European Union News - Regional Policy

Danuta Hübner, Commissioner for Regional Policy, today explained how Cohesion policy for 2007-2013 will contribute to developing renewable energy and improving energy efficiency in the EU's regions. Nearly €9 billion will be invested in these sectors. The Commission will also act as facilitator by supporting Member States in making timely energy investments, and by promoting the sharing of know-how among regions. The European Commission's proposals on climate action, launched on 23 January, gives a high priority to renewable energy and the need for better energy efficiency.

On the 20th December 2007 in Brussels, the Rural Development Committee (consisting of representatives of the 27 Member States) gave a positive opinion to the Rural Development programmes of Bulgaria, Finland (Åland Islands), France (La Guyane, La Corse) Germany (National Framework), Italy (4 regions) Latvia, Malta, Portugal (Madeira), Spain (4 regions) and England for the financial period 2007-2013. These programmes are defined to guarantee infrastructure, create new income opportunities for rural regions, promote growth and fight unemployment. The Commission still has to formally adopt the programmes in the next weeks. The approval of the programmes for other countries and regions will follow in the next months.

Following calls for proposals launched in December 2006, the European Commission is about to select a total of 93 projects to be funded under the two programmes that address research and policy actions on science, economy and society. This memo outlines a sample of these projects. Details of all successful projects will be available on CORDIS. Final figures and partnerships are subject to contract negotiations between the project teams and the European Commission.

The Commissioner for Regional Policy, Danuta Hübner, announced on the 21st December 2007 the adoption of 35 programmes this month under the "European territorial cooperation" objective of Cohesion policy. These programmes, mainly funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), provide support for cross-border and transnational cooperation among the Member States. Turkey, the Western Balkans countries, Norway, Switzerland, Belarus, Ukraine and the Russian Federation also take part in some of these programmes with the support of the new Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) and the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI).