Brussels, 31/01/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Commission is proposing to earmark a total of EUR 25,567 billion to regional policy in new Member States from 2004 to 2006, which would be the equivalent of 2.5% of their GDP on average by 2006. This funding would gradually increase from EUR 7,067 billion in 2004, to EUR 8.15 billion in 2005 and EUR 10.35 billion in 2006. All these figures are given for commitment credits on the assumption that 10 new Member States join the EU in 2004.
The Commission says that no more can be provided since the countries in question would not have the capacity to soak up more funding in any case. In a Communication concerning the financial framework for enlargement that was published on Wednesday (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.8-10), the Commission notes that balance had to be struck for 2004-2006 between the limits set by the very weak absorption capacity of the candidate countries and a faster implementation than outlined in Berlin for the first three years following enlargement. At their press conferences on Wednesday on the financial framework for enlargement and on cohesion policy, both Commissioner Barnier and President Prodi stressed importance of striking a balance between the requirements and capacity of the countries to absorb funding.
The Commissioner for Regional Policy said that the candidate countries would find it difficult to spend the money but they would find this much easier through the Cohesion Fund. The Commission is proposing, in effect, that a third of the financial package be transmitted via the Cohesion Fund (which targets large-scale infrastructure and environmental programmes) and sees advantages in allocating a greater share than normal (currently 18% for the four candidate countries that are eligible for aid from the Cohesion Fund) because this type of project is particularly useful to help the countries develop. Candidate countries would also gain great experience in managing projects of the sort through the pre-accession ISPA programme, which has very similar objectives and operates in a very similar way to the Cohesion Funds. The EU can provide up to 85% of total funding for this type of project.
The proposals will be broken down country by country in the next few weeks or months. Views are divided at the Commission between publishing them in February or waiting until the accession negotiations have made more progress.