IMPLEMENTATION OF THE COHESION POLICY IN POLISH ECONOMY

The cohesion policy is one of the pillars of European integration, for it is the only tool addressing problems of social and economic inequalities. It is consistent with the main aim of the European Union, which is the reduction of differences in the subsistence level and the economic development among the poorest and the richest regions of member countries. For the excessive differences determine the barrier for integrative processes within the Union framework. The advantages from the economic and monetary union are considerably greater in the strongest regions and countries. That is why it is necessary, by means of the cohesion policy, to make up for the negative consequences by deepening the European integration to the poorer areas. Acceptance by the European Commission in the Third Report on Economic and Social Cohesion (2004) the assumption that the latest enlargement of the European Union in 2004 demands considerably greater than up to here scale of activities economic, social and territorial cohesion oriented, and not limitation of the cohesion policy. These activities are supported by structural funds and Cohesion Fund. After the accession to European Union Poland, which is in the group of the poorest member countries, have a possibility of using structural funds and Cohesion Fund. This article is an attempt of economic and social cohesion analysis in this country, taking Cohesion Fund and its influence on the life's quality into consideration.