As lições do bom aluno

O International Herald Tribune publica um texto sobre as lições que os novos países da UE devem retirar dos usos e efeitos dos fundos comunitários em Portugal e em Espanha:

In Spain, the benefits of the funds are evident in the modern infrastructure, improvements in worker productivity, increases in per capita income and an expanding economy.
The funds have also helped Spain soften the effects of some unpalatable structural changes, like liberalizing the labor market and privatizing state-owned industries.

Portugal, by contrast, has mainly used the funds to expand its economy - but without modernizing it to address most protracted problems, including a growing budget deficit, a bloated public sector, rampant tax evasion and inadequate educational system, scholars say.

Instead, political pressure from an influential web of small-town politicians seems to have diverted the money to strengthening infrastructure in rural areas rather than making investments in cities that could have created freer flows of goods and people. (...)
What is more, the way Portugal has used EU funds appears to have worsened some of its problems. It accelerated government hiring during boom times instead of freezing it, for example.(...)###

Portuguese infrastructure is not only poorly planned but in surprisingly poor condition, given the amount of money spent on it, scholars say.(...)
"In Portugal, the infrastructure is not in good shape at all. You look around, and you say, 'Where is all this money going?"'

One possibility is that much of the money is finding its way into the pockets of government or industry officials, Royo contends. "Corruption has to be a part of it," he said. "If you are spending all that money and the infrastructure is still poor, how else can you explain it?"
Portuguese officials deny any corruption, but they concede that the funds could have been better spent.

"Portugal's administration of the funds perhaps has not been the most effective, but it has not been a corrupt one," said Crisóstomo Teixeira, a senior policy adviser at the Ministry of Public Works, Transportation and Communications. "Portugal has made investments in small roads to improve mobility of people in small towns. If you do that, you don't have much money left for big, modern highway systems. The mayors of small towns here have pressed hard for roads in their areas. That is politics, not corruption."