The harmonious development of the entire Community
and the reduction of both the disparity in levels of development
among the various regions and of the backwardness of less favoured
regions are the nucleus of the Union's cohesion policy. Harmonisation
among territories and among sectors and economic activities, as
well as a high level of employment and social protection and the
improvement of the standard of living, are among the principal
objectives of the entire Community, as synthesised and pursued
by regional policy.
The European Union's regional policy is based on solidarity: a
part of the Member States' contributions to the Community budget
is allocated to the more needy regions and communities.
There are four structural funds:
• the European Social Fund (ESF);
• the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF);
• the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund
(EAGGF);
• the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG).
They are intended to achieve a number of priority objectives:
• 70% of appropriations allocated to regions whose development
is lagging behind and where 22% of the EU population is concentrated
(Objective 1);
• 11.5% to support economic and social reconversion in areas
facing structural difficulties, in which 18% of the European population
lives (Objective 2;
• 12.3% to modernising systems of training and promoting
employment (Objective 3), in regions to which Objective 1 does
not apply and where this allocation is part of development strategies
already being implemented.
As far as eligibility is concerned, Objective 1 concerns those
regions in which the gross domestic product per capita is less
than 75% of the Community average, Objective 2 concerns those
regions with structural problems in which social and economic
reconversion must be prioritised and with sufficiently large populations
or areas.
The funds and the objectives
In addition, four Community initiatives have been launched to
find common solutions to specific problems, with overall appropriations
equal to 5.35% of the budget allocated for structural funds:
• INTERREG III (transfrontier, transnational and interregional
co-operation);
• EQUAL (transnational co-operation to combat discrimination
and inequality on the labour market);
• LEADER+ (rural development);
• URBAN II (economic and social renewal of towns and urban
areas in crisis to encourage sustainable development).
The 2000 Agenda, adopted in Berlin on 25 March 1999, established
the bases for the current phase of structural funds' programming,
which provides a total of € 213 billion to finance Community
actions in the 2000-2006 period.
Italy and the Funds
The southern Italian regions (Basilicata, Calabria, Campania,
Molise, Apulia, Sardinia and Sicily) all fall under Structural
Funds Objective 1. The projects financed with Community resources
in these regions are defined in the Community Support Framework
(CSF), a multi-fund document that describes the development strategy
for the southern Italy with the contribution from the four Structural
Funds.
The Community Support Framework is broken down into 14 operational
programs. Seven of these are regional (ROP), one for each of the
six regions to which Objective 1 applies (Basilicata, Calabria,
Campania, Apulia, Sardinia and Sicily), and Molise, the only Italian
region receiving transitory support; and seven are national (NOP),
managed by the central administrations (Scientific Research, Technological
Development, Higher Education, the School for Development, Security
for the Development of the South, Local Development, Transport,
Fisheries and Technical Assistance).
Structural Funds Objective 2 (the Italian regions of the Centre-North)
is intended to facilitate social and economic reconversion in
areas with structural difficulties.
Admissibility to fund resources (ERDF and ESF) for Objective 2
applies to the following areas (the relative criteria are given
in parentheses):
1. Industrial areas (unemployment rate greater than the Community
average, percentage of jobs in the industrial sector greater than
the Community average, deformation on the unemployment front);
2. Rural areas (low population density/high level of agricultural
employment, combined with a high level of unemployment or population
reduction);
3. Urban areas (satisfying one of the following criteria: high
rate of long-term unemployment, high level of poverty, impaired
environment, criminality and delinquency, low level of education);
4. Areas dependent on fishing (significant level of persons employed
in the fisheries sector and reduction in jobs in this sector).
Structural Funds' Objective 3 is intended to facilitate adjustment
and modernisation of policies and schemes for education, training
and employment and provides financial support in areas not covered
by Objective 1. The Italian regions admissible are those of the
Centre-North, Abruzzo and the provinces of Trento and Bolzano.
Resources
Objective 1: € 23,959 million, including € 201 million
destined for the transitory support of the Region of Molise.
Objective 2: € 2,145 million, in addition to € 377 million
for the transitory support of areas already the subject of Community
action in the previous program period.
Objective 3: € 3,744 million.
Management
The Structural Funds are not assigned directly to projects chosen
by the European Commission. Once the major priorities for a development
program have been defined by common agreement, the projects are
selected and managed exclusively by national and regional authorities.
This increasing decentralisation is one of the principal innovations
underway. Projects approved are subsidised partly with national
funds (public or private) and partly with European funds. But
the Union's contribution (Union programs are always financed with
a combination of Community and national resources) is added to
that made by the individual Member States to help them overcome
their own financial limits. The Regions then manage and spend
the resources assigned to them.
For information on invitations to tender, it is necessary to refer
directly to the regional authorities.
www.regioni.it
