Swiss cabinet approves EU cohesion fund deal

Students in Warsaw celebrating Poland's accession to the EU Keystone

The Swiss cabinet has approved a SFr1 billion ($760 million) funding package for the new EU states over the next five years.

The beneficiaries are limited to the ten new member states and the deal will be signed in Brussels on Monday.

Switzerland had promised to pay its contribution to the Cohesion Fund when it signed the second set of bilateral accords with the EU in May 2004.

The Swiss economics minister, Joseph Deiss, said in Bern on Wednesday that the funding is allocated for a five-year period, but payments will probably be spread out over ten years.

“This aid will be handed over for programmes and projects chosen by us in agreement with the country receiving it,” he added.

The approval of this agreement comes after long discussions between Bern and Brussels on the allocation of the Swiss contribution. Switzerland finally managed to impose its preferred option of restricting the payout to the ten new EU member states.

Haggling

Last year, some of the EU’s older members, such as Spain and Portugal, also demanded a share of the money but Bern insisted that the aid be reserved for the newest and least prosperous states.

It was the EU members though who decided how the funds should be shared out. “We didn’t want to be involved in the bargaining process,” explained Deiss.

Under the new agreement, almost half the funding will go to projects in Poland, SFr131 million to Hungary and SFr110 million to the Czech Republic.

A further SFr2 million has been reserved for projects deemed a high priority.

Priority will go to programmes linked to social and economic development, environmental infrastructure, health and research.

Switzerland will sign accords with the ten beneficiary countries and the first payments will be made in 2007. The funds will be drawn from the foreign and economics ministries’ budgets.

swissinfo with agencies

Key facts

Breakdown of Swiss contribution to EU cohesion fund in SFr:
Poland: 489,020,000
Hungary: 130,738,000
Czech Republic: 109,780,000
Lithuania: 70,858,000
Slovakia: 66,866,000
Latvia: 59,880,000
Estonia: 39,920,000
Slovenia: 21,956,000
Cyprus: 5,988,000
Malta: 2,994,000

In brief

The EU Cohesion Fund helps member states to reduce economic and social disparities and to stabilise their economies.

The least prosperous member states whose gross national product per capita is below 90 per cent of the EU average are eligible for aid.

Switzerland is contributing to the fund following two series of bilateral accords concluded with the EU.

The accords cover such areas as security and asylum cooperation with the EU, the fight against customs fraud, education, media, statistics and agricultural products.