EU seeks to speed funds to peripherals

Greece and other stricken countries will have faster and easier access to tens of billions of euros in European Union funds under a plan to help stimulate their economies, the FT says. The plan, to be unveiled on Monday, would not involve extra assistance but would ease co-financing rules for Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Hungary, Latvia and Romania so that they would not have to put up as much of their own cash in order to collect EU funds. According to internal calculations, the six countries could see their co-financing costs reduced by about €3bn ($4.3bn) over the next two years. But officials hope the plan will have a much bigger impact by unlocking tens of billions of euros in EU funds, which many of those governments are entitled to but have struggled to claim.