Visit Swiss Cooperation Office websites.
The SDC and the SECO review progress made so far. Representatives of the governments and administrations from the new EU member states will provide first-hand information about the activities taking place as part of the enlargement contribution.
New EU member countries
Swiss Enlargement Contribution website: www.contribution-enlargement.admin.ch
For more than a decade, i.e., from 1990 on, Switzerland
has been actively supporting the process of political and economic transition in Central and Eastern Europe. With the accession of the ten new member countries from Central and Eastern Europe that
joined the European Union on 1 May 2004 and 1 January 2007, respectively, as part of EU expansion eastwards, the transition process successfully came to an end. Meanwhile, both Malta and Cyprus also
joined the EU on 1 May 2004. For Switzerland, this EU enlargement holds forth the promise of more security and stability in its neighbouring countries, while providing access to one of the world’s
fastest-growing economic areas.
This expansion has, however, aggravated the imbalance between rich and poor in the European Union. The per capita income in the New Member States remains well below the EU per capita average before enlargement. In addition, the regional disparities within the individual EU Member States have also become more intense.
The Swiss Enlargement contribution to the New EU-Member States
Through its Cohesion and Regional Development Funds, the EU is striving to reduce these imbalances, and Switzerland is contributing to efforts to narrow this gap with its own programme. The
necessary framework credit, based on the Federal Law on Cooperation with the Countries of Eastern Europe adopted by the Swiss electorate in November 2006, was approved by Parliament in June 2007.
Further information about programme implementation can be found under www.contribution-enlargement.admin.ch.
In each of the countries, a National Coordination Unit has been created to receive project proposals.
| Percentage allocation of resources |
| Country | in millions of CHF | Country | in millions of CHF |
|
Poland |
489.020 |
Latvia |
59.880 |
|
Hungary |
130.738 |
Estonia |
39.920 |
|
Czech Rep. |
109.780 |
Slovenia |
21.956 |
|
Lithuania |
70.858 |
Cyprus |
5.988 |
|
Slovakia |
66.866 |
Malta |
2.994 |
|
Romania* |
181.000 |
Bulgaria* |
76.000 |
*Swiss support for Romania and Bulgaria is provided by means of a separate framework credit that was approved by the Swiss parliament on 7 December 2009.
Areas of activity
Switzerland’s programme has a clear thematic and geographic focus and supplements the EU’s support programmes. The SDC and SECO share responsibility for enlargement-contribution implementation. Swiss projects provide support in the following thematic priority areas:
- Security, stability and support for reforms: Promoting regional institutions and municipal authorities is one of Switzerland’s core international-cooperation competencies. In collaboration with its partners, weak points are identified and possible approaches developed. There is also considerable interest in Swiss expertise in the areas of environmental security (e.g. disaster prevention) and public security. This thematic priority is handled by the SDC.
- Environment and infrastructure: Treating wastewater, reducing pollution and boosting energy efficiency, fostering public transportation, as well as the preservation of biodiversity represent urgent priorities in the partner countries. In these fields, Switzerland can fall back on its own approaches and the experience acquired from cooperation with Eastern Europe in the 1990s. The SDC and SECO are responsible for activities in these thematic priority areas.
- Promoting the private sector: Switzerland can help companies to integrate into international value-added chains by supporting the SME sector, for instance by developing suitable financial instruments. The SECO is responsible for this thematic priority area.
- Human and social development: Following on from earlier programmes dating from the transition phase, financing is provided for projects to improve the healthcare system. Science and research are further priorities, with investments in applied research and scholarships designed to encourage scientific exchange between the partner countries and Switzerland. And lastly, Switzerland also fosters both the activities of civil society, and municipal partnerships. The SDC is in charge of this thematic area.
Programme implementation: The partner countries are responsible for choosing the projects, while the final decisions on funding are made by Switzerland. A National Coordination Unit has
been set up in every country to receive project applications. In Romania and Bulgaria, modified implementation procedures are applicable for the individual thematic areas.
Further information on the Swiss Enlargement Contribution can be found at:
www.erweiterungsbeitrag.admin.ch
Background information about the 12 new member countries
Despite strong economic growth in the new member countries (twice as high as in the EU-10), they still lag far behind the rest of the EU and account for 60% of the less economically and socially developed EU regions. For instance, tail-ender Latvia reaches just 41% of the average EU per capita income, compared with Luxembourg’s 215%. Employment figures reveal a further imbalance: in the new member countries, unemployment is on average 60% higher than in the EU-15, and the number of long-term unemployed is twice as high. In the new member countries, employment is 14% lower than in the old member countries, and there are also major differences in social development. Life expectancy for men in the new member countries is 69, eight years less than in the EU-15, and investment in education and health services is much lower.
Unequal internal development is another characteristic of the new member countries: the divide between rural and urban areas, especially regions near the capitals, has widened since the political system changed.
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Source: Eurostat, EIU country profiles 2007
* PPS = Purchasing Power Standard. The volume index of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in per capita PPS is expressed in terms of the average of the 25 EU countries (excluding Bulgaria and Romania) which is taken as 100%.
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Additional Information and Documents Here, you will find more publications, links, documents and articles about Swiss development cooperation and humanitarian aid in this region. |