Posted on 01/28/2012 1:16:31 PM PST by Olog-hai
BRUSSELS—The EU commission wants to redirect €82 billion worth of structural funds to projects aimed at boosting employment and growth, particularly in bailed-out countries, measures seen as both vague and inadequate by critics.
Anticipating a demand from Monday's EU summit to redeploy as yet unspent structural funds for employment-related projects, the EU commission on Friday (27 January) announced its intention to work with member states on redistributing €82 billion.
Speaking at a press conference with the Belgian premier, commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said: "What we can do is to redeploy structural funds, as long as member states agree, because this is always a partnership between the commission and member states."
He gave the example of Italy, whose recently appointed technocrat government asked for a "reprogramming" of funds to the tune of €3.1 billion for education, broadband and railway investments in the country's poorer southern regions. …
But experts are skeptical that this new strategy will have any impact on the forecast recession in most member states.
"It's not enough money to really make a difference. If it was €82 billion for research or in fiscal deductions for small and medium enterprises, maybe it would," says Diego Valiante, an economist with the Center for European Policy Studies, a Brussels-based think tank.
Instead of doing more of the same—letting member states select all sorts of "bridges to nowhere" and other irrelevant projects—the EU commission should link structural funds with labor market reforms needed in most member states, he said. …
(Excerpt) Read more at euobserver.com ...
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