Goals and assumptions of the research The main goal: Assessment of the benefits drawn by EU-15 countries as a result of cohesion policy implementation in Poland in order to: evaluate the results of cohesion policy in the broader context (innovative aproach) describe the impacts of cohesion policy on EU level find justification for continuation of cohesion policy after 2013 establish methodology for CP impact assessment on EU level The assumptions: cohesion policy creates impacts not only at the national level – CP as a European integration instrument cohesion policy creates not only the costs for UE-15 (especially for net payers) but also the benefits

Goals and assumptions of the research The main evaluation questions: Taking into account the increase of consumption and investment demand in Poland due to CP implementation, what is the total value and structure of goods and services exported by EU-15 countries to Poland? How many foreign companies from the EU-15 countries were the contractors in the projects co-financed from the structural funds in Poland? What is the aggregated value of structural funds absorbed by companies from the EU-15 countries which have been contractors for the EU co-financed projects in Poland?

Main conclusions The main conclusions: Cohesion policy is an effective European integration instrument – it creates positive socio- economic impacts on EU level CP ensures win-win situation generating not only the costs but also the significant benefits for EU-15 (especially for net payers) for each euro, spent on cohesion policy implementation in Poland, EU-15 countries recollected 32 cents by additional import of their goods CP stimulates the import that favours high technology development and creates knowledge-based economies

The main conclusions for CP evaluation: methodology: in order to find CP impacts on EU level – both - „top down” and „bottom up” approach should be used and integrated evaluation results are crucial arguments for the debate on the future of cohesion policy (CP as a success story) scope of CP evaluation could be extended to EU-15 countries in order to give the overall picture of CP impacts