Brussels, 17/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - During a plenary session on 12 July in Strasbourg, the European Parliament adopted the own initiative report of Lidia Joanna Geringer de Oedenberg (PES, Poland) on the role and effectiveness of cohesion policy in reducing disparities in the poorest regions of the EU. The EP calls for resolute action to reduce the most acute development shortcomings in the regions in question, and underlines that the new member states that have joined the EU since 2004 need special support to overcome their institutional, administrative and economic shortcomings: for details (EUROPE 9442).
In the context of existing prospects, Oedenberg explained in her explanatory statement that Bulgaria and Romania had a particularly high growth potential and should therefore be well-placed for benefiting from EU regional funding. The Commission's initial estimates published on 30 May predict that between 2007-13, cohesion policy will help to increase the GDP of Lithuania, Latvia and the Czech Republic by around 8.5%, Poland's by around 5.5% and Greece by around 3.5%, explained Ms Oedenberg in a reference to the 4th economic and social cohesion report (EUROPE 9435. She added that between 1960 and 2002, Spain's GDP had growth by 60.76% to reach almost 85% of the Community average, whereas Portugal's had grown from 40% to 66% and Ireland's from 65% to 122%. (gb)