Press Release: Cohesion Policy: getting the most from EU Funds for growth and jobs – Commission moves to help

Measures to help crisis-hit countries to use much needed EU funds were proposed by the European Commission on 21 May 2013. The measures would help these Member States to tackle youth unemployment, to support small and medium sized business and to pay for key infrastructure projects.

In the absence of this proposed measure, Cohesion Policy investments for growth could be lost because of a lack of time to spend the money or because of the difficulty of finding national and private co-finance in the current economic climate.

The proposal, prompted by requests from EU governments and from the European Council, will now be sent to the European Parliament and the EU's Council of Ministers for adoption.