Conference tallis::celt

1491.0. "More money for NI" by TALLIS::DARCY (Alpha Migration Tools) Mon Jul 31 1995 14:33

Subject: EU funds to support Northern Ireland peace
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 95 7:10:58 PDT

	 BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuter) - The European Commission gave
the green light Friday for an aid program designed to boost
peace and economic recovery in Northern Ireland following 25
years of guerrilla war.
	 The European Union will spend 416 million Ecus ($550
million) between 1995 and 1997, of which 300 million ($400
million) will come from EU structural funds and 95 million ($127
million) from the British and Irish governments.
	 Friday's decision makes it possible to start payments and
implementing the program, which was drawn up by national
authorities.
	 ``Economic development will provide prosperity and jobs, two
of the most important factors in cementing the peace and
reconciliation process,'' EU regional policy commissioner Monika
Wulf-Mathies said.
	 Priorities under the program, first unveiled in February,
include the creation of jobs, cross-border cooperation, social
inclusion and productive investments.
	 Wulf-Mathies said the ``peace package'' would benefit those
who had suffered most during the conflict, in which more than
3,200 people have been killed.
	 ``European funding must be accessible to all who can
contribute to the process of reconciliation and economic
recovery,'' she said.
	 Of the funds from the 15-nation EU, up to 80 percent will be
for activities in Northern Ireland and a minimum of 20 percent
will go to projects in the border counties of Ireland.
	 Life in Nortern Ireland was transformed last September by a
sudden end to violence when the Irish Republican Army, fighting
against British rule, called a truce matched about six weeks
later by Protestant militias.
	 The province is now struggling to overcome a legacy of
economic underdevelopment and high unemployment.
	 ``With the different elements of the peace package the
European Union is paving the way to make Northern Ireland and
the border counties an attractive location for investment,''
Wulf-Mathies said.
	 ``I hope that big business from Europe and overseas will
seize the opportunity to use Northern Ireland and the border
counties as a doorstep into the European market of some 370
million people,'' she added.
	 Wulf-Mathies noted that the economic situation in Northern
Ireland had developed positively since the cease-fire.
	 The EU is already plowing more than 1.2 billion Ecus ($1.6
billion) into the province from 1994 to 1999, part of a shareout
among member states for economic development, tourism and other
sectors.
	 Wulf-Mathies said it was important that ``those who tend to
violence and who have been part of the violent scene for so many
years will have the chance of training and re-training.''
	 As part of this, there would be special activities to
``redirect redundant skills in the big security sector.''
	 ``Because there we hopefully won't need so many people and
we will have to have job alternatives for them as well,'' she
said.

    Seems as if Bonnie Prince Charles' parachute regiment will be
    leaving Northern Ireland. (Hopefully for good)
    
    I don't understand, however, why Britain is replacing the regiment
    with another one.
    
    ~G 

 re.1
   Because this way it looks good in the press, and yet makes
   very little tangible difference.  It's what is known as
   a British government contribution to the peace process :-(

                  Mark