Commissioner Hahn in Crete and Athens to help focus Regional investments on Greece's recovery for 2014-2020 - Main contents
date | December 12, 2013 |
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city | Athens, Greece |
attending | J. (Johannes) Hahn i, A. (Antonis) Samaras i et al. |
organisation | European Commission (EC) i |
EU Commissioner for Regional Policy, Johannes Hahn, will continue his visit to Greece's 13 regions next week (December 11-12) when he goes to Crete where he will meet political representatives and businesses on how to make sure investments under Regional Policy deliver tangible results for citizens. He will then go on to Athens to discuss with Prime Minister Samaras and Minister for Development Hatzidakis the priorities of the next programming period. Greece will be allocated more than € 14 bn of European Structural and Investment Funds to accelerate Greece's recovery and strengthen the country's competitiveness.
Greece has made good progress under the framework set by the EU's assistance programme as outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding. In terms of absorption of structural funds, Greece now ranks fourth in the EU. Important structural reforms have been achieved and the efforts of budget consolidation show initial positive results. Greece and its regions are now in the process of finalising their plans and strategies for how to use EU investments for the next budget period. This is in dialogue with the European Commission, as part of the so called Partnership Agreement. This will set down the strategy according to the Reformed Cohesion Policy and the particular strengths of the regions with a clear focus on the real economy.
Wednesday, 11 December
Commissioner Hahn will pay a visit to Crete where he will meet the regional Governor as well as representatives of local authorities and stakeholders. He will also pay a visit to innovative regional projects co-funded by the EU such as the Foundation of Research and Technology (FORTH).
Thursday, 12 December: Athens
08:45 Meeting with the Minister of Development, Mr Costis Hatzidakis
10:00 Meeting with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras
11:30 Opening Speech of Commissioner Hahn at the Conference "European Policy of Urban Development in practice"
13:45 Press Conference
15:15 Meeting with the Minister of Interior, Ioannis Michelakis
A press release (speech) will be published on Thursday 12 December via RAPID:
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2.Video and photo coverage will be available on Ebs http://ec.europa.eu/avservices
Twitter: @EU_Regional @JHahnEU
Information on Structural Funds for Greece: http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/index_en.cfm
Shirin Wheeler +32 2 296 65 65; +32460766565 shrin.wheeler@ec.europa.eu
Annemarie Huber +32 2 299 33 10; +32460793310 annemarie.huber@ec.europa.eu
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