Structural funds and regional policies represent “privileged means” to help Europe to grow, bring the new member states closer to the Fifteen, and revive production and employment in various areas of the Union. Danuta Hübner, Commissioner for regional policies, underlined the point in presenting the 2004 results concerning the use of structural funds and the various instruments of cohesion promoted by the EU, at a press conference in Brussels last week. “Ever since they were introduced, structural funds, budgetary commitments and payments have never reached so high a level in any financial year explained the Commissioner’s report -. The applications for payment by the member states exceeded the financial resources, making necessary the agreement of the Council and Parliament for a supplementary allocation of 2.4 billion euros, the whole of which has been used”. From the member states, and in particular from Eastern Europe, a growing number of applications for access to the funds are being received. Structural funds represent one of the main means with which the Union pursues its objectives of the “inclusion” of the less developed regions. “The absorption of structural funds in the new member states has proceeded rapidly. In Hungary, for example, 15,620 applications for projects, of which 3,705 approved by the Hungarian authorities, were presented between May and November 2004. In Poland, the financing of various plants for water supply and waste water treatment, as well as the funding of two motorway stretches, have been approved”. On the other hand, “in the member states of the 15-member Union, less than 1% of the commitments of 2002 remained unused in 2004”. According to Hübner, “structural funds invest in the future of a more competitive Union. The rate of absorption of the commitments and payments, amounting to almost 100% in 2004, demonstrates that the funds are used well and that they are essential for the development of the regional economy. That goes especially for the new member states, whose results satisfy our expectations”.
