STRUCTURAL FUNDS AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS

• By means of the Structural Funds, the European Union aims to fulfil the basic objective of economic and social cohesion, and in particular:
  

   

  
  

  • To contribute to sustainable economic development

  • To foment employment and human resources .

  • To promote equality between men and women.

  • To protect and improve the environment

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  

• The following objectives have been set as priorities for the period 2000-2006:

  
  

  • Objective 1: To promote the development and structural adjustment of regions whose development is lagging behind.

  • Objective 2: To support the economic and social reconversion of areas facing structural difficulties.

  • Objective 3: To support the adaptation and modernisation of policies and systems of education, training and employment.

  
  
  
  



• The following entities participate in the achievement of the aforementioned community objectives:

  
  

  • STRUCTURAL FUNDS

    • ERDF (European Regional Development Fund)

    • ESF (European Social Fund)

    • EAGGF-G (Guidance Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund)

    • FIFG (Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance)

  • COHESION FUND

  • GUARANTEE SECTION OF THE EAGGF (EAGGF-G)

  • EUROPEAN INVESTMENT BANK (EIB)

  • OTHER FINANCIAL INSTRUMENT

    • EIF (European Investment Fund)

    • EURATOM (European Atomic Energy Community)

    
    




• The following elements contribute to the attainment of the main objectives:

  

  

  

   

• The FIFG will contribute to structural actions in the fishing sector outside Objective 1 regions, in accordance with Regulation (EC) 1263/1999 regarding the financial instrument for the guidance of fisheries.
  

• Regulation (EEC) 1260/1999 regarding general provisions on Structural Funds provides for the establishment of a transitional regime of support for regions eligible for subsidies in 1999 by virtue of Objective 1, but which are no longer eligible in 2000. Assistance regulation also provides for a system of decreasing support for areas entitled to subsidies under Objectives 2 and 5b in 1999 which are not Objective 2 in 2000. In Spain the Autonomous region of Cantabria will benefit from Objective 1 transitional supportd.
  

• Community Initiatives are specific instruments of structural community policies which the Commission proposes to the member states, at its own initiative, for the purpose of solving specific social and economic problems present throughout the territory of the Union and having a special European dimension.
  
  The community initiative programs contain three features which provide "added value" with respect to the other programs financed with Structural Funds:
  

  
  

  • Support for actions based on transnational, cross-border and interregional co-operation.

  • Increasing involvement of partners in an ascending implementation method ("bottom up" effect) which increases the visibility of community action.

  • Reinforcement of real partnerships amongst all parties involved in the projects to be implemented

  
  
  
  

• The Funds can finance innovative actions and technical assistance which contribute in some way to the elaboration of methods and practices aimed at improving the quality of the interventions, as well as to the methods of programming, monitoring, evaluation and supervision needed for the correct application of the Structural Funds Regulation.