In 2008, Romania, a clear beneficiary of the EU budget

Romania was a net beneficiary of the EU budget (EU), by receiving 2.912 million Euros, compared to its contribution in Euros amounting to 1.017 million Euros, according to the report on the EU budget for the year of 2008, presented yesterday by Commissioner for Financial and Budget Programming, Algirdas Semeta.

Romania ranked tenth among the countries in terms of European funding received, (2.5%) of the EU"s total budget - 116.5 billion Euros.

The countries which received the largest amounts were: France, Spain, Germany and Italy which amounted to over 45% of the EU"s total budget.

Romania ranked 12th in terms of the amounts received for the cohesion policy (0.6% of the total budget), after ranking 24th in 2007, the Commissioner for Financial and Budget programming said.

Romanian also ranked 12th spot in terms of funding for agriculture, according to the same report, ahead of Bulgaria and Romania.

The biggest losers of 2008 were Portugal (71 million Euros - net contribution), Denmark (26 million), Spain (25 million Euros) and Great Britain (24 million Euros).

When asked for comments on the losses suffered by the aforementioned countries, commissioner Semeta replied that it is also important to look at the value that these investments add, because the amounts paid will be recovered in the a few years down the road.

Expenditures in the main areas of the budget, (cohesion policy and agriculture) were similar to those of 2007, with France holding the top spot, in terms of amounts received for agriculture (10 billion Euros), followed by Spain, (7.1 billion) and Germany (6.6 billion Euros).

Greece received the largest funding for cohesion policies, (4.7 billion Euros), followed by Poland (4.6 billion), Spain (4.3 billion) and Italy (3.7 billion Euros).

The commissioner also informed that approximately 40% of the 2008 budget was invested in indirect measures concerning the creation of jobs, development and competitiveness, whereas payments related to agriculture continued their downward trend, accounting for 37% of the EU budget.

Romania spent 36.4 million Euros on competitiveness, namely 648.5 million Euros for its cohesion policies.

The agricultural sector spent the largest share of the funds received - over 1 billion Euros, the report of the Commission says.

At the same time, the Union offers compensations to the new member states, because these countries could run into major financial imbalances, due to becoming contributors to the EU budget since the beginning, but the effects of the investments made using the amounts received will only make their effects felt after a few years.

Romania received 142.6 million Euros in 2008, whereas Bulgaria received 64 million Euros.