Finansowe wspieranie budżetów gmin wybranymi funduszami strukturalnymi Unii Europejskiej

The paper presents activities undertaken by authorities of local communes aiming at winning of cofinancing from European Union structural funds. The main aim of co-financed this way infrastructure investments was creating favorable conditions for the local development. The activity of communes in applying for external funds was described in connecting with their budgetary situation. Financial independence of communes was analyzed in area of their incomes. An indicator of budget supplying with structural funds was introduced and with its help a scale of the support that local budgets have obtained from European Union funds was calculated. Research has shown that municipalities with a greater financial autonomy claiming the subsidy from the EU structural funds more often. They have also finally used much financial support than other communities. Index of budget supplying with structural funds in the communes covered by the study was on average 2,8% of the value of their overall incomes.