No sudden decline in structural funding says EU Commissioner

THERE will be no sudden drop off in European funds after 1999, the EU Commissioner for regional affairs has confirmed.

Speaking at the end of a two day seminar in Ballyconnell, Co Cavan, on structural funds, Mrs Monika Wulf Mathies said there would be no dramatic fall off in funding when the next series of structural funds was negotiated post-1999.

There have been widespread fears that, because of our increased prosperity and the new countries joining the EU, the level of funds would drop dramatically at the end of the century.

The Minister for Finance Mr Quinn confirmed there would be no abrupt halt but said he could not speculate on how much Ireland was likely to receive in the future.

Most of our current non agricultural funding comes through the structural and cohesion funds. It now seems likely that cohesion funds will be phased out and replaced with a new formula. Ireland's structural funding is likely to drop from around £1 billion a year to around £700 million.

One of the reasons we will continue to get funding is a switch in the emphasis of the funds from structural projects, such as road building to areas of high unemployment. Ireland's position at the "extreme periphery" of Europe would also help its case, officials said.

At the seminar Mr Quinn also stressed the importance for Ireland of switching to a GNP based calculation in measuring our standard of living from one based on GDP.

"GDP is some 14 per cent higher than gross national product, the measure of national income. Current income flows do not necessarily measure the wealth of a region, especially if the catching up is relatively recent," he told the European ministers.

Until now the Irish authorities have had difficulty persuading their European counterparts of the validity of this argument. However, Mr Quinn said he heard similar arguments from other member states for the first time.

He stressed the seminar was merely an opportunity for an exchange of views and was not a place for negotiations. Nevertheless, he said, he was now more optimistic, that a different, and more complex, method of measuring national wealth would be found.

Luxembourg pointed out that one third of its workforce came from Germany, while the Belgian delegate stressed that 55 per cent of the jobs in the Brussels region were held by non residents.

Other measures which were discussed included a new emphasis on the Court of Auditors to monitor the spending of European money, Mrs Quinn said. The Ecofin council of European finance ministers is also likely to take on a larger role in ensuring money is not given away.