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The EU should pay up to 95 per cent of regional development project costs in Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Romania, Latvia and Hungary to spur recovery. Member States facing liquidity difficulties and benefiting from EU financial assistance should be eligible for a temporary 10 percentage points top-up of current co-financing rates in justified cases, says the legislative resolution, passed by 536 votes to 43, with 44 abstentions.
Rapporteur and Regional Development Committee Chair, Danuta Hübner (EPP, PL), said before the vote: "I am happy that given the urgency, this proposal could be adopted at the first reading. We need to act quickly because national and regional economies in distress need growth. Reducing the pressure on national budgets and promoting investment through European regional policy can help restore growth, facilitate job creation and improve productivity."
Priority for competitiveness, growth and employment
Eligible Member States will need to demonstrate that they lack the resources to pay their share of project costs and the need to apply the increased co-financing rates. They will also have to show how they intend to concentrate the funds on competitiveness, growth and employment.
The increase in the EU co-financing rate will be restricted to the period for which the Member States in question benefited from EU assistance under the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism or the Balance of Payments Mechanism, and will also apply retroactively. It shall however be limited until the end of 2013, and apply without prejudice to the post-2013 programming period.
Next steps
The Council is supposed to agree formally to the proposal in the week starting 12 December.