THE ECONOMIC GROWTH IN EASTERN EUROPE AND THE REFOCUS OF EU’S INVESTMENT POLICIES IN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

References: 16th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference SGEM 2016, www.sgem.org, SGEM2016 Conference Proceedings, ISBN 978-619-7105-65-0 / ISSN 1314-2704, June 28 - July 6, 2016, Book5 Vol. 1, 1001-1008 pp

ABSTRACT

The last three enlargements of the EU have brought under scrutiny the current Eastern periphery of the EU: eleven countries with similar contemporary political backgrounds, slightly different rhythms of economic development, but with comparable announced ambitions concerning Europe 2020 targets. These countries have always been considered less dynamic (economically, socially, politically) than the Northern and Western parts of EU. Despite the economic crisis registered within the Community territory at the end of the last decade, the Eastern EU periphery has had, overall, a positive rhythm of growth. With this sustainable current trend, the gaps between EU member states are slowly, but gradually reducing. The main purpose of this paper is to see if there is a connection between the economic growth in Eastern Europe and EU targets regarding investments in the regional development of these countries. A series of indicators have been analysed at different levels (GDP per capita, Employment rate, At-risk-of-poverty rate, Business demography, etc) in order to highlight the economic sectors where growth has been registered. A qualitative analysis has also been carried out to see what political documents elaborated by the EU regarding investments in regional development for 2014-2020 programming period are targeting specifically the Eastern Europe countries and what sectors represent the main focus of EU policies. By mapping the results, patterns were identified concerning the sectors targeted by EU policies where growth has been registered. Minor, but visible differences were recorded between the dynamics of Eastern Europe countries’ economic sectors.

Keywords: economic growth, EU policy, regional development, Eastern Europe