Pozyskiwanie i zastosowanie środków finansowych polityki regionalnej Unii Europejskiej w gminach wiejskich województwa wielkopolskiego

The article is aiming at presenting the effectiveness of the local authorities in the Wielkopolska Province when applying for the European Union Common Regional Policy funds during the programming period, 2004-2006, depending on the development level. The barriers of obtaining these funds have been identified. The article presents the allocation of the EU Common Regional Policy funds by rural communes in the Wielkopolska Province and barriers which determine their effective obtaining. The paper indicates relations between effectiveness of communes in allocating the funds, their amount and communes development level. The majority of the local authorities have opted for changing the way of obtaining funds, defining it as a complicated.