Press Release: Rural Development: Commission finalises annual funding for Member States for 2007-2013

The European Commission has decided on the annual Rural Development budget for the 25 Member States for the years 2007-2013. This follows the decision of the European Council in December 2005 on the Financial Perspectives. The amount of money to be received by each Member State has been decided based on the following criteria: a) some amounts are reserved for certain regions under the Convergence Objective; b) the historical share for each Member State of the EAGGF Guarantee envelope for Rural Development and Leader+ and c) particular situations and needs based on objective criteria (the European Council allocated specific amounts to eight Member States). The decision will be amended once Romania and Bulgaria become members of the EU. Additional money is available for these two countries.