Commissioner for Regional Policy, Danuta Hübner, recently announced that more than €38 billion was paid out to Member States in 2008 through the European Union's Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund. This support co-financed thousands of regional development projects across the EU, ranging from major transport, environmental and energy infrastructure to investment in innovative SMEs and training.

The 38.3 billion Euro paid out in 2008 were channelled through four Structural Funds, including the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF), the European Agriculture Guidance and Guarantee Fund – Guidance (EAGGF-G) and the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG), along with the Cohesion Fund. Within them, €26.8 billion were paid out for programmes and projects from the 2000-2006 period and €11.5 for 2007-2013.

As Commissioner Hübner pointed out "2008 was a challenging year for Member States and regions, particularly in view of the worsening economic climate. The strong and stable support provided by the Cohesion Policy is more important than ever, in terms of helping to sustain economic activity and in providing a much-needed stimulus in 2009 through its contribution to the European Economic Recovery Plan. This will enable us to boost liquidity in Member States, with the injection of an additional EUR 6.25 billion in advances this year, and we are also extending deadlines for payment claims so that every euro can be put to best use.”

2000-2006 programming period

The total funding allocated to Member States in the 2000-2006 budgetary period was €257 billion. So far, €225 billion have been paid out – 87.5% of the total. Member States can make payments for this period up to 30 June 2009 for the Structural Funds, following the Commission's decision to extend the deadline by six months. The deadline for Cohesion Fund payments is in most cases the end of 2010.

2007-2013 programming period

The total funding allocated to the Member States over the period 2007-2013 amounts to €347 billion.

• In 2007 and 2008, the European Commission made advance payments totalling €18.1 billion to the Member States.
• In 2009, the current regulations foresee advances amounting to €5 billion.
• Under the European Recovery Plan, the Commission proposed to inject additional advances of €6.25 billion in 2009. This proposal has been approved in principle by the Council and is currently under discussion in the European Parliament, with a vote expected on 24 March.

Project preparation is moving ahead quickly: according to initial estimates, more than 40.000 projects have already been selected in the Member States, including 60 "major projects" (total cost exceeds €25 million in the case of an environment project and €50 million in other fields).

Recent examples of major projects which have received significant funding through the EU Cohesion Policy include high speed railway linking Cordoba to Malaga in Spain (EU contribution: €852 million), new metro in Porto, Portugal (EU: €316 million), Rio-Antirrio bridge in Greece (EU: €257 million), modernisation of Warsaw-Lodz railway line in Poland (EU: €161 million).