摘要：Territory, people, time and economic activities represent the fundamental dimensions of all economic phenomena. The territory in which economic activities take place has always been and still remains the subject of economic studies within the framework of national states or a union of states, but also within the framework of states divided into determined territories. With the use of competitiveness indicators these territories are ranked and possible weaknesses and presumptions for a balanced growth of all regions within a single state are identified. The paper envisages a statistical division of Croatian territory into three regions. It analyses statistical indicators describing factors and competitiveness areas of Croatian (counties) regions. It synthesizes the economic effects of the use of EU funds and processes that are taking place in Croatia during its preparation to enter the European Union as a fully fledged member and it also summarizes the opportunities of participating in different pre-accession programmes and other forms of financial and technical assistance.
关键词：regionalization; competitiveness; accession; European programmes and funds
