INTRODUCTION

• The European Social fund can be used in areas included under the three objectives to which the action and budgetary resources of the Structural Funds for the period 2000-2006 are aimed, by financing measures geared towards combating unemployment and fomenting the development of human resources. The new Regulations for the European Social Fund establish a series of priority areas of action, in which active labour market policies, vocational training and the improvement of the labour situation of women are the most important. These strategies correspond to and are coherent with those set forth in the so-called European Employment Strategy (EES) and the National Plan for Employment Action (PNAE) in Spain.

• For the new programme period 2000-2006 community actions have been simplified and, as provided in the priority objectives to which this structural policy is geared, have been reduced to 3, compared to the 7 of the previous period:

  
  

  • Objective 1 is aimed at fomenting the development and structural adjustment of regions whose development is lagging behind, those whose per capita GDP is less than 75% of the community average, to which the ERDF, ESF, the Guidance Section of the EAGGF-G and the FIFG will contribute.

  • The aim of Objective 2 is to support economic and social conversion in areas facing structural difficulties, whether they be industrial areas, areas which depend on service industries, declining rural areas, urban areas in difficulty, or depressed areas dependent on fisheries. The populations of these areas, which are located outside the Objective 2 regions, can not represent more than 18% of the total population of the EU. The ERDF, ESF and the Guarantee Section of the EAGGF-G contribute to this Objective.
    

  • Objective 3 is geared towards the adaptation and modernisation of educational, training and employment policies and systems, with the sole support of the ESF. Financially this objective acts outside the regions included in Objective 1.

  
  
  
  

• In Spain the following areas belong to Objective 1 : Andalusia, Asturias, Canary Islands, Castilla la Mancha, Castilla y León, Autonomous Regions of Valencia, Extremadura, Galicia, Murcia, Ceuta and Melilla. Cantabria receives transitory aid proceeding from Objective 1..

• Outside of Objective 1, the following regions receive assistance proceeding from Objectives 2 and 3: Aragón, Balearic Islands, Cataluña, Madrid, Navarra, Basque Country and La Rioja.

  
  

  Regions of CSF Objective 1   Regions of CSF Objective 3 and SPD Objective 2   Regions of CSF Objective 1 (Transitional Assistance)

• Prior to the planning of the programme to be implemented jointly by the Community and each member state, the Plans for each one of the three Objectives are presented for the period 2000-2006:

  
  

  • The Plan for Objective 1 is called Regional Development Plan and encompasses all of the structural actions in the affected regions.
    

  • For Objective 2, a set of programme proposals are presented, and will give rise to the SPD.

  • The Objective 3 Plan has two main features: :

    • It encompasses ESF actions in regions outside Objective 1

    • It establishes, for all of the national territory, the Political Reference Framework for the Development of Human Resources, which is the national strategic guideline applicable to all measures related to employment and the labour market.

  
  

• Therefore, the Plans are used to set the foundations to reconcile the general and final objectives of actions with the specific situation in each country.
  

• The presentation of the Plan for Objective 3 fulfils two functions: to guarantee the coherence of all actions undertaken in favour of human resources throughout the state and to provide financing from the ESF for assistance actions in regions which are not included in Objective 1.

  The contents of the Plan for Objective 3 provide:

  
  

  • An analysis of employment policies
    

  • The results of the main actions in Spain in recent years related to the development of human resources.
    

  • The main guidelines of actions planned for the period 2000-2006.
    

  • An analysis of the coherence of planned actions with the provisions of the National Employment Action Plan.