Support Funds of the European Union and their Eastern Central European Comparison

Abstract

Recent events have posed significant challenges for the world economy, including the European Union. There were problems at several levels, with the memory of the 2008 crisis and its aftermath still present in society, an energy crisis, and the very damaging effects of the pandemic on the economy and, finally, the outbreak of war on the continent. Even before that, the EU had a number of problems to address, such as improving competitiveness and the issue of migration, but these events had exacerbated them. The EU’s cohesion policy plays an important role in addressing or at least mitigating these challenges by providing a well-planned support structure to intervene and offer solutions. How are the funds structured? What are the main funding priorities, which in turn also highlight the most pressing problems? How have the funds changed compared to the previous budgetary period, and how do the particularly vulnerable Eastern Central European countries stand to benefit from these? The present study aims to analyse and answer these questions.