Welcomeurope © RUSE Project Krakow, 2005 November 29 “The European Structural Funds” RUSE Project coordinated by Energie-Cités Seminar hosted by Polish Network Energie-Cités

Welcomeurope © RUSE Project : the new programming period The 3 current 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 will be replaced in 2007 by the following 3 objectives: Convergence objective Regional competitiveness and employment objective European territorial cooperation objective

Welcomeurope © RUSE Project : the new programming period Strategy, decentralisation, simplification The reform proposal maintains the basic principles of structural actions: multi-annual programming offering a Community guarantee of sufficient duration and concentration, a broad and effective partnership of the actors concerned at various levels, co-financing based on the complementarity of Community and national aid, evaluation of performance and quality at the various stages in the process. At the same time, it introduces a series of major innovations aimed at making cohesion policy more effective. Here is a summary of the principal innovations.

Welcomeurope © RUSE Project : the new programming period ‘Convergence’ objective (ERDF, ESF, Cohesion Fund). Close to the current Obj. 1, its purpose 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. The convergence objective will play a particularly vital role in the NMS whose accession confronts the Union with unprecedented development gaps.

Welcomeurope © RUSE Project : the new programming period 'Convergence' objective (ERDF, ESF, Cohesion Fund) The total amount of EUR 264 billion allocated to the convergence objective — or % of contributions by the Funds compared with the present 75 % — will be distributed as follows: 67.34% for regions whose per capita GDP is below 75% of the average, 8.38% for regions concerned by the ‘statistical effect’, 23.86% for countries benefiting from the Cohesion Fund, 0.42% for the outermost regions.

Welcomeurope © RUSE Project : the new programming period 'Regional competitiveness and employment' objective (ERDF and ESF) Corresponding to Objectives 2 and 3 current programmes Major components: innovation, environment, transport,…

Welcomeurope © RUSE Project : the new programming period '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 trans- national zones; networks for cooperation and the exchange of experiences throughout the Union. In this way, the cooperation objective will encourage a balanced, harmonious and sustainable development throughout the European area.

Welcomeurope © RUSE Project : the new programming period European territorial cooperation’ objective (ERDF). Cross-border cooperation will cover regions lying along internal land borders and certain external land borders, as well as some regions lying on sea borders. It will also contribute to the cross-border components of the future ‘European neighbourhood and partnership instrument’ and ‘Instrument for pre-accession’. These will replace Phare, Tacis, MEDA, CARDS, ISPA and Sapard. When the regulation enters into force, the Commission will adopt the list of eligible cross-border regions and of transnational cooperation zones. The whole of the Union territory is eligible.

Welcomeurope © RUSE Project : the new programming period The programming will take particular account of the following specific territorial characteristics: The cities and towns, and in particular medium-sized towns, whose role in regional development will be boosted with aid for urban regeneration drawing on the experience of the URBAN Community initiative, and which could be subdelegated direct responsibilities; Rural areas and areas dependent on fisheries, which will be the subject of actions to encourage a more diverse economy financed by the Structural Funds on the basis of complementary and consistency with the new European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and the European Fund for Fisheries (EFF). The outermost regions, regions with a natural handicap (islands, mountains), sparsely or very sparsely populated areas, and former Community external border areas which ceased to be so on 30 April 2004.

Welcomeurope © RUSE Project : the new programming period Proposals for the new structural funds regulations for the period  General regulation  European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)  European Social Fund (ESF)  Cohesion Fund  European grouping of cross-border co-operation (EGCC) Community Strategic Guidelines, (adopted July 2005)

Welcomeurope © RUSE Project : the priorities Structural funds Convergence Innovation Environment/risk prevention Accessibility Infrastructures Human resources Administrative capacity + European territorial cooperation objective Innovation Environment/risk prevention Accessibility Culture, education Cohesion fund Transport networks (TEN-T) Sustainable transport Environment Renewable energy

Welcomeurope © RUSE Project : the new programming period Proposals for the ERDF, ESF and Cohesion Fund regulations Independently of the points under the general regulation, we can also briefly outline elements that stem from the proposed regulations for the three financial instruments. ERDF Under the convergence objective, in addition to strengthening infrastructures — transport, environment, energy, education, health — and aid for SMEs, new stress is placed on research and innovation as well as on risk prevention. Under the cooperation objective, the cross-border programmes will concentrate on encouraging entrepreneurship, joint management of the environment and the sharing of infrastructures. Transnational programmes will include water conservation and management, access to major networks and the interoperability of systems, risk prevention and related research and technological development activities.

Welcomeurope © RUSE Project : the new programming period ESF There will be a stronger link between the ESF, the European employment strategy and Union priorities in the field of social inclusion, education and training, and equal opportunities in order to anticipate changes due to economic and social restructuring, the development of the knowledge economy and demographic change. The main aim under the convergence objective will be to strengthen human resources so as to increase employment prospects, boost labour productivity and stimulate growth, as well as to support good governance and the strengthening of the institutions and administrative capacities.

Welcomeurope © RUSE Project The relevant stakeholders for lobbying actions Comunity Strategic Guidelines Nat al Strategic Reference Framework Operational Programmes European Commission ?? States + Regions contributions Common analysis of lobbying actions

Welcomeurope © RUSE Project The main relevant stakeholders for lobbying actions Who is acting at national level? Who is acting at regional level? Who is in charge of writing the OP? To whom is it possible to promote potential and future large projects? How to present and promote your organisation and your projects?