The EIB will support the security and defence sector. Mateusz Roszak spoke with Teresa Czerwińska, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank.
According to the latest report, 47 percent of the EIB Group’s total financing in the European Union last year was allocated to cohesion regions – where does this assumption that such a large share of funds should be allocated to cohesion come from? Does the EU still have problems with economic convergence, or is it the other way around – a result of the effectiveness of such a policy?
The 20th anniversary of Poland’s accession to the European Union this year is a good opportunity to sum up cohesion policy. In 2004, the average GDP of the 10 new Member States was 60 percent of the EU average. Today it is 80 percent. The unemployment rate has fallen from 14.4 percent to 3.6 percent. EU investments in cohesion, i.e. supporting economically weaker regions and equalising development opportunities for people living in different parts of our Community, have contributed to a huge leap forward in civilisation.
The European Investment Bank supported the convergence process by investing the vast majority of the almost PLN 100 billion allocated to Poland during this period in regional cohesion, including: transport, energy transformation and innovation.
