Urban development funding, energetic renovations, research and development - projects in these areas are often initiated with EU funds. But in Saxony-Anhalt, funds are now threatening to expire. Why?
Magdeburg (dpa/sa) - Saxony-Anhalt could escape EU subsidies in the hundreds of millions. In the case of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), it is to be expected "that not all EU funds earmarked for the 2014-2020 funding period can be fully exhausted," said Finance Minister Michael Richter (CDU) at the request of the German press agency with. It is currently not yet possible to quantify how much money is actually in danger of forfeiting.
The projects for the funding period 2014 to 2020 must be completed by the end of 2023. The total volume is 1.51 billion euros. According to the Ministry of Finance, around 85 percent (around 1.2 billion euros) have been submitted to the European Commission for reimbursement.
Richter's house sees the causes in the corona pandemic, among other things. Delivery bottlenecks and staff shortages due to quarantine measures would have led to delays. In construction projects, capacity bottlenecks in the trades and cost increases are problematic. This means that award procedures come to nothing and often have to be repeated several times before a contractor is found. "As a result of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, this situation has worsened significantly overall."
The delays affect, among other things, larger construction projects in the area of urban development, energy-related renovation and in the area of research and development. The state is doing everything it can to process existing and still incoming payment applications for the ERDF funding projects in a timely manner and to create the conditions for reimbursement.
