Comparison of regional competitiveness index after EU enlargement in 2013

Abstract

The paper deals with the concept and evaluation of competitiveness in terms of the European Union (EU). The paper deals with an evaluation of EU competitiveness at regional level by multi-criteria approach called the EU Regional Competitiveness Index (RCI). The main purpose of this composite indicator is evaluation of EU NUTS 2 region competitiveness. The aim of this paper is to introduce the theoretical and methodological basis of the RCI and its usage on the example of evaluating the competitiveness of NUTS 2 regions in the group of Visegrad Group (V4) countries. The theoretical part of the paper defines concept of the RCI and methodological background of its creation. The empirical part of the paper deals with evaluation of the Visegrad group NUTS 2 region competitiveness before and after the EU 2013 enlargement, resp. comparison of RCI results in year 2010 and 2013 and evaluation of RCI changes in the case of V4 countries in reference years.