EU Funds must be efficiently used

EU Funds must be efficiently used. EU officials are expected to call for a more efficient use of resources such as the globalization fund and European Social fund. 

The existing globalization fund of € 500 million is aimed to retrain workers who have lost their jobs to non-EU countries. The European social fund of € 11 billion aims to boost employment in EU member states more generally.

EU officials are also expected to call for a more rapid and effective use of the EU's massive "cohesion" budget, which is designed to bring the standard of living in its poorest areas up to Western levels, and which is set to cost € 347 billion between 2007 and 2013.

The EU executive will also urge EU member states to push for more economic reform and modernization in areas from energy efficiency to research and development and waste management -- sectors long highlighted as the key to making Europe's economy more competitive. However, now the priority within the EU has shifted to find a way out of the current economic recession. 

Published on 2^nd of April 2010