Polen, Tsjechische Republiek en Slowakije mogen 1 miljard extra van Structuurfondsen verdelen in 2011-2013 (en) - Hoofdinhoud

Republic and Slovakia to share extra € 1 Billion from Structural Funds in 2011-2013

Poland will receive an extra € 633 million, the Czech Republic € 237 million and Slovakia € 138 million in structural funds. The top-up is a direct consequence of stronger economic growth than forecast in these countries. The Interinstitutional Agreement on the 2007-2013 financial framework between Parliament, Council and Commission foresaw automatic adjustments for countries whose GDP had varied by more than 5% cumulatively over 2007-2009 compared to the forecasts when drawing up the framework. The economic growth of Poland over that period was 8% higher than forecast, whereas Slovakia's and the Czech Republic's were respectively 10.8% and 7.5% higher than expected.

Commenting on this decision, Financial Programming and Budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski said: "Congratulations to the countries concerned for having managed to beat so convincingly growth forecasts made in 2005, despite the difficult environment! The funds will help them continue to modernise their economies and prepare for the future. "

Johannes Hahn, Commissioner in charge of Regional Policy added: "The higher than expected growth rate for Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia is certainly partly due to the allocation of structural and cohesion funds to these three Member States. This shows clearly the contribution of EU cohesion policy to economic growth in the beneficiary countries. The extra funding these countries will get over the next 3 years will, I am convinced, be used in the same spirit and with the same efficiency".

€ 336 million per year over 2011-2013

The three countries share an envelope of roughly € 1 billion. This amount is the result of a calculation taking into account the "underspending" (amounts that were foreseen but not spent) compared to the ceilings for cohesion policy over the years 2007-2010. Each country will receive an amount proportional to its initial allocation under heading 1B (Cohesion Policy).

The funds will be evenly split over the years 2011-2013, ie € 336 million per year.

Fresh money on top of the current ceilings

The amounts allocated to the three countries will be added to the current ceiling of heading 1B of the financial framework, thus increasing the total for this heading from € 347 407 million to € 348 415 million for the period 2007-2013.

This automatic adjustment does not require the approval of Council and Parliament.

Note for the editors

Point 17 of the Interinstitutional Agreement on Budgetary Discipline and Sound Financial Management states that, "in its technical adjustment for the year 2011, if it is established that any Member State's cumulated GDP for 2007-2009 has diverged by more than +/- 5% from the cumulated GDP estimated when drawing up this Agreement, the Commission will adjust the amounts allocated from funds supporting cohesion to the Member State concerned for that period…". Point 17 further introduces a first constraint that the total net effect, whether positive or negative, of those adjustments may not exceed €3 billion and in particular a second constraint that, in case the net effect is positive, "total additional resources shall be limited to the level of under-spending against the ceilings for sub-heading 1B for the years 2007-2010".

TABLE 2: FINANCIAL FRAMEWORK 2007-2013 ADJUSTED FOR 2011 AND POINT 17