BACK TO HOME PAGE

EUROPEAN REVIEW

ISSUE 29 - Page 9

Stats and Facts

State aid to industry higher in new EU members

The EU's statistical arm, Eurostat, keeps a scoreboard of the amount of subsidy which Member States are giving to industry and business. Under the EU single market requirements this is strictly limited to keep a 'level playing field' between businesses in different countries. It seems that the 10 new members have a long way to go before they are playing to the same rules. Overall, the average for the 'old' EU was 0.4% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) spent on state aid whereas the average among the new members is 1.42%. In 2003 this came to €8 billion. Malta, Cyprus and the Czech Republic were the biggest subsidisers in percentage terms but this reflects one-off costs to pay for problems such as those in the Czech banks and in Maltese shipbuilding. In general the post-Communist countries have faced particular problems in moving from a centrally-planned economy to a market one which have necessitated increases in aid. The graph below shows both the general level of subsidy and that part which is being phased out.

Unemployment slightly down but big regional variations

The latest niumbers for unemployment in the EU show 19.2 million men and women without jobs in the Community. Taken country by country, Poland and Slovakia are bottom of the league with figures of more than 18% while Spain is worst off of the 'old' EU at 10.2%. The lowest rates were recorded in Luxembourg, Ireland, Austria, the UK and the Netherlands, all under 5%. The regional picture (latest figures are for 2003) shows similar variations with 3 British, 3 Italian and 2 Dutch regions in the best ten (less than 3.3%) while Poland and French overseas territories dominate the worst ten (higher than 21.8%). The figures are also broken down to show unemployment among women and young people and here Italy's record is less impressive with 3 southern regions near the bottom of both leagues with over half of 15 to 24 year olds without work.

Regional unemployment rates in the EU25, 2003
	UNEMPLOYMENT RATE (%)
	TOTAL	WOMEN	ALL AGED15-24
AVERAGE EU 15	9.1	10.0	18.4
BEST 4 REGIONS	2.0 Bolzano / Bozen (ITA)	2.3 Salzburg (AUS)	4.5 Tirol AUS)
	2.3 Salzburg (AUS)	2.4 Dorset & Somerset (UK)	5.5 Upper Austria (AUS)
	2.5 Zeeland (NET)	2.4 Zeeland (NET)	5.7 Steiermark (AUS)
	2.5 Tirol (AUS)	2.6 Tirol (AUS)	5.9 Gelderland( (NET)
WORST 4 REGIONS (excluding overseas territories)	26.0 Dolnolskie (POL)	33.3 Calabria(ITA)	58.4 Campania(ITA)
	25.5 Zachodniopomorskie (POL)	28.9 Sicily (ITA)	56.7 Calabria (ITA)
	24.5 Lubuskie (POL)	28.0 Campania((ITA)	53.5 Sicily (ITA)
	23.9 Warmisko-Mazurskie (POL)	27.0 Zachodniopomorskie (POL)	51.5 Zachodniopomorskie (POL)

Back to	Forward to	Up to
FRONT PAGE	NEXT PAGE	TOP OF THIS PAGE