Interactions between EU Funds: Coordination and Competition

EU Cohesion policy is implemented through three different EU Funds, which interact withone another and also with other EU funding sources, particularly the rural developmentfisheries funds, but also in fields such as research, development and transport. This paper examines how EU Cohesion policy Funds are coordinated with one another and other EU funds in 2007-13 and also looks to the future period of 2014+. It focuses on three dimensions: coordination between the three EU Funds that co-finance Cohesion policy in 2007-13, namely the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European SocialFund (ESF) and the Cohesion Fund; interactions between the Cohesion policy Funds and the European Agricultural Fundfor Rural Development (EAFRD) and the European Fisheries Fund (EFF); and relations between Cohesion policy and other EU budgetary instruments or funding streams (e.g. the Framework Programme and the Competitiveness and InnovationProgramme).