The Influence of Structural Funds of the European Union on the Regional Development in 2004–2006 in the Lubuskie Voivodship

The six founders of the European Economic Community, later the European Union, did not differ substantially in terms of an economic level. Therefore the issue of policy and the problems connected with a regional development started to be discussed along with the development of the economic integration and the enlargement of Communities with another countries, which were much different economically from the founders. The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF ) was established at the Copenhagen summit in 1975 and the resources were distributed into member states. The subsequent enlargement of the Community in 1986 with Spain and Portugal contributed to signing the Single European Act (SEA), which created the basis for a new structural policy and its reform in 1988, and the binding rules were additionally enlarged in the European Union Treaty from Maastricht. The EU Treaty signed on 07.02.1992 in Maastricht in the Netherlands established the European Union and came into force on 01.11.1993. Poland, after entering the European Union on 01.05.2004, taking into consideration the experience from the absorption of the pre-accession funds for ten years, i.e. since 1994, since the first days after the accession used well the EU resources and the Lubuskie Voivodship led the way within this range in Poland. Therefore the regional development was supported by the structural funds orientated first of all to infrastructure and the protection of natural environment. The assistance programme of the European Union for the countries of Central and Eastern Europe – Phare had its edition since 1994 in the Lubuskie Voivodship as Phare Cross Border Cooperation CBC – the Programme of Poland – Germany Cross Border Cooperation was mainly used for the implementation of investment projects on the Polish-German borderland. This experience was implemented in the effective use of the support within the Integrated Operational Programme of Regional Development in 2004–2006. Over 80 million euros granted for the Lubuskie Voivodship were orientated mainly to road, council and social infrastructure and the cross border cooperation was financed by the Community Initiative Interreg III A, whose objective was to support the integrated and sustainable development in the economic, social and cultural area on the Polish-German borderland.