At a meeting with the President of the European Council Mr Herman Van Rompuy, European Alliance Group President Dr Uno Silberg called for next week's €300 billion EU investment package not to focus only on large scale projects but also to examine and promote smaller projects which would make the funds more accessible for local and regional authorities.
He also said that often investments from the private sector are focussed on return on investment and there is a danger that most of the investment would go to centres of population and cities. There needs to be a clear focus on Rural areas and in particular leveraging the financing of CAP Pillar II with loans from the European Investment Bank.
Lastly, he asked the President of the European Council to redouble EU efforts towards finding a solution for Ukraine. He stated that the EU must act together and that the current situation and aggression from Russia is unacceptable.
