Greece needs further support from the EU’s cohesion policy, Marc Lemaître says

File photo: Marc Lemaître. Photo via Twitter@RegioInterreg




Greece needs further support from the European Union’s cohesion policy in the coming period and that is why the European Commission has proposed an increase of 8 pct for Greece, said Marc Lemaître,

Director General of the Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy, in statements to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA) on Tuesday.

On the Multiannual Financial Framework for the period 2022-2027, Lemaître said that “the Commission’s cohesion policy foresees 10 pct cuts in real terms because of the reality of Brexit.”

“However, we have proposed a total increase of 8 pct for Greece. This is a stark contrast to the general proposal for cohesion policy, and we believe this is a fair reflection of Greece’s financial crisis and the requirement that Greece needs more support from cohesion policy in the coming period,” he said.

As for the less developed regions of Greece, which are last on the regional competitiveness index released by the Commission on Monday, resources must be focused on the poorest regions of Greece, according to Lemaître. “We are relying on adequate regional cohesion policy and I would like to point out that cohesion policy can offer a lot and the poorest regions must benefit,” he added.

At the same time, he said, the Commission believes that Greece must continue the structural reforms that have been launched in the past seven to eight years, as there is a lot of ground to cover before it regains its competitiveneness.

Source: ΑΝΑ-ΜPA

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