Shetland

Shetland consists of some 100 islands, has a population of around 22,000 and lies more than 200 kilometers north of the British mainland. It's part of Scotland, although its inhabitants like to remind you of their geographical proximity and historical ties to Scandinavia.

To date, Brussels has approved around 275 million Pounds ($516.9 million) of project financing to Shetland. Alistair Cooper, head of Development Resources at the Shetland Islands Council, said that Shetland has been eligible for European Structural Funds because of its low Gross Domestic Product.

"The Highlands and Islands of Scotland, of which we're a part, have suffered from depopulation and low incomes over many years," Cooper said.

Rethinking traditional fishing methods

The fishing industry has been a major recipient of EU money. For centuries, the sea has fed Shetlanders and provided them with a livelihood. But quotas and declining fish stocks have forced many to rethink traditional methods of harvesting the seas. More than 18 million Pounds from Brussels have helped the industry stay competitive.

David Sandison, general manager of Shetland Aquaculture, said the money has been spent on projects designed to develop new markets and new products.

"They support infrastructure development, such as building processing factories and machinery for those factories," Sandison said. "Sometimes it might allow people to buy a new boat or contribute to the buying of a new boat. It's a wide range of things."

According to Sandison, EU funding has benefited all aspects of the industry.

"There's no doubt at all that there's been significant progress made," Sandison said. "Infrastructure developments such as piers and marinas, and facilities that actually allow people to carry out an economic activity have been the key things. If it wasn't for that infrastructure, you wouldn't have so much of a draw to go and do business in remote parts of the EU like Shetland."

EU funding is saving a key part of Shetland's heritage

It's not just modern day fishing that's received a boost from Brussels, though.

On Unst, the northernmost island of Shetland, Duncan Sandison has collected some 20 historic wooden boats over the years. A passionate sailor, he applied for EU funding back in the early 1990s in order to save this important part of Shetland's heritage.

The result is the Unst Boat Haven, a huge shed housing the boats and other fishing memorabilia that's open to the public. Duncan Sandison said Brussels put 90,000 Pounds into the project -- half its total cost.

"The tradition of the Shetland boat goes back 2000 years and it has come to an end because fiberglass and engines have changed everything," he said. "I think the EU recognized that it was a fairly novel idea and the location: the most northerly part of the British Isles. Also, it's tourism related. If you couldn't have put that forward, you probably wouldn't have got any money."

Can EU funds be abused?

Just down the road from the Boat Haven, Sandy Macaulay is with a project called PURE. It looks at ways of harnessing the windy weather on Shetland for environmentally friendly hydrogen power. The EU's Regional Development Fund supplied just under half the 300,000 Pounds needed to set it up. Macaulay has been involved with numerous applications for EU money, although he said he doubts whether most Shetlanders are aware of just how much they have benefited from Brussels.

"I think maybe we haven't done enough to highlight the fact that European money was an integral part of these projects," Macauley said. "So I think it may well be that very few people are aware of the spread of European funded projects in Shetland."

Indeed, it's a remarkable range of projects in Shetland -- large and small -- that have been injected with EU cash.

There has been money to retrain women for the workforce after they have had their families, funds to research Shetland's Viking past, cash to excavate archaeological sites and to protect the environment, to name just a few. But is the Bank of Brussels open to abuse?

"I can't see at what stage the process can be corrupted," Macauley said. He said since there was a local component, projects and what they were capable of are known quantities. In addition, applicants don't get the funds directly, but are rather reimbursed. Actual expenditures are audited.

"So at any stage along that process, there are all these checks and balances," Macauley said. "I read the reports of massive siphoning off of funds. But certainly in the programs we have been involved with, I don't see how that's possible".

New EU members could tap into Shetland's know-how

There are concerns that in the future, Shetland will be deprived of financing as more EU money is directed to the 10 countries, which joined the bloc back in 2004. Davy Cooper is with the Shetland Amenity Trust, which was set up to preserve Shetland's heritage. He said there are two ways of looking at the situation.

"You can look at the new member states as a potential threat to funding for the peripheral areas, which is what we are," Cooper said. "On the other hand, you can look at it as an opportunity to share your expertise with them."

He said in many cases, these countries were at a stage where Shetland was a decade ago in terms of heritage development.

"We could develop joint projects with them, which would allow them to tap into what we've already done and borrow our expertise," Cooper said.

Of course, with so much EU money coming in, it's practically impossible to find anyone who's critical of how it's spent. But for remote and once deprived areas like Shetland, outside funding of this kind has been vital in keeping communities and industries alive.