By Peggy Corlin - 18th May 2006
Discrepancies between EU regions have increased since enlargement, with six of the ten poorest regions in Europe in Poland, Eurostat data shows.
Using data from 2003 - a year before enlargement - Eurostat claims that the English and German regions were the richest in Europe in terms of GDP per inhabitant.
Eastern European regions were the poorest of Europe’s 254 regions.
The figures also show that one region in every seven has GDP per capita 125 per cent above the EU average, while one in every four is 25 per cent below average.
In 2003, data did not take into account EU structural funds, for which new member states only becasme eligible after May 2004.
The study shows how the distribution of EU cash has changed after enlargement, now that the average EU GDP has fallen.
Regions that benefited from significant sums of money prior to enlargement because they were considered among the poorest have had their funds diverted to regions in greater need in the new member states.
Eurostat’s study shows that the city of London is the richest place in Europe, with a GDP per inhabitant more than two-and-a-half times the EU average. Central Brussels and Luxembourg are the second and third richest.
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