Spend It or Lose It
September 25, 2007
Time is running out for 10 new members of the European Union, said Dalia Grybauskaite, the EU commissioner in charge of the budget.
When the countries joined the bloc in 2004, the EU set aside 8.5 billion euros ($12 billion) to help the countries catch up with their wealthier counterparts. The funds were meant to pay for new schools, roads and promote job training.
Money not being used
But the money needs to be spent by the end of 2007, Grybauskaite said. With only three months left to go, the countries have used only 57 percent of their structural funds on average and just 22 percent of their cohesion funds, according to figures provided by Grybauskaite at a news conference.
The countries were Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.
It is unlikely that they will get a second shot at spending the money.
"Don't dream about an endless possibility to absorb these funds," Grybauskaite warned. "Absorption levels are not satisfactory and time is running out."
EU: no excuse for unspent money
Poland had done the worst job of spending its allocated money. Grybauskaite said the responsibility to allocate the money efficiently and quickly rested completely with the national governments.
"Don't look for excuses, because there will be no excuses. If Poland isn't able [to spend the money], then Poland loses out," Grybauskaite, a Lithuanian, said at the press conference.
In 2006, Europe's 25 member states [Bulgaria and Romania joined in 2007] spent 91 percent of the EU's 106.6 billion euro budget, according to official figures. France led the way in raking in EU dollars, landing 13.5 billion euros in 2006, of which 10 billion was for agricultural funds.
Greece, Lithuania and Malta are the biggest beneficiaries after Luxembourg, when viewed in terms of EU funds as a percentage of gross national income.