Abstract:
The elimination of the economic, social and territorial disparities among countries and regions with the support of regional development is considered the primary objective of the European Union´s development activities. Through the Cohesion Policy, the European Union (EU) aims to reduce the regional inequalities and support lagging states and their regions to catch up with the rest of the EU members. The paper deals with a multicriteria evaluation of regional development in the context of the EU cohesion in the case of Visegrad Four countries. The aim of the paper is to evaluate and compare the development of regional disparities in Visegrad Four over the period from 2004 to 2012 (period before economic crisis and after it) by utilizing TOPSIS method. During examined period 2004-2012 the dominant position of regions with capital city Praha, Közép-Magyarország, Bratislavský kraj was confirmed. It implies visible differences among regions with capital city and the rest of V4 regions. Although the regional disparities have been reduced in V4, disparities in the level of regional development have still persisted between Czech Republic on the one hand and Poland, Hungary and Slovakia on the other hand.
