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New Member States Some 92% of people in the new Member States live in regions where the income per head is below 75% of the EU average. And over two-thirds live in regions that are even poorer, with GDP per head under 50%. EU investments in these regions will help close this gap. So will EU-initiatives, such as INTERREG IIIC, that provide know-how and help to build administrative capacity for successful regional development.  EU investments in the new Member States are important to tackle prosperity gaps. ![](\"/images/sp_trans.gif\"){kind=spacer} Experience shows that institutions need to be of a sufficient quality, before Structural Funds can be effective in stimulating growth, convergence and competitiveness. In preparing for EU membership, the ten new Member States undertook wide-ranging reforms of their territorial administration systems and invested heavily in their institutional infrastructure for regional development. However, strengthening administrative capacities and management skills from the national down to the local levels and developing high-quality projects remain significant challenges. To get into the driving seat of EU-funded regional development, local and regional authorities in the new Member States need sufficient in-house capacity and know-how for strategic planning and project development. They also need to acquire first-hand experience on what has worked and what hasn’t in implementing the Structural Funds. This, they can learn from their peers in the ‘old’ EU. In particular, from regions that have benefited from EU support in the past. INTERREG IIIC allows new Member State regions to pick partners with the right profile that can help solve their problems and tackle development challenges.  INTERREG IIIC helps to build regional capacity and by doing so, helps to increase SF effectiveness and efficiency From the start the INTERREG IIIC programme authorities have encouraged Lead Partners from the old Member States to include new Member State Regions in their partnerships, a task that was considerably facilitated when the new MS got eligible for ERDF funds in January 2004. Now, 491 partners, i.e. 20 % of the more than 2600 organisations involved in INTERREG IIIC projects, come from the ten new Member States.  The new Member States are strongly participating in INTERREG IIIC Another indicator for successful integration of new Member States are financial flows. A comparison of financial commitments to partners in the 10 NMS with the total commitments suggests that the percentage of allocations has increased from roughly 6% to more than 20 percent within the first 4 calls for proposal.  The percentage of financial allocations to new MS partners has increased considerably. For Walther Stöckl of Managing Authority IIIC East in Vienna, the positive performance of INTERREG IIIC with regard to integrating the new Member States and connecting them to EU-wide networks of good practice is an important indicator for the overall success of the programme. He says: “Our programme helps the new Member States to get fit for the Structural Funds and develop good projects at regional and local level. This will be crucial for making EU investments in the new Member States work”. For further information on this topic please contact Claus Schultze, INTERREG IIIC East at claus.schultze@interreg3c.net or call him on +43 1 4000 76142 or call him at +43 1 4000 76142.  Networking effects of INTERREG IIIC EAST.  Return to top© 2002 INTERREG IIIC |
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