THE IMPACT OF EU POLICY ON SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF LATVIA

The purpose of this research is to introduce evaluation of European Cohesion Policy in Latvia, especially on eventual social development in the context of the new strategy "Europe 2020". The strategic goals of EU cohesion policy are discussed as well as the development challenges for improvement of the socio-economic well-being of states and regions in the European Union and also to avoid disparities. The objective of this study is to assess Latvian social level and its development, in order to reach goals of "Europe 2020" strategy by applying latest developments of convergence economic theory to the situation in Latvia. The main emphasis of this research lies in the complex approach to the EU cohesion policy analysis and its implementation in Latvia. The research methodology is based on the EU cohesion and convergence economic theories analysis and on external and induced variables estimations: situations of the economic and welfare level. This research investigates major variable factors and presents information about various different socio-economic indicators and indexes. A major focus in this study is devoted to social cohesion analysis in Latvia. This study contains and discusses changes of key concepts related to the cohesion policy of the European Union and compares objectives and general outlines of the cohesion period 2014-2020 in the framework of Europe as a whole, as well as its impact on Latvian economics and living conditions. The main results and conclusions reflect the overall social-economic situation in the EU and Latvia and present current and future European Cohesion policy's impact on social development of Latvia. The discussion consist socio-economic situations analysis in the EU and Latvia, national economy development estimations and trends in the context of the future's strategies of Latvia and "Europe 2020" strategy goals.