Brussels, 03/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - Danuta Hübner (EPP, Poland) wishes to clarify matters regarding the €82 billion “unspent” to which the European Commission referred in the context of the informal Council of 30 January, as potentially being used to relaunch growth and employment. The chair of the parliamentary committee on regional development and former European commissioner for the regions set matters straight over a sum of money which is “often misinterpreted and could lead to confusion”. There is indeed €82 billion which has not yet been spent or committed to specific projects in 2012 or 2013, but this “is perfectly normal at this stage of the programming period”, she explained, stressing that it is therefore “not correct to speak of 'unspent' money”. As the Commission suggested, it is mainly a question of redirecting and reprogramming funds for projects to bring growth and employment, but this is the “overarching mission of the cohesion policy, and this is already reflected in ongoing projects”, she stressed. (MD/transl.fl)