Strasbourg, 25/04/2007 (Agence Europe) - Any new countries joining the EU in the future (Croatia, Turkey, Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Serbia - and Kosovo- and Montenegro) may well increase the EU's surface area by 35% and its population by 27% but they would only increase EU GDP by 4%, reducing per capita GDP by 18%. Under current criteria, these countries joining the EU would require an extra budget of €150 billion for the Structural Funds 2007-2013 in addition to the €308 billion already approved for this period, explains the own initiative report by Markus Pieper (EPP-ED, Germany) on the impact of future enlargement on the effectiveness of Cohesion Policy. The report was adopted by the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday 24 April by 473 to 113 with 104 abstentions.
The report assesses the impact of future enlargements currently under consideration on EU Cohesion Policy and how regional expenditure could be rationalised. To enable accession candidates to get effective support for regional development, subject to their political progress prior to possible EU membership, the report urges the Commission to propose a 'graduated model' for Cohesion Policy, gearing regional policy to EU enlargement scenarios. 'Under current rules and conditions, Turkey's accession to the EU would 'lend an entirely new dimension to EU Cohesion policy, which has never yet been applied to a country of such a size, with such a low level of economic development and such large regional disparities.' Turkey would receive 63% of the additional Structural Funds required (63% of the €150 billion mentioned above), Croatia 7% and all the other Western Balkans countries together only 9.2%.
The report refers to the conclusions of the June 2006 European Council that the EU must be able, in the light of budgetary realities, to pursue the aim of social, economic and territorial cohesion. The report notes that it takes EU 'integration capacity' under the Cohesion Policy to also mean that 'old' regions of the EU should not be made ineligible for regional aid due to the statistical impact without any improvements in their competitiveness or structural changes. For details of the report, see EUROPE 9392. (gb)