Barriers to obtaining cohesion policy funds from the perspective of municipalities that received the least funding under the 2014–2020 budget period

Cohesion policy is one of the most important European Union’s policy.The lack of cohesion between states and regions would not only result in less-than-optimum use of the endogenic potential of the EU, but it might also threaten the existence of the common market, and thus, the whole European integration. This problem has become particularly evident after the enlargement of the European Union by 10 new Member States in 2004. It is therefore justified to study the effectiveness of this policy and the barriers that accompany it. The aim of the study was a qualitative analysis of problems in obtaining funding by communes that received the least EU funds in the 2014–2020 financial framework. The study was conducted using the CAWI method. The text presents and discusses the results of the study, which allowed, among others, to confirm the still persistent problem with generating own contribution for most local government units.