The influence of cooperatives on the regional and rural development of Croatia

Sa？etak This paper closely examines the territorial cohesion and rural development policies of the European Union, regional differences in the level of development of the cooperative system, and its spatially-differentiated influence on the social and economic development of Croatia. The results confirmed the importance of the cooperative system as a factor of territorial cohesion, and the high level of positive correlation between lagging behind in regional and rural development, and the level of development of the cooperative system. The cooperative system has had the greatest influence on regional development in Southern Croatia/Dalmatia (especially on social development) and in Eastern Croatia (especially on economic development). It has had the highest impact on rural development in counties with the largest share of local self-government units (administrative towns and municipalities) with a development index below 75% of the national average – primarily in Vukovar-Srijem and Osijek-Baranja Counties