“Greece ranked first for the absorption of EU funds in the period 2007-2013 and the absorption rate will be even better in the current 2014-2020 period,” European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu said on Tuesday in Strasbourg, underlining “the positive impact” of measures for frontloaded financing of Greece decided in 2015, following a proposal from the Commission.

The Commissioner stressed that these measures show that Cohesion and Solidarity policy is working and that “the Commission stands by the Greek authorities in matters of growth and employment”.

In his intervention, European Parliament Vice President Dimitris Papadimoulis stressed that “the measures have paid off, Greece is recovering and unemployment is decreasing.”

In a debate entitled “Implementation of Regulation (EU) 2015/1839 on Special Measures for Greece”, Cretu stated that “Greece was the first Member State to have fully absorbed the available resources for the period 2007-2013 and among the best performers in the implementation of the 2014-2020 programmes.”

These specific measures for Greece “have had a significant impact that goes beyond the liquidity issue and the result shows that when we work together, we can do it,” she added.