A total of 98% of the allocated funds, or EUR 6.61 m, were invested in the period from 2007 to 2013. The investments mainly boosted private investment in breakthrough sectors, increased the possibilities of SMEs to receive funding, promoted new initiatives aimed at creating jobs, and improved the services related to transportation, social care, education and utilities. At the same time, it has been observed that a more effective absorption of the funds has been hindered by concentration of investments in building infrastructure and lack of strategic planning and cooperation among the stakeholder institutions, especially at the regional level.
Thanks to the investments from the EU funds, Lithuania's competitiveness has increased. Based on the Global Competitiveness Report by the World Economic Forum, Lithuania's Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) has risen by five positions, ranking it in the 36th position and leaving Estonia, who went down by one position, and Latvia, who went down by two positions, behind. Compared with the figures of the EU 28 in 2014, Lithuania's GDP per capita (in terms of purchasing power) accounted for 74% of the EU 28 average.
The EU funds account for a significant share of public investments. In other words, the EU funds and other international support funds remain as key measures of public investment in the country (such funds accounted for 60% of the funds from the national investment programme in 2015).
During the new period for absorbing EU funds, it is necessary to monitor closely the results of used investments, concentrate resources for investment in progressive and proven-to-be-successful areas, and make efforts to eliminate the main obstacles to successful use of investments from the EU funds, namely, the abundance of priorities, not effective enough cooperation among the interested subjects (especially in education and business), and the lack of a multifaceted approach when assessing the regional or national importance of projects.
The Committee on European Affairs decided to continue considering the matters related to the use of investments from the EU funds and encourage the specialised committees of the Seimas to actively engage in the parliamentary scrutiny of these matters, thereby ensuring the necessary dialogue between the Seimas and the Government.
Based on the Partnership Agreement endorsed by the European Commission following the negotiations with Lithuania, a total of EUR 8.386 bn have been allocated to Lithuania for the 2014–2020 period. The Partnership Agreement lays down the national development needs and the priorities financed from the five EU structural funds, namely, the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, and the European Fisheries Fund.
