Kohezijskom politikom Europske unije, koja se naziva još i regionalna politika, nastoje se smanjiti regionalne razlike kroz jačanje gospodarske, socijalne i teritorijalne kohezije na cijelom teritoriju Unije. Financijski instrumenti za provedbu kohezijske politike su tri glavna fonda: Europski fond za regionalni razvoj, Europski socijalni fond i Kohezijski fond. Iz njih se financiraju razvojni projekti kojima je cilj smanjenje razlika izmeĎu regija Europske unije, odnosno povećanje konkurentnosti i jačanje cjelokupnog europskog gospodarstva. Iako Republika Hrvatska ima iskustva s pretpristupnim fondovima, koje je relativno uspješno koristila za prilagodbu u pretpristupnom razdoblju, ulazak u Europsku uniju donio je veliku promjenu u dotadašnjem sustavu prihoda i rashoda proračuna. S obzirom na stanje u drţavi, od enormnog bi značaja bilo iskoristiti što više mogućnosti koje pruţaju europski fondovi. Sve to iziskuje odreĎena ulaganja i rad, ali uz poznavanje procedure izrade projekata i kvalitetnu organizaciju, te nadasve dobru koordinaciju središnje vlasti s jedinicama lokalne i regionalne samouprave, kroz odreĎeno vrijeme i benefiti će biti vidljivi.

Cohesion policy of the European Union, also called regional policy, seeks to reduce regional disparities by strengthening economic, social and territorial cohesion throughout the Union. The financial instruments for the implementation of cohesion policy are the three main funds: the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund. These projects are funded by development projects aimed at reducing the differences between the European Union's regions, for example increasing competitiveness and strengthening the overall European economy. Although the Republic of Croatia has experience with pre-accession funds, which has been relatively successful in adapting to the pre-accession period, accession to the European Union has brought about a major change in the previous revenue and expenditure system. Given the state of the country, it would be of enormous importance to take advantage of the more opportunities that European funds provide. All this requires certain investments and a lot of work, but knowing the project design process and quality organization, and above all the good coordination of the central government with the units of local and regional self-government, after some time the benefits will be visible.