Brussels, 10/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - In Strasbourg on Wednesday 10 February, the European Parliament adopted the amended European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) regulation by 588 votes to 57, with 16 abstentions. With this decision, marginalised communities in all member states could soon get EU regional funding for renovation or replacement of their housing.
In 2009 the EU amended the regulation to allow financing energy-efficiency measures in housing in all member states. Until then, only urban housing improvements in the 12 countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007 were eligible for ERDF money. The ERDF may be used to fund housing measures in only very limited cases.
The key points of the amendment to the regulation, brought together in the general amendment tabled by Lambert van Nistelrooij (EPP, Netherlands), Geogrios Stavrakakis (S&D, Greece) and Heide Rühle (Greens/EFA, Germany) had already been agreed by the EP and the Council. The agreement allows each of the 27 EU member states to use money from the ERDF to complement other funding sources for renovating existing housing or replacing it with new housing, no matter whether in rural or urban areas. The legislation will relate to all disadvantaged communities living within or outside urban areas, and in particular the Roma community which is currently the largest poverty-affected social group in Europe.
“Decent housing is at the heart of tackling poverty and social exclusion,” said van Nistelrooij in his presentation. Working from this statement, he proposed extending the use of the ERDF to the renovation of housing in all areas, says the Parliament in a press release, adding that, hitherto, in the new member states, only houses in urban areas qualified for ERDF funding for renovation. Van Nistelrooij noted that “the situation of the most vulnerable communities is a matter of concern for everyone, not just for member states”. (G.B./transl.rt)
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