ALDE Seminar on EU funds

Video summary of the ALDE Seminar "Absorption of EU funds: lessons from Ireland and Spain"

Event date: 10/06/08 09:00 to 11:30
Location: Room PHS 7C50, European Parliament, Brussels

Following the adoption of the operational programmes, Member States and their regions are currently able to benefit from EU funding amounting to 347 billion euros, allocated for the Structural Funds for the 2007-2013 period. However, at the same time the new Member States can still use the funds under the previous Financial Perspectives (2000-2006).

The pace and capacity of EU Member States to absorb EU funds differs from country to country. The reasons for slower absorption of Structural Funds may vary from lacking administrative capacity, lack of training and appropriate policy planning and budgeting, suspended payments to delays in adopting the operational programmes.

This seminar will discuss lessons to learn from the Irish and Spanish experiences of implementing Structural and Cohesion Funds. The first panel will focus on Spanish and Irish approaches to developing the absorption capacity. The second panel will discuss the absorption capacity of the new Member States and their particularities. These lessons are meant to help in the design of strategies for increasing the absorption capacity in all Member States, but particularly in the newer ones, which are the greater beneficiaries of European assistance.

Speakers will include the Commmissioner for Regional Policy, Mrs Danuta Hübner, national experts from Spain, Ireland and Romania, and a representative of the World Bank.

For more information:
Ahopelto Anu - Tel: +32 2 283 21 81

On ALDE Website:
http://www.alde.eu/index.php?id=42&no_cache=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=9534

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