Inner London richest part of Europe

Inner London is the richest part of the European Union, a new survey revealed today.

The area’s wealth is 263% of the EU average, followed by Brussels (217%) and Luxembourg (197%).

At the other end of the scale in the UK, Cornwall and the Scilly Isles ranks as one of the poorest areasin the 15 EU member states, with per capita wealth running at just 59.5% of the EU norm.

The EU breakdown shows 21 regions ranking above 125% of the EU average, and 43 regions recording per capita wealth below 75% of the average.

More than half of Portugal and Greece are below 75%, as are parts of Germany, Italy, Spain and Belgium.

The region with the lowest wealth rating, at just 53% of the EU average is Dytiki Ellada, in Greece.

Eurostat, the EU’s statistical office in Luxembourg, pointed out that some figures can be significantly affected by commuter flows which “push up production to a level that could not be achieved by the resident active population on its own.”

The result is that GDP per capita in places such as Inner London can be overestimated, and underestimated in areas where those commuters live, such as Kent and Essex.

In other cases, such as Cornwall, a high proportion of resident pensioners can distort the GDP picture in the other direction.

The figures were published as the European Commission outlined its plans for EU regional funding in the next budget round, from 2007-2013.

By then ten new, relatively poor member states will be in the club, with a greater entitlement than many existing EU regions to the crucial “Objective One” funding for the poorest areas.

Effectively, many of those areas now qualifying as poor enough in the 15-nation EU will not be eligible when compared with the newcomers.

Under the Commission plans – now the subject of months of intense wrangling between the member states – a pot of regional aid cash totalling €348.8bn would be available from 2007-2013.

About half would go to the needy areas of the ten new member states and the remaining half to the worst-off regions of the existing 15 countries.

This compares with a total €270.2bn regional fund available in the current 2000-2006 spending round for the hardest-hit areas of the 15 countries alone.

The report says enlargement will reduce average EU wealth by 12.5% – making it all the more important to reduce regional disparities if the EU’s economic growth and job creation targets are to be met.

The Commission is calling for a more balanced and sustainable economic development policy to enable regions to become more competitive.