How has Poland done the EU cohesion policy lesson? The case of Polish regional development system modification (Przystapienie do Unii Europejskiej jako kluczowy czynnik zmian systemu polityki rozwoju regionalnego w Polsce)

In the beginning of the last decade of XX century regional policy in Poland constituted a small part of all the actions under the public policy. In the second decade of XXI century, regional policy become the main policy realizing the development policy in Poland. During this twenty years the system of regional policy has changed a lot. The changes were mainly caused by transformation of polish economy from the central planning economy to market economy as well as the accession to European Union. The research concentrates on changes of the system of regional policy. The article starts with presentation of research and conceptual framework. It continues with the short description of the historical changes of regional policy in Poland. Later the evolution of the system is described. The changes are presented in three main categories: the changes in approach, strategic planning and institutional and administrative system. The author also presents the advantages and disadvantages of the changes as well as the practical problems and costs of regional policy system modification.