ABSTRACT

Time and time again, administrative capacity has been identified as a key feature of the successful management and implementation of EU funds. This chapter investigates the extent to which domestic governance interferes with the development of administrative capacity. It shows how issues of domestic governance may affect administrative capacity processes and the domestic institutional actors in charge of the implementation. The chapter provides a snapshot of some of the domestic barriers affecting the management of EU funding and outlines empirical instances of administrative and political embeddedness. It sketches several recommendations for how to counteract the effects of these factors. Some of the measures discussed may be essential to improve the performance of policy instruments such as the EU Structural and Investment Funds during the 2014-20 period. Administrative capacity is a key concept in the specialized literature dealing with Cohesion Policy implementation and with the governance of Structural and Cohesion Funds.