Poland could benefit to the tune of EUR 900 (zl.3,635) million from a new EU fund to help areas suffering most from unemployment.
The fund was actually proposed by Polish representatives and has been approved by EU officials in Luxembourg. In order to qualify for grants, areas must meet two criteria: their GDP per capita must be lower than 40 percent of the EU average and the unemployment rate must come to 15 percent.
Currently five areas in Europe meet these requirements - and they are all in Poland.
The Lubelskie, Podlaskie, Swetokrzyskie, Podkarpackie and Warminsko-Mazurskie voivodships could be the only potential beneficiaries, even after Romania and Bulgaria's accession to the European Union. But for the financial aid to become reality, EU leaders have to agree on an EU budget, and as WBJ went to press European officials were still locked in negotiations.
If EU leaders agree, Poland's poorest regions could be on the receiving end of a EUR 900 million injection between 2007 and 2013.
"The western part of Poland cumulates all the investments simply because of the higher quality of infrastructure. So a EUR 900 million investment into the poorer half would really be great news," said Andrzej Zdebski, president of the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIiIZ).
PAIiIZ has also recently signed a contract for the creation of a regional foreign investors assistance center in the Wielkopolskie voivodhip. This is the 16th such center and completes a nationwide network, which PAIiIZ hopes will boost Poland's investment competitiveness.
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