European funds and a local economic development

Abstract

The article attempts to assess the importance of EU funds in the financing projects undertaken by local municipalities to improve the level of development of the local economy. The study included all rural communities the Podkarpacie region. It was found that despite considerable differences in the use of European funds by the municipality, there are no major disparities in terms of the dynamics of development processes between separate groups of municipalities. Additionally there was no decrease in the gap between the rural municipalities and the total municipalities in the Podkarpacie region, or in Poland.