Poland undergoes major surgery

Poland is receiving the biggest share of the EU 'Phare' funds available to update its infrastructure, of all the pre-accession countries. In 2001 it secured a total of EUR 467 mln. Decentralisation The new, decentralised structure of the Phare, (Polish-Hungarian Assistance for Reconstruction of the Economy) programme, introduced in 1999, means that civil servants from member states of the EU are 'twinned' with counterparts in pre-accession countries, and within Poland, for one, the administration is led by the Under-Secretary of State for the Economy, responsible for economic and social cohesion. Various implementing agencies have also been set up, specifically to help prepare execution of the programme in Poland's regions. The work of each of these agencies focuses on a group of voivodships at any one time. Project fiches In the regions themselves, marshal offices work with local authorities to identify infrastructure needs. They then prepare project 'fiches', ten to f