European Union News - Regional Policy

The Official Journal of the European Union has published on the 24 th December 2008 four new European Programmes related to  Youth, Culture, Internet and Creativity and Innovation.

On the 24th December the Official Journal of the European Union has published the COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1341/2008 of 18 December 2008 amending Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund, in respect of certain revenuegenerating projects.

The European Commission published on December, 12th, in the Official Journal of the European Union, a Communication setting up the rules which will guide the complimentary aids granted by Member States for the launching of the motorways of the sea. Following them, if Community funding is available but not sufficient to fully support the projects, Member States may fill the funding gap.

European Commissioner for regional policy, Danuta Hübner, presented on December, 9th, the findings of the "Regions 2020" report, which provides a first prospective analysis of the likely regional impact of four of the biggest challenges facing Europe: globalisation, demographic trends, climate change and energy use and supply.

The BEFORE project recently delivered its conclusions after performing a comparative analysis (benchmarking) of efficient support instruments for RTD in geographical areas with demographic significant imbalances, analysing specific tools of support for rural companies and entrepreneurs, and developing a set of indicators of impact of the regional RTD support policies in such regions.

The Health Check will modernise, simplify and streamline the CAP and remove restrictions on farmers, thus helping them to respond better to signals from the market and to face new challenges. Among a range of measures, the agreement abolishes arable set-aside, increases milk quotas gradually leading up to their abolition in 2015, and converts market intervention into a genuine safety net; and aims to  allow a better response to the new challenges and opportunities faced by European agriculture.

The European Commission's latest State Aid Scoreboard shows that Member States are increasingly using the possibilities offered by the recently revised EU state aid rules to better target their aid. Member States awarded on average 80% of their aid to horizontal objectives in 2007, compared with around 50% in the mid-1990s with increased spending on R&D and environmental aid. Faced with the current financial crisis, coordinated action by Member States and the Commission has ensured that support schemes for the financial sector could be implemented quickly in compliance with EU state aid rules.

The Annual report, published on November, 12th, 2008, presents the activities of the EU Solidarity Fund in 2007 covering, as in previous reports, three areas: the treatment of new applications received in the course of 2007, monitoring of the ongoing implementation of grants, and the assessment of implementation reports with a view to preparing these for closure.

The European Commission has proposed a new Council Regulation recasting the EU fisheries control system. The result would be a completely modernized system for inspection, monitoring, control, surveillance and enforcement of Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) rules throughout the market chain, from catch to the retailer.

The Official Journal of the European Union has published on the 12th november a corrigendum to Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 of 11 July 2006 laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund.