At the EU summit, Poland wants to secure as much cohesion payments in the next multiannual financial framework from 2014 to 2020.
Today, the EU summit has started. The first results are
expected to be announced tomorrow, however. For Poland, retaining the
size of the cohesion fund has highest priority. According to Prime
Minister Donald Tusk, wants a minimum of € 70bn for cohesion policies.
Germany and the UK, which want a cut of the EU budget, are the main
opponents of Poland´s claim. In the first proposal, the EU Commission
has aimed to achieve a 5% increase. Now, the size was reduced to € 945m.
However, UK´s Prime Minister David Cameron has promised Poland not to
cut the cohesion fund. Cameron underlined the importance of these funds
for the poorest regions in the EU, including Poland. “These funds are
stimulating economic growth, which is to the benefit of all involved
parties.”
Poland was clearly the biggest net beneficiary. Poland received
payments of € 10.97bn last year. The second place has Greece (€ 4.63bn),
followed by Hungary (€ 4.42bn) and Spain (€3.0bn). The Czech Republic
received net payments of € 1.455bn, Slovakia´s net surplus was € 1.16bn
and Romania´s net payments reached € 1.45bn. In terms of GDP, Hungary is
the biggest beneficiary. Net payments reached 4.67% of GDP last year.
Lithuania (4.63%) ranks second, Latvia (3.62%) ranks third. At the
moment, the biggest net contributor is still Germany (€ 9.0bn), followed
by France (€ 6.4bn), Italy (€ 5,933bn) and the U.K. (€ 5,57bn).
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