European social fund projects in new member states of the EU

Jedan od prioriteta Europske unije je smanjenje siromaštva i socijalne isključenosti s ciljem postizanja održivog rasta te veće socijalne kohezije među europskim regijama i državama. Kohezija u europskim regijama postiže se raspodjelom sredstava za regionalni razvoj kroz Europske strukturne i investicijske fondove, u koje spada i ESF. Nove zemlje članice, koje su Europskoj uniji pristupile nakon 1. svibnja 2004. godine, suočavaju se s brojnim socijalnim izazovima, stoga ESF ima veoma važnu ulogu u njihovom razvoju i napretku. U ovom radu provedena je analiza prioriteta, aktivnosti te proračuna ESF-a u novim zemljama članicama EU. Izvršena je i usporedba korištenja sredstava iz ESF-a u novim zemljama članicama u programskom razdoblju 2007.-2013. te od 2014. do danas. Cilj je predstaviti svrhu i prioritete Europskog socijalnog fonda, objasniti način na koji se Europski socijalni fond koristi te ukazati na dobrobiti koje Europski socijalni fond ima za nove zemlje članice EU.One of the priorities of the European Union is to reduce poverty and social exclusion in order to achieve sustainable growth and greater social cohesion among European regions and countries. Cohesion in European regions is achieved by allocating resources for regional development through the European Structural and Investment Funds, including the European Social Fund. The new Member States, which joined the European Union after May 1, 2004, are facing numerous social challenges. Therefore, the ESF plays a very important role in their development and progress. In this paper, the analysis of priorities, activities and the budget of the ESF in the new EU Member States was conducted. Comparison of using the ESF funds in the new Member States related to the 2007-2013 programming period and the programming period from 2014 until today, was also carried out. The aim of this paper is to present the purpose and priorities of the European Social Fund, to explain the way the European Social Fund is used and to point out the benefits the European Social Fund has for the new EU Member States