Race to absorb EU funds

The Ministry of Finance is preparing the final revision of the 2014-20 Partnership Agreement with the hope of absorbing the total amount of the €23.5 billion - €19.73 billion from the European Structural and Investment Funds and the rest in matching funds provided by Greece - allocated to 11 "Thematic Objectives" plus technical assistance.

At the moment, the absorption of these funds stands at 83.5%, still among the highest rates achieved by EU members. But the implementation of the partnership agreement has once again shown the chronic weaknesses of the state administration. Several projects included in the original planning, usually the most ambitious and innovative, and also the most needed, have been abandoned and others have taken their place, often at the very last moment, in order to absorb a fund. It is a practice that far from enthuses Brussels, but, in most cases,...