Multi-Criteria Evaluation of the EU funds Long-Term Development Potential: Repercussions for Labour Market and Competitiveness

Jurica Bosna; Adis Puška; Mladen Rajko

doi:10.31181/sems41202670

Authors

Jurica Bosna Department of Economics, University of Zadar, Zadar, Croatia Author https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7633-4862
Adis Puška Department of Public Safety, Government of Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brčko, Bosnia and Herzegovina Author https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3274-0188
Mladen Rajko Department of Economics, University of Zadar, Zadar, Croatia Author https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8723-8051

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31181/sems41202670

Keywords:

EU funds, Neutrosophic Sets, Competitiveness, SWARA, CORASO, MCDM

Abstract

This research was carried out to evaluate the effects of the long-term development potential that the Republic of Croatia had from the application of EU funds. To investigate this, Zadar County was selected as a case study, and with the assistance of specialists from the Zadar development agency ZADRA NOVA and Inovacije Zadar (Zadar Innovations), projects were evaluated within ten sectors, which were observed using eight criteria. This research adopted a neutrosophic set approach to implement the evaluations provided by these experts, which were expressed in linguistic values. This methodology allows for the determination of the degree of truth or falsehood, as well as the level of uncertainty associated with each evaluation. Consequently, the derived scores were scrutinized more rigorously, and by incorporating uncertainty into the decision-making process, the results yielded safer decision outcomes. The results of this research were obtained by applying the SWARA and CORASO methods, which showed that the criteria demographic effects (C2) and cooperation and partnership hold the highest significance for experts, and that the best effects were provided by projects aimed at enhancing entrepreneurship and research infrastructure. This research has provided essential information that can be leveraged for the future allocation of EU funds to further advance the Republic of Croatia in terms of competitiveness and the labour market.

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