Though the European Union (EU) is adevelopment conversion machine for national economies, it isless so for subnational regions. EU accession countries havebeen catching up to regional averages in terms of economicdevelopment since they joined the union. The economicsuccess of the accession countries reduced disparities innational GDP per capita, but since 2005 both EU-wide and inmost individual countries the gap between most- andleast-developed subnational regions has been widening. Thissuggests that in accession countries growth, and itsbenefits are concentrated in a few regions, mostly largecities and national capitals, while many areas fall furtherbehind. Slovakia illustrates the difference between nationalconvergence and subnational divergence. While Slovakia isconsidered one of the EU’s economic stars, it also has someof the union’s highest regional disparities. Slovakia’simpressive economic gains over the last two decades were ledby Bratislava region, which in 2016 became the sixth richestregion in the EU by GDP per capita. On the other hand,Eastern Slovakia, which includes Prešov, is among thepoorest regions in the EU. This report on the Prešov regionof Slovakia, reviews patterns of regional development inSlovakia, discusses opportunities and challenges of thePrešov region, and recommends policy actions for the region.
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