Slovakia starts talks with EU on regional development assistance

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Published 29 July 2003, updated 29 January 2010

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Slovakia, Structural and Cohesion funds

Slovak and Commission officials are meeting in Bratislava on 29 July to launch negotiations on the EU's structural and cohesion aid for Slovakia.

The negotiations will be dedicated to the Community Support Framework and related Operational Programmes and Single Programming Documents for the period 2004-2006.

Slovakia will receive 1.7 billion euro from the EU's regional development programmes for stimulating growth, competitiveness and employment and correcting regional imbalances. 1.1 billion euro will be allocated to Slovakia under the EU Structural Funds and some 0.6 billion euro under the Cohesion Fund.

The Structural Funds will concentrate on business infrastructure and business development, transport and environment infrastructure, multifunctional agriculture and rural development, and education, training and active labour market policies. The Single Programming Document Objective 2 for Bratislava will focus on business services, infrastructure and tourism. The Single Programming Document Objective 3 will focus on training and lifelong learning measures. The Cohesion Fund will concentrate on transport infrastructures and environment.

Positions:

Michel Barnier, Commissioner responsible for for regional policy,said that it was very important that the European programmes in Slovakia are a success. "It therefore is all the more important that we reach an early agreement so that implementation on the ground can begin as soon as possible, taking into account that eligibility of expenditure under these programmes starts on 1 January 2004," said Mr Barnier.

In March 2003,Slovakiasubmitted to the Commission its National Development Plan 2004-2006, four draft Operational Programmes and two Single Programming Documents for the Bratislava region. Slovakia has 4 cohesion regions comprising 8 sub-regions and 79 districts. Three regions are eligible for Objective 1 assistance and one region, Bratislava, is eligible for Objective 2 and 3.

Next steps:

The EU plans to start negotiations with all the future recipients of regional aid by the end of September 2003. The talks are expected to continue until the end of 2003.

The future Member States will become eligible for expenditure under the Union's Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund on 1 January 2004, four months ahead of their accession to EU membership.

The EU is expected to start the debate on reforming its regional development policies at the end of 2003 when the Commission is due to present its first legislative proposal for the 2007-2013 financial perspective.

Background:

The EU's regional policy is based on financial solidarity between the Member States whose contributions to the Union's budget go to the less prosperous regions and social groups. For the 2000-2006 period, these transfers will account for one third of the EU budget, or 213 billion euro. 195 billion euro will be spent by the four Structural Funds (the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance and the Guidance Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund), 18 billion euro will be spent by the Cohesion Fund.