RURAL MUNICIPALITIES DEVELOPMENT SUPPORTED BY THE EUROPEAN UNION IN THE PERIOD OF 2007-2015

The article deals with the evaluation of a link between prosperity of a municipality (based on the population or migration growth or population decline) and drawing subsidies from the European Union. The aim of this work is to determine whether the thriving municipalities are more successful in drawing of subsidies than the unprofitable municipalities. The overall increase of population in municipalities which consist of two components (natural increase and balance of migration) can be considered as a primary indicator of the municipality development. If community develops, the amount of inhabitants increase. The case study is focused on testing the prosperity of 100 randomly selected rural municipalities and their drawing of EU subsidies during the period 2007 - 2015. It is analysed the purpose of drawn subsidies and also the municipalities, with no subsidies at all. The analyses showed, that when we compare the median level of drawn subsidies per capita, prosperous municipalities are more successful than unprosperous.