Brussels, 17/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 16 September, Coreper II approved the European Commission proposal to amend the modalities for using structural and investment funds in response to the Greek liquidity crisis.
The measures proposed include co-financing of 100% over the 2007-2013 period, the immediate payment of 5% of the budget retained before closure in 2017 and a 7% increase in pre-financing for 2015 and 2016 as part of Cohesion Policy (see EUROPE 11360). These measures would help make savings of around €2 billion in Greece, as well as make available almost €1 billion to the country over the next two years. The Commission provided assurances that these measures still remained “budgetary neutral”.
As part of the simplified procedure adopted by the European Parliament' s regional Development Committee (REGI) on 3 September (see EUROPE 11381), the aid plan adopted at the REGI Committee on Thursday 17 September, will be subject to a vote during 1 October plenary session.
Meeting with Corina Cretu. On 16 September, the Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Cretu, met Nikos Christodoulakis, the Greek minister for the economy and infrastructure, to discuss the question of the aid plan's implementation.
According to various sources, talks focused on the ring fencing mechanism adopted on 13 August by the Greek authorities (see EUROPE 11381) and the strengthening of human, financial and administrative resources, in view of absorbing funds as effectively as possible for the closing period and the one beginning. In this context, discussions also focused on the use of the “Structural Reform Support Service”, which has been up and running since 1 July to help Greece absorb the funds for the 2014-2020 period. (Pascal Hansens)