Ireland and other parts of the EU may be given more time to adjust to lower levels of grants, the Commissioner for Regional Affairs, Ms Monika Wulf-Mathies, hinted strongly yesterday.
She is due in Dublin today for crucial talks with Ministers on funding for the Luas light rail system and other projects.
At present the whole of Ireland enjoys so-called "Objective One" status, which yields the maximum levels of subvention from the EU. But these high levels are to be phased down by the end of the century as Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) comes into force.
However, yesterday the Commissioner indicated that a phasing, or "soft landing", programme could be extended to the year 2005.
Ms Wulf-Mathies told a conference on strategic planning for the North that "generous transitional arrangements" were needed for those countries and regions such as Northern Ireland which would no longer be eligible for the highest levels of structural funding. Northern Ireland would still be receiving funding, she said, through "the first half of the next decade".
The Commissioner was told there is strong support among the social partners for the devolved approach under which the bulk of the £240 million peace programme is distributed through local partnerships or non-governmental bodies.
Ms Wulf-Mathies also visited projects funded by the peace programme.