Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly have been warned of falling into a "permanent" cycle of welfare dependency after figures emerged showing its economy falling behind other poor regions in Europe.
The area has been lavished with £1 billion of EU grants since the mid-1990s to overcome the decline of traditional industries that has left areas in Poland, Lithuania and Hungary wealthier.
But an analysis of official data shows Cornwall and the Scillies have moved further away from the target to allow the region to stand on its own two feet.
EU regions whose Gross Domestic Deposit Product is below 75% of the European average per capita are entitled to the biggest amount of aid.
But in 2011, the latest available figures, Cornwall and the Scillies' measure of wealth was 64% – lower than the 72% it recorded a year earlier.
Devon recorded output at 80% – still putting it among the bottom ten UK regions, and lower than 87% in 2010.
West Wales and the Valleys, also with GDP at 64%, was the joint poorest area in the UK alongside Cornwall in 2011.
A significant explanation is the economic recession that continued to blight the UK, and hit the west of England harder than many other areas.
By contrast, GDP grew in each of Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, countries where most of its regions are below the 75% aid threshold.
Since Cornwall's long-term aim is to be free of relying on Brussels support, its relative decline will raise questions over whether the region's economic strategy is working.
Moreover, Cornwall's productivity is also below the 66% figure for 1999 at the start of the investment programme.
Cornwall and the Scillies are getting another round of £400 million-plus as they remain as poor as parts of Eastern Europe.
Former MEP Lord Teverson, who played a key role in getting Brussels aid for Cornwall in the late-1990s, said the figures were "a bit of an earthquake". He said: "There has been a sense that Cornwall was moving in the right direction – but if we are not then we might have to re-think what we are doing. What we don't want to be is a permanent recipient of EU welfare, and don't want to be getting hand-outs in the next round.
"But the newer countries in the EU – such as the former Soviet bloc – are catching up, and for a mature economy like Cornwall it is difficult to keep up with that pace. It doesn't feel like Cornwall is going backwards. Perhaps we need to look at how this is measured."
Two seven-year investment programmes – Objective One followed by Convergence – have since 1999 paid for getting Cornwall one of the fastest broadband connections in Europe, the development of Newquay airport and the Combined Universities in Cornwall project.
Offices, factories and roads have also been underwritten by the cash, and a previous programme was crucial to getting the Eden Project built.
Though many believed that Convergence would be the last time Cornwall received the hardest-hitting level of targeted funding, the area's measure of GDP in 2009 meant it was still in line for help from this year and until the end of the decade.
The latest figures were published by Brussels' official statistics arm Eurostat. It takes into account differences in the price of goods and services from one country to the next to give a more realistic idea of how much the cash in people's pockets is actually worth.
Chris Pomfrett, chairman of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership, the business-led coalition charged by the Government to drive the region's economy, said the LEP would "consider we are not succeeding if by 2020 we are still receiving EU support". He said: "What we have seen is accession countries grow, which will eventually slow. And we have been hit by the recession. While we benefit greatly from tourism and agriculture they are relatively low-paid and low-productivity sectors.
"What the next round of investment needs to do is get productivity higher. That means significant investment in innovation and services that reap the benefits of previous investment in the university, (offshore renewable energy) Wave Hub and the airport."
