Slovakia might receive less money from EU

The EU's budget proposals for the 2021 to 2027 period might decrease the incomes of central and eastern European regions including Slovakia by tens of billions Euro, wrote the Financial Times as cited by the SITA press agency. The European Union plans radical changes to its regional development policy. As part of the latter, large sums of money flowing to eastern and central European regions could be redirected to countries affected by the financial crisis such as Greece, Spain, Italy and some regions of France. Since 2004, as part of its cohesion funds, the EU has divided approximately €350 billion and Slovakia has received roughly €14 billion. Currently, the money is only divided according to one parameter: the Gross Domestic Product. The new criteria, however, should take a much wider scale of aspects into consideration, covering more fields. According to Financial Times, they should include unemployment of youth, education, environment, migration, innovation. The new funds should belong to a new chapter named Cohesion and Values. The new budget proposal should be published next month. The availability of funds should be conditioned by respect for the principles of the rule of law.