One of the European Commission’s (EC) proposals, to link the size of EU support to GDP so that funding does not exceed 2.5 percent, was disadvantageous for Lithuania, Finance Deputy Minister Rolandas Kriščiūnas told the daily.
“Unfavorable is the fact that the Commission uses Eurostat’s GDP data from 2009, which was the worst year for Lithuania in at least two decades. This reference point is unfavorable for us when calculating the support, and the Commission will not have time to consider the later and better GDP data since there will be no official statistics,” he said.
Based on the 2009 GDP data, structural support for Lithuania, when applying the 2.5 percent cap, would go down by 13-14 percent, or by approximately 1 billion litas (EUR 289.85 m). Lithuania has been allocated 6.8 billion euros in EU structural support for 2007–2013.
According to Kriščiūnas, structural support comprises two-thirds of all EU funds allocated to Lithuania hence it is important for Vilnius to defend its position.
