Silny region – silna metropolia. Studia empiryczne na przykładzie nowych regionów nts-3 w UE w okresie 1999–2005

The authors analyze tendencies in economic territorial diversification of nine states of Eastern Europe that became the EU member countries in 2004 and 2007. The investigation is focused on NTS-3 level of classification, which justifies the following countries as objects of the research as their regions are well in line with the NTS-3: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Hungary. The main thesis of this investigation is that a strong region means its strong metropolis. The empirical analysis confirms the thesis.