EU cash delivers in poorest regions[de] 

The report, presented on 30 May, provides, for the first time, a detailed analysis of the economic, social and territorial situation of the enlarged EU of 27 member states and 268 regions, and the results are encouraging, according to the Commission. 

Disparities in income and employment across the EU have narrowed over the past decade, thanks to EU cohesion programmes, which aim to help lesser developed regions, such as the Eastern European countries. 

Presenting the report, EU Commissioner for regional policy, Danuta Hübner, said: “Cohesion policy is all about providing opportunities to each EU citizen wherever they live by reducing disparities between regions, by mobilising unused potential, by concentrating resources on growth-generating investments.” 

Between 2000 and 2006, the policy has contributed to increasing GDP by 2.8% in Greece and 2.0% in Portugal. Furthermore, preliminary estimates suggest that between 2007 and 2013, the policy will contribute to raising the GDP of Lithuania, Latvia, and Czech Republic by around 8.5% and of Poland by around 5.5%. 

The report also states that cohesion policy funding has contributed to the creation of 450,000 jobs between 2000 and 2005 in six countries with important structural difficulties and high unemployment levels, and has helped to reduce social exclusion and poverty through training programmes for around nine million people annually. 

However, Martin Konecny, campaigner on EU funds for CEE Bankwatch Network and Friends of the Earth Europe, criticised the report for “boasting” about EU funds’ contribution to economic growth while ignoring their contribution to climate change through the subsidisation of “an energy-intensive type of development”. 

"The fact – not even mentioned in Danuta Hübner's report – is that the four countries which received by far the most EU funds per capita over the past 15 years - Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Ireland - also witnessed by far the greatest increases in greenhouse gas emissions in the EU over the same period."

The report does nevertheless stress the importance of climate change as one of the key challenges facing European cohesion policy in the future, along with a declining and ageing population, pressure from global competition, social polarisation and high energy prices. It stresses that substantial efforts will be required in the long-term to cope with these challenges and continue reducing the still significant gap between the least- and best-off regions in the EU.