Policy Measures for Development of Rural Entrepreneurship: an Example of EU Financial Support for Local Infrastructural Investments in Poland

Implementing the objective of convergence, the European Union actively participates in the economic development process of individual countries and regions. This participation is expressed in the formation of principles of the structural and regional policy, as well as cohesion policy, which cover the offer of a wide range of instruments to support the development of business activity. The European Union policy in business activity development, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, is undergoing a certain evolution. The assumed solutions drive towards extending the influence period of public funds. The direct financial instruments of support are diversified in order to limit the funds intended for venture grants, which in turn allows an increase in the involvement of financial engineering instruments. Furthermore, significant funds are designated for indirect support instruments associated with the creation of business environment. They include the broadlyunderstood technical and social infrastructure, covering the infrastructure of local significance, the development of which continues to be highly important to the competitiveness of enterprises located within the rural areas of Poland. Disproportions between rural and urban areas in infrastructural equipment are still present, even growing. Due to the above, this study aimed to define the scope of instruments used by the policy oriented towards the support of business activity development and to create a classification of the said instruments according to their mode of influence. The created classification also included infrastructure as one of the main factors in business activity development. Furthermore, the relationships between communal infrastructural investments and the changes in the number of business entities were subjected to evaluation. This approach aimed to answer the question of whether the distribution of public funds planned for communal investments affects the equalisation of the conditions of competition in both the rural-urban system and within rural areas. The implementation of the said objectives also included the following research methods: