Abstract: Diverse regional development theories provide regional authorities with multiple ways of directing their developmental efforts. Nevertheless, money is a considerable problem, and the Central European regions therefore do not have much room: the majority of funds come from the European Cohesion Policy — the scope of which is limited. That is to say the New Member State regions would need to infl uence Cohesion Policy to have more discretion in European financial aid allocation and thus in choosing desirable directions for their territorial development. Will the Czech and Polish regions make their way onto the arena of Cohesion Policy-making? No doubt they have become more powerful since they were established. The game between the central governments and the regions has become matched. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the Czech and Polish regions’ involvement on the European level.

Keywords: Cohesion policy, Regional policy, Policy-making, the Czech Republic, Poland