Anotace:
Nowadays, we live in an accelerated, complex, globalized world, where expectations are high for everyone. The child of today has to train a lot to be successful. The enlargement of the European Union and the expansion of the Schengen zone opened gates to society and economy that were not dreamed before by the countries of Central and Easter Europe. Many businesses were able to develop and grow, and they could achieve the goals they set until the end of the ´90s. The situation has changed since the turn of the millennium. The global markets, the easily accessible products and services, the convenience of the World Wide Web, the growing competition, the multinational companies and foreign chains, the high consumer expectations and the requirements and standards of EU have resulted the end of many businesses. The aim of the paper was to evaluate the impact of European Union support funds on the business of family enterprises in the southern districts of the Slovak Republic. The research material was obtained from primary sources. Data were subject of deeper analysis by statistical methods. Subsequently hypotheses were formulated and verified by use quantitative methods. According to results, in a group of businesses not supported by EU programs more than half of the respondents could not develop in the last 3 years, they had negative results. It can be stated that if external support and consultancy are present in family business life, the younger generation will find the family business more dynamic, innovative and attractive and therefore they will continue to run the family business.