Economic Growth and European Funds Absorption in Central and Eastern European Countries

Integration of Central and Eastern countries in European Union assumes obtaining certain benefits. Upon joining the European Union internal market and free movement of labour, absorption of European funds could help the convergence go on and reduce disparities between countries. This study aims to provide insights in regionalization, absorption of European funds and economic growth. There are various ways of defining the regional growth. The most common refer to the increase of the total output of a region, output increase per employed person, output increase per capita. In turn, the output can be assessed by the gross production of a region, the region’s gross domestic product or net domestic product of that region. The paper proposes an integrated analysis of European situation by means of data and statistics provided by European and national statistics institutions. A better absorption of European funds can lead to growth and economic development and thus reduce regional economic disparities. One of the main objectives should be the absorption as much financial support as possible by continuous efforts from the Central and Eastern European Countries and also regional and local government involved in every stage of the process.