Topicality. One of the main tasks of the state regional policy is to stimulate the development of the regions, and, taking into account the successful experience of the European Union countries on this issue, the primary task and the main goal of the state regional policy should be connected with to reduction of disproportions of social and ecological and economic development. Balanced development of the regions is a necessary prerequisite to achieve the effectiveness of the state regional policy, which will ensure the social and economic development of the country as a whole. State regional policy requires that achievement of its goals should be gained by means of modern mutually interconnected mechanisms, as well as, provision of them with all the necessary resources for their implementation. Taking into account the experience of developed countries and the goals set in many normative and strategic documents of Ukraine on reducing the disproportionate development of regions, it is necessary to consider positive trends in preventing and overcoming divergent processes on the basis of reducing regional development imbalances in a context of the administrative-territorial reform of Ukraine and creation of new effective tools for legal and institutional structural impact on the development of regions of Ukraine.
Aim and tasks. The purpose of the article is to study an experience of the European Union countries regarding the assessment of disproportionality in development of regions and measures aimed at reducing regional development imbalances, as well as the implementation of such experience in accordance with Ukrainian realities. Moreover, a scope of objectives of the current study includes allocation mechanisms of regional policy of the EU according to characteristics of the areas that are subject to state intervention for a further implementation of the positive experience of the EU countries in the aspect of overcoming the disproportions of regional development, as well as, development of practical recommendations for improving institutional support and assessment tools for measuring disparities of regional development in Ukraine.
Research results. A foreign experience regarding assessment of regional disproportions is being considered within the article. Approaches to selection of indicators for assessment of disproportionality of regional development and features for definition of indicators, which perform as stimulators or as de-stimulators in different countries depending on local features of territorial development, - are analyzed. It was found that the practical difficulties arising from the use of GRP per capita, as a universal indicator characterizing the level of economic development of the region in the EU countries, - are related to a difficulty in choosing of method for determining the of output volume in conditions where activity goes beyond regional boundaries because of the fact that national statistical offices apply different approaches to calculation of this indicator. It was established that the development of a method for assessing of intra-regional disproportionality in the development of regions in Ukraine is complicated due to lack of a necessary statistical base provided by all necessary indicators at all levels; therefore, the proposed algorithm for comparing statistical information on monitoring of different levels of development of the country's territories will enable further development of a set of mechanisms that will stimulate socio-ecological and economic development at the regional level and will increase a regional competitiveness. The article provides recommendations on methodical provision of state evaluation of disproportionate development of the regions of the country; and proposes an algorithm for the implementation of statistical information on monitoring the levels of development of regions based on the European experience of organizing statistical and territorial division on economic grounds.
Conclusions. It has been established that in different countries of the European Union there are different approaches and methods used to identify areas in which disproportions of development are inherent; factors that serve as a source of developmental imbalances are also perceived differently, hence the choice of indicators that can be used to measure the detected imbalances is a subject of consideration by each EU country separately. In some EU countries, as in Ukraine, there is a problem with the collection and processing of statistical information at the NUTS III level, which corresponds to the Ukrainian administrative-territorial division of rayon level (district) or a group of rayons (group of districts). Development of the method for assessing of intra regional disproportionality in the development of regions in Ukraine is complicated due to lack of adequate statistical base provided with all necessary indicators at all levels, therefore the proposed, within the current study, - algorithm for comparing statistical information on monitoring of different levels of development of territories of the country will provide further development of a set of mechanisms that will stimulate social and ecological and economic development and increase the regional competitiveness.
Methodological basis for assessing of disproportionality of a regional development is the subject for further research in this area and provide a perspective for a study of intra-regional disproportions of development as a separate issue in the context of administrative-territorial reform in Ukraine.
Regional Development Policies of the European Union: An Evaluation in the Framework of Structural Funds and Other Financial Instruments