European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu is expected to announce on Thursday that Greece will receive an additional EUR 860 million in European Union subsidies during the current funding period, following a review of the member-states’ needs from EU Structural Funds, Kathimerini reports.
This extra amount will come from the EUR 4 billion set aside for the countries affected most by the financial crisis, as agreed when the 2014-20 period plans were drafted.
Kathimerini understands the additional funding will be announced on Thursday, with the main recipients being the countries of the European south, as Spain and Italy will share just under 80 percent of the 4-billion-euro cushion.
In the context of the current funding period Greece stands to collect EU funds of EUR 20.4 billion, but this had been calculated on the basis of the 2007-09 fiscal figures, which did not take into account the major recession that started after 2009, when the country’s gross domestic product was about 25 percent above the current level. Therefore the total funds Greece will have at its disposal by end-2020 will come up to almost EUR 21.3 billion once the EUR 860 million is added.