Structural funds play a major role in the economic policy pursued by the European Union, involving support for regional development and stimulation of the process of convergence of the Member States and their regions. Taking into account the objectives attributed to funds, a question can be asked about the efficiency of implementation of those objectives, especially in the context of the enlargement process currently taking place. The article makes, on the basis of empirical data for countries being EU Member States before 1 May 2004, an attempt to evaluate the impact of funds on the rate of economic growth in Poland. It also presents the results of the hitherto studies concerning efficiency of the structural policy conducted in the EU. In order to estimate the impact of the use of structural funds on the rate of economic growth in Poland the Solow model of growth, modified by Mankiw, Romer and Weil, as well as the Burnside-Dollar model have been applied. Estimation of structural parameters of the model allowed to conclude that structural funds per se adversely affect the economic growth rate level, and that the efficiency of utilisation of structural funds is conditioned by institutional quality of the country. Countries with a high quality of public structures have a chance to speed up their GDP growth rate, while countries with low quality of such structures may suffer an adverse effect.