ABSTRACT
The countries of Central and Eastern European (CEECs) became members of the European Union (EU) after a difficult process of post-socialist transformation. The processes of territorial development have led to an increase in regional differences, which have not been alleviated by Cohesion Policy whose benefits have been enjoyed by the CEECs. The issue of external assistance in development processes, introduced in the literature in connection with the assistance extended to the developing countries, has been the topic of multifaceted research. Assistance is granted on the assumption that it will serve to create the foundations for accelerated growth. Preliminary evaluations of the impact that EU funding has made in Poland indicated that these funds contributed to a more significant acceleration of the development of the most developed regions rather than of weaker regions. An integration of evaluation studies is urgently needed as part of wider evaluation strategies, and its implementation would allow for a more comprehensive assessment of EU interventions.
