Dev’t Minister presents Greek proposals for 2014-2020 NSRF programme funding

Development and Competitiveness Minister Costis Hatzidakis said that all funds received would go to activities with a higher return on investment ratio, while the Greek periphery would absorb 35 percent of NSRF funds, over its 22 percent they handled under the previous programme, 2007-2013.

There will be no funding gap from the earlier NSRF programme to the new one, he asserted,

and the transition would be smooth. The European Union was expected to approve the funding by the end of February 2014 and approve specific programmes by the end of June 2014.

“Thirty-two simplifying legislative acts on three laws already carried out were not deemed enough, because we are in the middle of a process,” Hatzidakis said, “that is why all issues will be examined from the ground up and the stages of projects condensed, with deadlines and fines.”

The funds are a tool, not a panacea, the minister noted, and said that according to the study carried out by McKinsey & Company for the programme (“Greece 10 Years from Now: Defining the New Model”) sees the projects costing a total of 112 billion euros, while the funds available through the NSRF amount to 20.8 billion euros. “This 20.8 billion was not something easy, the amount was raised by 37 percent through the government’s negotiations; however the present NSRF (programme for Greece) is lower than the preveious one,” he noted.

Delineating the four large national investment programmes, Hatzidakis said they were as follows:

Competitiveness and entrepreneurship (this would absorb 25 percent of the funds); modernisation of the public sector (3 percent of funds); entrepreneurship in environmental projects and transport, covering either ongoing programmes or new ones, related to the country’s international obligations (24 percent), with training and employment absorbing an additional 13 percent; and regional projects, with a doubling of expenditures for innovation and priority given to extroversion projects (35 percent).

In terms of regions, Hatzidakis said the European Social Fund would provide funding for regional social cohesion programmes. “Overall today the periphery managed 22 percent of NSRF funds, while under the new one they will handle 35 percent of the funds; despite a reduction in NSRF funds, all regions will have more funds available – at least, 15 per cent more than under the present programme,” he noted.

Source: AMNA