy and evaluation have considerable experience in assessing the costs and impacts of major initiatives such as the EU’s regional development objective,” says Eva Nygren, President of Sweco Sweden.

The Structural Funds, for which the current program period runs from 2007 to 2013, are a means for carrying out the EU’s regional development policy. Ahead of 2007 a number of changes were made in the way structural funding is handled compared to earlier periods, and the European Commission is therefore taking steps to follow up and study the cost of administering and managing the Funds in the various member states.

Sweco’s study will cover all 27 EU member states and will be carried out primarily through interviews and questionnaires, culminating in a report that is expected to be presented around year-end 2009. The assignment will be led by Kai Böhme from Sweco Eurofutures in collaboration with a number of partners throughout Europe.