MEP to meet Hain
05 June 2006
DUP MEP Jim Allister is set to meet NI Secretary of State Peter Hain in Brussels on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the future of EU Structural Funding in Northern Ireland.
Last month Mr Allister submitted a detailed dossier on the subject (see http://www.jimallister.org/default.asp?blogID=453) to the UK Government in response to its consultation on how 6.2Billion Euro of EU Structural Funding should be shared out between the 12 UK regions between 2007 and 2013. In his submission, on behalf of the DUP, the MEP strenuously argued that the share out must not be pro rata to population, but pro rata to need and competitiveness deficit. He pitched his bid for Northern Ireland at 1 Billion.
Commenting in advance of his meeting with Mr Hain, Mr Allister said:-
“I am looking forward to further pressing Northern Ireland’s strong case for a substantial portion of this available funding and trust the response will be positive. I will also be stressing that to have any meaningful impact the EU funding must be truly additional to national spending, as EU rules require”.
