BRUSSELS (MNI) – Greece and other struggling European economies
could gain easier access to billions of euros in EU funds under a
stimulus plan announced Monday the European Commission.
The other countries that will benefit from the plan are Ireland,
Portugal, Hungary, Latvia and Romania — countries that the Commission
says have been most affected by the crisis and that have already
received financial support from the European Financial Stabilisation
Mechanism or the balance of payments mechanism.
Under the scheme, the share of funding these countries have to
co-invest to gain access to assistance funds and subsidy payments
already allocated to them under the current EU budget would be reduced
from 15% to 5%.
Although the Commission estimates that the move will cut these
countries’ co-financing costs by only E2.8 billion in total, the hope is
that it will unlock access to the tens of billions of allocated but
unclaimed funds.
A lack of financing to co-invest is one reason that money goes
unclaimed, but corruption and poor administration have also played a
role. The new co-financing rate would be applied only at the specific
request of a member state and would be temporary.
The EU funds would benefit infrastructure, agriculture, fisheries
and rural communities.
“Accelerating these funds, combined with the financial assistance
programmes, demonstrate the Commission’s determination to boost
prosperity and competitiveness in the countries mostly hit after the
financial crisis — thereby contributing to a kind of ‘Marshall Plan’
for economic recovery,” said European Commission president Jose Manuel
Barroso.
Commission officials hope to get the plan approved by EU
governments and the European Parliament by the end of the year.
Although the proposal involves no new EU money, it could still
prove controversial with some governments, as unclaimed funds are
normally returned to countries that are net contributors to the EU
budget.
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