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Wolfgang Tiefensee (SPD), Economics Minister of Thuringia.
© Martin Schutt/dpa
For a long time it was unclear whether Thuringia would be able to fully utilize funds from Brussels for economic development.
Now we have succeeded - with a show of strength, says Economics Minister Tiefensee.
Erfurt - Money for business investments, flood protection or universities - According to Economics Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee, Thuringia has completely exhausted funds from the European Regional Fund.
This required a show of strength in the last few months, said the SPD politician on Tuesday after the cabinet meeting in Erfurt.
In total, the Free State had around 1.26 billion euros available from the EU funds between 2014 and 2020.
The last deadline for payment was December 31, 2023.
In mid-2023, only 75 percent of the available funds had been used.
“We rang the alarm bells early on.” Now around 300 million euros, which Thuringia had pre-financed, are still being billed in Brussels.
It is expected that the money will be refunded by the EU this year or next year at the latest after appropriate examination.
5,000 new jobs in the Free State
According to the minister, the money flowed into a total of 6,800 projects by companies and research institutions, in urban development and environmental protection.
Tiefensee: “Without the money from the European Union (...) we wouldn’t be where we are today.”
In the period up to 2020 alone, around 5,000 new jobs were created with the help of the investments and annual CO₂ emissions were significantly reduced.
The flood protection projects implemented affect thousands of Thuringians.
The EU regional fund is intended to compensate for differences in development in the areas of economy, research and infrastructure in the individual European regions.
According to Tiefensee, Thuringia will receive another around 1.1 billion euros from the EU regional fund in the period from 2021 to 2027.
“There is no drop in support.” The money should primarily be used to strengthen the competitiveness and innovative strength of the Thuringian economy.
dpa