Structural Assistance is allocated by the European Union to Estonia for the purpose of supporting development of the economy in Estonia, thus reducing development differences between European regions and increasing the competitiveness of the European Union as a whole in the global market.

During the period of 2007-2013 Structural Assistance is allocated from three funds, which are the main sources of support  of the European Union. These are the following:
• European Regional Development Fund (ERDF);
• European Social Fund (ESF);
• Cohesion Fund (CF).

All the Member States receive support from these funds, but the volume of support differs greatly by regions. The Eastern European countries receive the highest support, because their GDP per capita is considerably lower than the average of the European Union. During the period of 2004-2006 Estonia received EEK 12.5 billion from the Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund of the European Union. During the period of 2007-2013 Estonia can use funds in the amount of EEK 53.3 billion, i.e. nearly twice as much as in previous years.
 
 
The aforementioned amounts are increased by the funds contributed by the Estonian state by way of mandatory cofinancing. For instance, during the period of 2007-2013 Estonia will have to contribute nearly EEK 9 billion.
 
Although at the level of the European Union it has been decided how much support is to be allocated to each Member State, the maximum use of the funds nevertheless depends on each Member State. Structural support is allocated retroactively – it means that projects need to be implemented and costs incurred out of one's own funds and only then one can apply for compensation thereof by the European Commission. Therefore, how well Estonia will be able to take advantage of the Structural Assistance given by the European Union will depend largely on how actively projects are initiated and how successfully they are implemented.