중동부유럽

The aim of this research is to focus on Bulgaria's macroeconomic development as an EU Member State and to focus on the results, which Bulgaria has achieved during the process of economic catching-up to the other, more developed economies. Bulgaria's economic development depended and still depends on the inflow of fresh financial resources for restructuring the economy and deepening the process of integration with the other EU Member States. That is why the inflow of foreign capital in the form of direct foreign investments (FDI) has become one of the main tools for impacting and stimulating the industry and the services sectors in the country, both on a national and on a regional level. As a country suffering from a shortage of funding, Bulgaria is in need of significant investments in priority sectors of the economy. In this regard, what remains of crucial importance for the country is the utilization of financial resources under the Operational Programs (OPs) of the European Structural Funds (ESF), which emerged as almost the only source of funding for major projects of the Bulgarian economy and a means for addressing the country's lagging behind in different spheres of economic life in the years following the economic crisis. Thus, this research is aimed at showing the extent to which Bulgaria has managed to get closer to the level of economic development of the other Member States, and especially to that of the other Eastern European countries. This research aims to show how FDI and financing under the ESF have attributed to the economic development and growth of the Bulgarian economy.