Brussels, 03/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - At the first anniversary of EU enlargement on 1 May 2005 (also see EUROPE 8939), Danuta Hübner, European Commissioner for Regional Policy, underlined that some people feared that the new Member States would be unable to absorb the substantial structural assistance offered by the EU, but so far these fears have proved unfounded. “EU funds are helping to realise the enormous growth potential that exists in these economies, and they are contributing to visible improvements in governance and administrative capacity,” she declared. A spokesperson for Ms Hübner said that regional disparities within the Union doubled overnight. The EU's cohesion policy responded: these countries are together receiving EUR 24 billion from the Structural and Cohesion Funds between 2004 and 2006, and still more from 2007 onwards. A press release explained that necessary administrative structures have been set up and project selection is well underway. The new Member States are making excellent progress so far (this is the case for transport infrastructure in Lithuania, the private sector and tourism in Slovakia and environmental infrastructure and tourism in the Czech Republic). Since accession the spokesperson pointed out that a number of positive results can already be highlighted. Cohesion policy has helped the newcomers to lay the foundations for higher levels of investment in the priority areas for growth and employment, including basic infrastructure, human resources, innovation and entrepreneurship. The spokesperson made specific mention of the number of applications received for environmental projects increasing and that in most of the new countries there should soon be parity (50-50) between transport and environment projects by the end of 2006. Another positive result: the INTERREG III programme for cooperation between regions has expanded with the upgrading of twelve existing cross-border programmes (such as “Southern Finland-Estonia”, nine new cross-border programmes (such as “Slovakia-Czech Republic”) and the inclusion of regions from the new Member States in transnational cooperation zones (such as the “Alpine Space”) and in networks of regions. It is too early to judge the economic and social impact of cohesion policy since enlargement. What can be said is that the new Member States have made an excellent start in establishing the administrative capacity to implement coherent regional development programmes and in selecting concrete projects to be funded. The main challenge now is to make best use of the available funds through high-quality project selection and development followed by timely and efficient implementation.