Horizontal principles in the European Social Fund - Explaining successful implementation of EU policies in Swedish municipalities

Abstract: The Lisbon Strategy formulated that the EU shall be one of the most vital economies in the world. In order to perform that role, it has been argued that the EU must be more coherent. To increase cohesion, the structural funds and cohesion policy were introduced. Included in the structural funds are also the horizontal principles of equality, integration, diversity and sustainable development intended to secure sustainable growth in the EU. Financial resources from the funds are allocated through projects laid down in the member-states. However, when projects have been conducted and implemented research claim that the horizontal principles were disregarded and that the projects rarely managed to successfully implement the principles. The purpose of this thesis is to assess what make projects financed by the EU structural funds successful in terms of implementing EU policies. This will be done by comparing several projects and by investigating what variable or variables were crucial to successful implement EU policies. The relevant EU policies will be the horizontal principles and the projects assessed are financed by one of the structural funds. Finally, this thesis takes on a bottom-up approach with theory and variables have been used in policy implementation research.