Regional economic policy in a European perspective

Abstract

The Single Act in 1987 called for a fundamental revision of the Community’s approach with regard to regional policy. The Community has had a regional ‘policy’ since 1975, but up to 1988 it mainly consisted of co-financing, through the Community’s regional fund, individual projects in the member states within a context of fixed financial quotas per member state. In contrast, the Single Act included, amongst other things, a commitment to greater economic and social cohesion within the Community, in particular through efforts to reduce regional disparities. On the basis of that commitment, a major reform of the Community’s structural funds — the regional, social and agricultural funds — was carried out in 1988 and new rules came into force at the beginning of 1989. One of the guiding principles of the reform is the concentration of structural fund assistance on five main objectives:

• first, helping the less developed Community regions to catch up (objective 1). These regions cover about 21% of the Community’s population and comprise Greece, Portugal, Ireland, northern Ireland, most of Spain, southern Italy, Corsica and the French overseas departments. These areas have been granted special priority. Many of these regions tend to be amongst those which have the highest unemployment rates in the Community;

• second, support to the regeneration of declining industrial areas (objective 2). These areas account for about 15% of the Community’s population. Three areas in The Netherlands are included: Groningen and southwest Drenthe; Twente; and South Limbourg. One fundamental criterion used to define eligibility was that an area’s unemployment had to have been above the Community average in recent years;

• thirdly, helping the long-term unemployed (objective 3) and the young unemployed (objective 4). Assistance under these objectives is available throughout the community and some 230 million ECU are being spent in The Netherlands;

• fourthly, supporting agricultural restructuring on a Community-wide basis (objective 5a) and assistance for rural development (objective 5b). In The Netherlands, north and southwest Friesland are eligible regions under objective 5b.

This text was originally presented on April 27th 1990 by the Rt. Hon. Bruce Milan, European Commissioner for Regional Policy, as closing address to the Conference on the Unemployed in their Regional Environment, organized by the Fryske Akademy and the Frisian Labour Exchange on the Isle of Ameland, The Netherlands, from April 24th to 28th 1990.