The Hurdles to Obtaining European Funds by Polish Benefi ciaries – Quantitative Research

The main objective for writing this article is to present the barriers to accessing EU funds at the stage of preparing an application for funding, as well as the barriers to executing project activities. The research objective, question, and problem as well as the statistical description of the research group and the measurement instruments have been highlighted in the article. The author attempts to answer the following questions: what are the main barriers/hurdles encountered by Polish benefi ciaries of EU funds allocated under national and regional operational programmes; which of the identified barriers to accessing EU funds is perceived as the most hindering in the process of executing EU projects; and how is the impact of EU funds on regional development assessed from the perspective of those people executing projects and taking part in projects financed with EU funds? The following barriers can be enumerated as the most signifi cant: the withholding of subsequent funding tranches while maintaining the obligation to pursue project execution, the highly bureaucratic application process for a subsidy, the bureaucratic system of post-project accounting, and the long deadlines for transferring subsequent tranches of funding. An analysis of the findings confirms that the beneficiaries of EU funds primarily fear losing fi nancial liquidity. Receiving a subsidy in the form of a refinancing of the incurred costs requires, on the one hand, effi cient project management, and, on the other, a well-functioning institutional system that should support project recipients in their investment endeavours.