EC says "No" to Economy Ministry's version of investment support bill

The Economy Ministry aspirations to get EU funds to support companies' investments are beginning to fade, as the European Commission (EC) is demanding major changes to the Ministry’s draft bill on the matter. The end result is that enterprises might not get any money at all in 2004 despite the fact that the Ministry planned the figure would be around zł.300 million. Deputy Economy Minister Krystyna Gurbiel announced on Wednesday that the EC decided that none of the structural funds would be designated for this purpose. The EU body justified its decision by refusing to finance legal costs of investments, but, "We are surprised, as the Commission expressed no reservations about the bill earlier," said Gurbiel. According to sources, another reason for the EC's objection was that the bill allows for grants to companies from all sectors, while the EC argues that some of them should be excluded. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B1)