Local and Global Development
Regional Economic Policies
2014/2015
Prof. Cristina Brasili
EU Regional Policy &
Cohesion Policy
http://europa.eu
Why a EU Regional Policy?
Social cohesion and solidarity
•
EU regional policy is an investment policy. It supports job
creation, competitiveness, economic growth, improved
quality of life and sustainable development. These
investments support the delivery of the Europe 2020
strategy.
•
Regional policy is also the expression of the EU’s solidarity
with less developed countries and regions, concentrating
funds on the areas and sectors where they can make the
most difference.
Regional policy aims to reduce the significant economic,
social and territorial disparities that still exist between
Europe's regions. Among the wealthiest regions are the
urban conglomerates of London, Bruxelles and Hamburg.
The richest country is Luxemburg, whose GDP per capita is
7 times higher than that of Romania and Bulgaria – the EU
poorest countries. Leaving these disparities in place would
undermine some of the cornerstones of the EU, including
its large single market and its currency, the euro. Positive
outcomes derive from the access to EU. An example is the
case of Ireland: in1973 when entering the EU its GDP per
capita was 64% of the EU average, while now the country
has turned to be one of the wealthiest of the EU.
•
Evolution of the EU Regional Policy
Programming Strategy (1958-2000)
Strategy
1958
Evolution & Trends
1989-2000
Objectives
Sectorial
Territorial
Geographic Focus
National
Regional/local
Programming
Approach
Sectorial
Integrated
Reference Period
Short
Medium
Stakeholders
National
Regional/Local
Type of Impact
Compensatory
Synergic
Source: Le istituzioni del federalismo - La nuova programmazione dei
Fondi strutturali in Italia (2000-2006), a cura di R. Leonardi e A. Ciaffi
Maggioli Editore
History of the European Union
Regional Policy
Milestones
1957
In the preamble of Treaty of Rome EU Member
States expressed the need for a coordinated
community solution to regional problems and the
correction of regional imbalances .
1958
Two structural funds were created: the European
Social Fund and the European Agricultural
Guarantee Fund (EAGF).
1975
The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)
was established. The ERDF aims to strengthen
economic and social cohesion in the European Union
by correcting imbalances between its regions.
History of the European Union
Regional Policy
Milestones
1986
The Single European Act expressed the objective of
economic and social cohesion that became reality in
1988 with the adoption of the first regulation which
gave birth to the EU Cohesion Policy. “Cohesion
Policy is the market’s 'visible hand’ which aims at
balanced and sustainable development while
fostering economic integration throughout the EU as
a whole.”
1989-1993
The Summit of the EU Council in Bruxelles on
February 1988 modified the functioning of the
solidarity funds – taking the name of Structural Funds
– that received a budget of 68 billion ECU (based on
1997 price levels).
History of the European Union
Regional Policy
Milestones
1992
The 1992 European Union Treaty, entered into force
in 1993, set cohesion among the priorities of the EU.
In its art. 2 defined the mission of the EU as
“Promotion
of
balanced
and
harmonious
development of activities in the whole of the
Community, of durable growth …etc…of economic and
social cohesion and solidarity between the member
states”. A cohesion Fund was also created in order to
support environmental and infrastructural projects in
the poorest Member States.
1994-1999
The Summit of the EU Council in Edinburgh in
december 1993 decided to allocate about 177 billion
ECU (based on 1999 price levels) to the Structural
Funds, i.e. 1/3 of the EU budget.
European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF)
History of the European Union
Regional Policy
Milestones
1997
The treaty of Amsterdam stressed the importance of
Cohesion and included a paragraph on Employment,
expressing the need of a common action to increase
its level within the whole EU.
2000-2006
The Summit of the EU Council in Berlin (March 1999)
issued a large reform of the Structural Funds and
changed the mechanism of functioning of the
Cohesion Fund that was endowed of more than 30
billion euros per year (a total of 213 billion euro in
the seven year period). The candidate countries from
Central and Eastern Europe accessing the EU are
supported through a special programme PHARE,
whose objective is to improve social and economic
development of those countries. PHARE works
through two instruments: the Instrument for PreAccession Assistance (IPA) and the Special Accession
Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development
(SAPARD).
The 1988 Reform of the
European Structural Funds
The 1988 reform marked an important change for the ESF
in several respects:
• A new, more extensive vision of European solidarity
was established: ESF support was extended to embrace
the dimension of social cohesion in order to support
poorer regions with high unemployment;
• Multi-annual programmes planning made it possible to
concentrate on long-term objectives;
• The principle of partnership was born and has been
developed steadily since. Instead of administering
thousands of projects itself, the Commission now
shares the programming and administration of ESF
resources with the Member States and the regions.
