Brussels, 24/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 23 July, the European Commission approved the Spanish national operational programme for the period 2014-2020 to promote 'Smart growth'. The largest programme presented by the country and with an overall budget (including the national co-financing) of €7.7 billion, including €5.5 billion from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), it aims first and foremost to secure sustainable economic growth.
“I hope that this programme will allow Spain to make the most of the potential represented by 'green' growth, which offers economic and environmental prospects”, said the Commissioner for regional policy, Corina Cretu.
In line with the strategy EUROPE 2020, the national operational programme 'Smart Growth' focuses on a number of areas of action. In the field of energy efficiency, it will provide investments for businesses, public and private buildings, support increased production and the distribution of renewable energy (Spain is second only to Germany for wind farms) and the funding of research and innovation projects in the framework of low energy (particularly low carbon). In the field of transport, the money will go largely to the “green” development of the Spanish rail network and multimodal mobility. Some of the money is earmarked for sustainable urban development, focusing on three key points: optimising the urban environment, improving economic competitiveness, social integration.
Ultimately, Spain and the Commission are striving to achieve ambitious objectives, such as: a 10% increase in renewable consumption in the industrial and tertiary sectors, a 10% increase in the number of users of urban public transport, double the number of inventions and patents filed in the field of production and the storage of renewable energy, and double the number of rail passengers and tonnage of goods transported to the Mediterranean ports by rail.
Regional operational programmes. On the same day, the Commission adopted the operational programmes for 2014-2020 of the province of Valencia (€568 million from the European funds out of the total envelope €1.14 billion) and of the province of Ceuta (€43.7 million out of a total of €54.7 million), with a total value of €612 million from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). These two programmes will concentrate mainly on supporting local industrial activities, particularly by strengthening investment in research, information and communication technologies, renewable energy and energy efficiency. Due to the specific geographical nature of Ceuta, which is located in northern Morocco, the operational programme will focus on transport infrastructure at cross-border level (a third of the total budget), plus the fight against poverty, as almost half of the local population is under threat of poverty. (Pascal Hansens)