Greece has more than met its targets in European Union fund absorption and is improving constantly, EU Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn said on Thursday after meeting with Development and Competition Minister Costis Hatzidakis.
“It is outstanding, in terms of the reputation, name and image of the country, the fact that in the present circumstances the rate of National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) funds is constantly improving – that Greece, in other words, from what it appears, has exceeded the targets set within the framework of the (loan) memorandum,” Hahn said.
Hahn also congatulated the minister and the Greek government for the programme they submitted two days ago covering the next NSRF funding session (2014-2020), “which truly follows the outlines we discussed in the past,” he said. The programme, he noted, gives emphasis to strengthening regional policy, meaning that all 13 of Greece’s districts will have their own business programmes. “Until recently, only 22 percent of the funding related to regions, but now this amount will rise to 35 percent,” he said.
“Yesterday I was on Crete, where I saw that the regional manager, who does not belong to the same party, nevertheless expressed his thanks to the minister for the initiative undertaken, which proves that there truly is progress,” said Hahn, who is paying visits to Greek regions to brief them about the new programme and review ongoing works.
The commissioner said that Greece’s absorption rate could serve as an example to other eurozone countries: “If we classify countries according to their performance on issues of EU fund absorption, Greece would be classified fourth, which means it is by far much higher than the average of the European Union.”
Hatzidakis said among other things that the major roadworks contracts, approved by Parliament, would contribute to the absorption rates and added that the new NSRF programme presented by the government is different than the current one in that it focuses on entrepreneurship and on social cohesion actions.
(source: ana-mpa)
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