The 1988 Reform of the European Structural
Funds (ESF)
The Four guiding principles
1.
Concentration on a limited number of objectives
with the focus on the least developed regions;
1.
Multi-annual programming based on analysis,
strategic planning and evaluation;
1.
Additionality ensuring that Member States do
not substitute national with EU expenditure;
1.
Partnership in the design and implementation of
programmes involving national, subnational and
EU actors, including the social partners and nongovernment organisations, ensuring ownership
and transparency of the interventions.
Obj. 1 and Obj. 2 Regions (2000-2006)
Regioni dell’obiettivo 1
Regioni prossime ad uscire dall’obiettivo 1
Programmi speciali
Priority Regions under the 1994-99
programming period
Obj. 1
Obj. 2
Obj. 5b
Obj. 6
The European Structural Funds (ESF)
European Structural and Investment Funds
Five main Funds work together to support economic
development across all EU countries, in line with the
objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy:
•European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)
•European Social Fund (ESF)
•Cohesion Fund (CF)
•European Agricultural Fund for Rural
Development (EAFRD)
•European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF)
Every EU region may benefit from the ERDF and ESF.
However, only the less developed regions may receive
support from the Cohesion Fund.
The European Structural Funds (ESF)
The European Regional Development Fund
The ERDF aims to strengthen economic and social
cohesion in the European Union by correcting imbalances
between its regions.
The ERDF focuses its investments on several key priority
areas. This is known as ‘thematic concentration’:
•Innovation and research;
•The digital agenda;
•Support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs);
•The low-carbon economy.
The ERDF resources allocated to these priorities will
depend on the category of region.
•In more developed regions, at least 80 % of funds must
focus on at least two of these priorities;
•In transition regions, this focus is for 60 % of the funds;
•This is 50 % in less developed regions.
Furthermore, some ERDF resources must be channelled
specifically towards low-carbon economy projects:
•More developed regions: 20%;
•Transition regions: 15%; and
•Less developed regions: 12%.
The European Structural Funds (ESF)
The European Social Fund
The ESF invests in people, with a focus on improving
employment and education opportunities across the
European Union. It also aims to improve the situation of
the most vulnerable people at risk of poverty.
The ESF investments cover all EU regions. More than € 80
billion is earmarked for human capital investment in
Member States between 2014 and 2020, with an extra of
at least € 3.2 billion allocated to the Youth Employment
Initiative.
For the 2014-2020 period, the ESF will focus on four of
the cohesion policy’s thematic objectives:
1.promoting employment and supporting labour mobility
2.promoting social inclusion and combating poverty
3.investing in education, skills and lifelong learning
4.enhancing institutional capacity and an efficient public
administration
In addition, 20 % of ESF investments will be committed to
activities improving social inclusion and combating
poverty. This is known as thematic concentration.
The European Structural Funds (ESF)
The European Cohesion Fund
The Cohesion Fund is aimed at Member States whose Gross
National Income (GNI) per inhabitant is less than 90 % of
the EU average. It aims to reduce economic and social
disparities and to promote sustainable development.
In the 2000-2006 the budget of the EU Cohesion Fund was
2,5 billion euros per year (18 billion in the whole period).
Geographic Distribution of the funds* of the Cohesion
Fund in the 2000-2006 period (based on 1999 price levels)
* in million €
EU Cohesion Policy 2007- 2013
Sources:
-Bollettino d’informazione Settembre 2006
-N. 149 inforegio Commissione europea
EU Cohesion Policy 2014- 2020
For the 2014-2020 period, the Cohesion Fund concerns
Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia,
Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland,
Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
The Cohesion Fund allocates a total of € 63.4 billion to
activities under the following categories:
1.trans-European transport networks, notably priority
projects of European interest as identified by the EU. The
Cohesion Fund will support infrastructure projects under
the Connecting Europe Facility;
2.environment: here, the Cohesion Fund can also support
projects related to energy or transport, as long as they
clearly benefit the environment in terms of energy
efficiency, use of renewable energy, developing rail
transport, supporting intermodality, strengthening public
transport, etc.
Structural Funds 2007-2013: eligible
regions and disbursements
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/source
s/docoffic/official/deci_it.htm
To study
• EU, INFOREGIO, No 26 June 2008, EU Cohesion Policy
1988-2008: Investing in Europe’s future
• Le istituzioni del federalismo Regione e Governo locale
La nuova programmazione dei fondi strutturali in Italia
(2000-2006) N. 2 anno 2001 Maggioli Editore Da pag. 325
a pag 359
• A reformed cohesion policy for Europe: the main
investment policy for jobs and growth
• History of the European Union Regional policy