This paper determines the extent to which rural areas in Poland have been beneficiaries of the EU’s Cohesion Policy (CP). The amount of funds allocated to rural areas at the local (gmina/commune) level as part of the total CP obtained by Poland from 2007 to 2018 was estimated. The spatial distribution of that allocation was then determined. Whether the level of absorption is linked to the separately computed rural development level in communes was examined. This then made it possible not just to determine the spatial pattern of the absorption of CP funds but also to identify the main social and economic correlates of their high levels of absorption. It was found that nearly 40% of CP funds for Poland were allocated to rural areas, inhabited by 40% of the country’s population. However, this seemingly balanced allocation was somewhat undermined by its spatial distribution: the highest absorption was reported in over a third of communes with a high level of development while it was also found in less than a fifth of communes with a low level of development. Communes with higher levels of absorption have a more favourable local budget situation and a high degree of deagrarianisation of their local economies. The absorption level is more highly correlated with the variables characterising the extent to which an agricultural area has turned into a multifunctional area than with a commune’s absorptive capacity.
The article examines the scale of absorption and spatial distribution of European Union (EU) funds for the implementation of the Cohesion Policy (CP) in rural areas in Poland. The study covered all 2,173 rural and urban-rural municipalities in Poland in 2007-2018 during two financial perspectives of the EU: 2007-2013 and 2014-2020. The hypothesis was verified, i.e. municipalities located in provincial capitals functional urban areas (FUA) are characterized by a higher level of CP funds absorption than municipalities located in the rest of the country. Data for the study were obtained from the databases KSI-SIMIK 07-13 (2007-2013 perspective) and SL2014 (2014-2020 perspective). In the analyzed period, approximately PLN 500 billion was allocated in Poland from CP, of which 38% was to rural areas. Most funds were spent in rural areas on transport investments and infrastructure, while the least spent were on environmental protection and digitization projects. The spatial distribution of CP funds per capita has been presented using the Jenks Natural Breaks Classification optimization method. Three classes of municipalities were obtained according to the level of absorption: low (57% of communes), average (28% of communes), and high (15% of communes). The study confirmed that municipalities located in provincial capitals FUAs, despite the fact that they constitute 10% of the surveyed communes and 17% of the surveyed population, are characterized by 2.5 times higher absorption of CP funds per capita compared to other municipalities.
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