EU-Consulting and Advisory Services 2007

With a total allocation of EUR 336.1 billion, or approximately one third of the Community budget, this reform aimed to make
structural actions:

more targeted on the EU’s strategic priorities (Lisbon and Gothenburg agendas for a sustainable and competitive ‘knowledge economy’, European employment strategy);

more concentrated on the least favoured regions while anticipating change in the rest of the Union;

more decentralised with a simpler, more transparent and more efficient implementation.

The three old priority objectives of the Structural Funds - Objective 1: regions lagging behind in development; Objective 2: regions undergoing economic and social conversion; Objective 3: training systems and employment promotion — are now replaced by the following three objectives.

‘Convergence’ objective (ERDF, ESF, Cohesion Fund). Close
to the old Objective 1, the purpose of the convergence
objective is to speed up the economic convergence of the less-developed regions, by means of: improving conditions for
growth and employment by investing in human and physical
capital; innovation and the development of the knowledge
society; encouraging adaptability to economic and social
change; protection of the environment; improving
administrative efficiency.

‘Regional competitiveness and employment’ objective
(ERDF, ESF). For the rest of the Union, a twofold approach is
proposed. On one hand, the regional development
programmes (ERDF) will strengthen regional competitiveness
and attractiveness by anticipating economic and social
change and supporting innovation, the knowledge society,
entrepreneurship, protection of the environment and risk
prevention.

‘European territorial cooperation’ - objective (ERDF). The
purpose of this objective, inspired by the experience of the
INTERREG Community initiative, is to strengthen cooperation at
three levels: cross-border cooperation through joint
programmes; cooperation between transnational zones;
networks for cooperation and the exchange of experiences.

For each operational programme priority, the contributions of the Funds to public expenditure must be at least 20 % of the total, and will be subject to the following limits:

• 85 % for the Cohesion Fund;
• 75 % for the ERDF and ESF under the convergence objective, and exceptionally as much as 80 % for countries benefiting from the Cohesion Fund;
• 50 % for the ERDF or the ESF under the competitiveness
objective;
• 75 % for the ERDF under the cooperation objective;
• 50 % for the new additional allocation by the ERDF to the
outermost regions (compensation for extra costs);
• 85 % for operational programmes in the outermost regions
and the outlying Greek islands.