Structural actions in support of enlargement
Enlargement will create three major challenges for cohesion policy.
First, development disparities will be magnified. The population
and surface area of the Union, with the accession of the twelve
States currently negotiating membership, will increase by one third,
but GDP by a mere 5%. A new group of States will emerge in the enlarged
Union: those with income of less than 40% of the European Union
average.
Second, the centre of gravity of cohesion policy will shift to
eastern Europe. In a Europe with twenty-five Member States, 116
million inhabitants - or approximately 25% of the total population
- will live in areas where the GDP per capita will be lower than
75% of the Community average (compared with 68 million inhabitants,
or 18% of the total EU population, at present).
And the inequalities that already exist in the Europe of Fifteen
will not vanish, which represents the third challenge. It will be
necessary to contribute to the development of the regions most in
need, but also to continue providing assistance for the enduring
difficulties in the current Member States. And it must be kept in
mind that structural weaknesses are found not only in the less developed
regions, but also in cities, where disparities in income can still
be glaring.
The Commission is preparing to take up these challenges.
In January 2001, it adopted the Second Report on Economic and Social
Cohesion, in which it proposes avenues of reflection for the future
of cohesion policy in the light of enlargement. This report was
since supplemented by two annual progress reports (see below)
The Instrument for Structural Policies for Pre-accession (ISPA)
is already helping the applicant countries develop environment and
transport projects. For the 2000-2006 period, ISPA is allocated
€ 1 040 million a year.
Under the INTERREG III programme, cooperation projects are also
possible between regions in the EU-15 and those in the applicant
states.
And in July 2001, the Commission came forward with an action plan
for the Union's regions bordering applicant countries (see below).
The European Commission proposed an approach for financing the
enlargement of the European Union until 2006, which fully respects
the expenditure ceilings imposed by the budgetary rules while offering
the benefits of EU solidarity to ten possible new Member States
(SEC/2002/102) : http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/docs/index.htm#sec2002-102
The accession negotiations with Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia,
Slovenie, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Malta, and Poland
were concluded at the European
Council in Copenhagen in December 2002. A budget of €21,7
billion was allocated to the Structural and Cohesion Funds for 2004-2006,
equivalent to average per capita assistance in 2006 of €117.
In the field of the policy of economic and social cohesion, the
main priority in terms of the preparation for enlargement is now
to finalise the structural programmes of the future Member States
to assure their effective implementation on the day of adhesion.
The Commission will also ensure follow-up of the commitments entered
into by the candidate countries with regard to administrative structures
and control procedures.
Inforegio
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