Bureaucratic and legislative backlog means Poland misses out on EU funds

Due to the lack of necessary legal acts, the majority of programs allowing Poland to receive EU subsidies have not been launched. Between 2004-2006 the country might receive EUR 7.3 billion as part of structural funds which cover seven different programs. So far the state managed to launch only two of them and the deadlines for opening the following ones are constantly put back. The government pledged to finally start them by the beginning of August. Despite that, the Finance Ministry estimates that Poland will receive about EUR 800 million from the structural funds in 2004. "This is over 10% of all designated funds for the country until 2006," explained Beata Rudzka from the Ministry. She also added that it is highly unlikely that the money would be used by the end of the year. (Parkiet, p. 8) M.M.