The Evolution of Regional Disparities in the Central and Eastern European Countries of European Union

Abstract

The theoretical and practical concerns regarding the analysis of economic activity in regional profile are not new, the regional economy, part of regional science, lasting since the beginning of the 19th century. The regional development is a current subject, as the problem of development gaps is still the in EU attention, the communitarian strategies aiming at reducing them. Given that the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, that joined the EU since 2004, included regions that had a low level of development, the disparities become more pronounced in the EU. Therefore, the regional policy took on greater importance and have been allocated to increasing funding. Regional disparities exist not only between eastern and western EU, but also between regions of the same country. In this article we want to analyse how these disparities have evolved in Central and Eastern Europe countries of the EU. We relate at the same time at the EU average. We will use the values of GDP/capita expressed in Purchasing Power Standard, indicator also used by the EU in allocating funds for regional policy. Generally, the region that includes the capital city registers values significantly higher than the other regions, reaching above the EU-28 average and the differences among the region containing the capital city and the others remain. In most cases, the values of GDP/capita at regional level tend to approach the EU-28 average, but the development gaps remain high and the years 2013 and 2014 have witnessed insignificant increases.