A comparative analysis of EU coherence policy’s influence on the innovation and competitiveness of Central-Eastern European states in the years 2004–2014

At the turn of the new millennium, building an economy based on knowledge became the EU’s main priority. Innovation, which was to be the key to the competitiveness of the EU economy, became an essential issue in the Lisbon Strategy. The determination to build an innovative system embracing local conditions was stronger during the first years of the present century. The states of Central-Eastern Europe, which had just undergone system transformations and were facing huge social and economic problems, were heading for integration with high hopes, believing that their presence on the uniform European market, especially the possibility to use coherence funds, would improve the innovation and competitiveness of their economies. The analysis included eleven states from among which eight joined the EU in the year 2004 – the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary, two in the year 2007 – Bulgaria and Romania and one state in 2013 – Croatia. These states could expect significant European funds. Only in the years 2007–2013 the European Union assigned over 346,9 billion Euro for coherence policy. The amount of more than 175,5 billion Euro reached eleven states of Central-Eastern European states, which constituted well over a half of the full amount. The purpose of the elaboration is to compare and assess the extent to which the use of coherence policy funds contributed to the improvement of innovation and competitiveness of Central-Eastern European states. The fact that these states joined the EU at different times gives us an opportunity to observe the development of economies facing similar socio-economic problems within EU structures and at their outskirts.