Abstract:

EU funds are funds from the budget of the European Union that provide many opportunities for economic development, whether in the public or private sector. The European Union, through various assistance programs, seeks to improve the development of all its parts. The availability of funding from European funds aims to reduce regional disparities between EU member states, improve the living standards of citizens, living conditions and reduce poverty and wealth disparities. Also, the goal of using available funds is to improve transport infrastructure, encourage entrepreneurship, reduce unemployment and the use of renewable energy sources and promote sustainable development. Three funds are most certainly available. The first is the European Regional Development Fund (ERRF), followed by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Cohesion Fund. The policy of the European Union is to achieve convergence, competitiveness and cooperation. The overall impact of EU funds depends on the funding structure and absorption capacity of the country. Although the funds are available, the money still needs to be focussed to develop projects quintessential for use of all possible resources. The task of the Republic of Croatia to take advantage of the funds of the European Union. The aim of this paper is to determine how successfully the Republic of Croatia has used available funds, namely to show the allocation and use of withdrawn funds at the national and regional level, specifically by counties and to analyse the relationship between the withdrawal of the EU funds and county GDP.