A meeting on drawing European subsidies was held in Prague

Press release: 09.12.2011

During the meeting, all the delegations confirmed that the preservation of a strong cohesion policy concerned with reducing economic and social differences among Member States and regions was foremost among their priorities. “There is clear agreement among us that expenditures for the future cohesion policy must be primarily determined by the specific regional needs of the individual Member States”, said the 1st Deputy Minister of the Environment, Jakub Kulíšek.

The meeting also encompassed exchange of experience in drawing European funds within the current programme period. The delegations agreed that it was necessary to substantially simplify implementation mechanisms in the context of the cohesion policy. However, they simultaneously emphasised that the new proposals of the Commission would probably lead to an increase in the administrative burden in the future programme period and that it was therefore necessary to further discuss their wording with the Commission.

The participating countries also stated their support for “bridge projects”, i.e. projects whose complexity does not allow them to be implemented within the current programme period and that could be financed during the next programme period. In this sense, the delegations intend to request that the Commission establish clear rules for this kind of projects.

The participating countries also confirmed that they would continue to exchange positions in negotiations on the individual proposals of the Commission so that the final form of the future programme period really corresponds to their actual requirements.

Michaela Jendeková, tiskové oddělení MŽP