Transcript Európai Regionális Fejlesztési Alap

EU regionalism
Practice, Implementation, Tools and
Development Possibilities of EU Regional
Policy
Anita Pelle
University of Szeged
Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
Aims of Regional Policy
• Basic aim:
to decrease the economic disparities among
the regions of the EU, integration of regions
in a backlog
• Indirect aim:
harmonic, balanced, sustainable economic
development together with the strngthening
of social and economic cohesion
Need for and importance of
Regional Policy (I)
• Enlargements resulting in the inscrease of
disparities between regions:
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among founding Member States: southern parts of Italy
1973: Ireland, parts of Great Britain
1981: Greece
1986: Portugal, Spain
1995: rarely populated northern territoties of Sweden
and Finland
Need for and importance of
Regional Policy (II)
• The peripherical areas could gain less from
the Common Market that the central areas
• Increasing economic disparities started to
lead to social tensions
• Biggest reform took place in 1998, since
then it is the second most important of EU
policies reagrding financial support
The most important tool for
regional support at EU level
EU regional support is realised through the Structural
Funds. The Structural Funds are:
• European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)
• European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund,
Orientation Section (EAGGF)
• European Social Fund (ESF)
• Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG)
Tool for strengthening economic and social cohesion:
• Cohesion Fund
ERDF
• Its aim is to strengthen economic cohesion
• Eligible activities:
– infrastructural interventions
– services to create a favorable economic
environment
– financing of enterprises, economic competitiviness
of small and medium sized enterprises
– research and development
– renewable energies
– innovation, information society for regional
development
EAGGF Orientation Section
• Its aim is to develop rural areas, to improve
the life standards of rural population, to
impede their migration
• Eligible activities:
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rural development
local industries
rural tourism
agro-environmental protection
local energy resources
alternative possibilities for rural employment
ESF
• Its aim is to strengthen social cohesion and
to improve the level of employment
• Eligible activities:
– education and training for higher level of
employment
– programmes to decrease unemployment among
young and female population
– integration of disabled social groups into the
labor market
– re-integration to the labor market
Principles of EU Regional Policy
• Programming - financing of projects within the
framework of multi-annual programmes
• Partnership - cooperation of EU, national and local level
actors in the realisation of projects
• Additionality - involvement of national, local and private
resources in financing
• Concentration - concentration of resources along
priorities instead of financing many small and fragmented
projects
• Subsidiarity - handling problems at the lowest possible
level
Territorial statistical units
The EU uses the NUTS-system to categorise
territorial units
Its levels are:
• NUTS-I: national
• NUTS-II: regional
• NUTS-III: county
• NUTS-IV: microregional
• NUTS-V: local (municipality)
Objectives of EU Regional
Policy for the period 2000-2006
• Objective 1.: integration of regions in a
backlog
• Objective 2.: support to territories
struggling with structural difficulties
• Objective 3.: education and training to
achieve a higher level of employment
Objective 1.
• NUTS-II level regions where the GDP per
capita is less than 75% of EU average
• lowly populated areas (population density is less
that 8 persons per sqkm) also belong here
• covers about one fourth of the EU population
• two thirds of EU structural support is directed to
these territories
• mainly geographical peripheries and the area of
former German Democratic Republic
Objective 2.
• NUTS-III level territories
• industrial and agriculture structural
interventions are also covered
Objective 3.
•Horizontal objective
•is realised at national (NUTS-I) level
Community Initiatives
Programmes financed by the Structural Funds
and based on community initiatives are:
• INTERREG - to promote cross-border cooperation
• URBAN - to handle problems induced by urbanisation
• LEADER - rural development programmes
• EQUAL - equality in the labor market
Cohesion Fund
• Those countries are covered where the GDP per
capita is less than 90% of the EU average
• At present Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Greece are
the eligible Member States
• With the central eastern enlargement, new
Member States will also be eligible
• Elilgible activities: infrastructural investments in
the fields of environmental protection and
transport
• Financing of single, major projects
Development possibilities of
Regional Policy
• The central eastern enlargement will considerably
decrease the EU average GDP per capita so it
rearranges interests
• Structural expenses in the common budget cannot be
increased considerably
• New emphasis is put on: general programmes, on the
improvement of overall economic environment and
on strengthening the capital attracting capacities of
the regions
• Social cohesion remains a basic priority
Thank you for your attention!