Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-06-15-Speech-4-136"
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"en.20000615.4.4-136"2
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"Mr President, the main conclusion to be drawn is that, in 10 years of Structural Funds, no real progress has been made in closing the huge gap between the per capita income of the richest and the poorest regions of the European Union.
Not only have we failed to achieve the main purpose of the Structural Funds, i.e. to help reduce regional disparities and achieve economic and social cohesion; in numerous cases, the situation has worsened and the gulf between the regions lagging behind and the developed areas has widened both in rural areas, especially island and mountain regions, and also in urban areas, which are plagued by mass and long-term unemployment, poverty, and a scarcity, or in many cases, a total lack of basic infrastructures. The report under discussion makes a number of critical observations and evaluations which are heading in the right direction and I would like to congratulate the rapporteur on that.
However, the reality of the situation is even worse. The lack of planning and transparency and the huge number of irregularities and cases of fraud in implementing the programmes, which have helped swell the coffers of parasitical undertakings, have actually widened the gap instead of fostering cohesion. In fact, the Structural Funds have, on numerous occasions, been used as a means of eroding cohesion and fostering asymmetric development. Greece is a typical example of this: in 1996, only two Greek regions were classified among the ten poorest regions in the European Union. However, the following year, a total of seven Greek regions were amongst the eleven poorest regions. Epirus acquired the dubious accolade of being the poorest region in the European Union. The scarcity of resources under the Damoclean sword of Agenda 2000 and persistent cutbacks in order to satisfy other requirements, such as enlargement, do nothing to strengthen cohesion or stabilize development levels; on the contrary, they help set further socio-economic degeneration of the regions in motion."@en1
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