Identification and Analysis of Structural Fund Support Mitigating the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the EU—A Case Study of Health Unit Funding

Abstract

The research carried out describes the provision of COVID-19 funding in individual EU Member States under the ongoing operational programmes of the EU financial perspective in the period 2014–2020. This was followed by identification of the most important areas of support and the amounts allocated to them for Poland and its sixteen voivodeships under the available EU funds from the 2014–2020 perspective. Types and forms of support for health services from the funds of the Regional Operational Programme for the Opolskie Voivodeship 2014–2020 (ROP WO) were analysed in detail. The obtained results showed that Italy, Spain, and Poland provided the largest values of support under the available operational programmes from 2014–2020 to combat the effects of COVID-19. In Poland, funding was mainly provided by the European Regional Development Fund, with the dominant support allocated to entrepreneurship and health care. In the Opolskie voivodeship, which is the case study, the additional financing in the health area concerns: personal protective equipment, equipment, construction works, oxygen installations, and waste water management. In this article, a literature analysis of the issue was conducted prior to the research process, which included theories of post-2007 crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic. The focus is on the theoretical background and research showing the impact of crises from the point of view of social, economic, and ecological dimensions, i.e., from the point of view of sustainable development. It also presents planned and implemented public intervention to offset the negative effects of COVID-19 in 2020 from structural funds in EU countries, including Poland and its 16 voivodeships.