The European Commission published, on Monday 15 January, its 2023 Summary Report on the implementation of the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI Funds), which shows that steady progress has been made in implementing these funds, one year before the 2014-2020 spending deadline.
These funds are the main financial instruments of Cohesion Policy, supporting regional development investments from the 2014 – 2020 programming period.
The report shows the wide range of support available through the different programmes for the 2014-2020 period and their direct and positive impact on regions, businesses and, above all, people, who are at the heart of the ESI Funds. It also shows the flexibility of this financing to provide solutions to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the energy crisis.
The report presents the achievements of the ESI Funds at the end of 2022, showing that the Commission has: - supported more than 5 million businesses; - helped 64.5 million people find employment, foster social inclusion and acquire skills through training; - improved health services for more than 63 million people; - increased energy production capacity from renewable energy resources by more than 6,000 MW (the equivalent of around 2,400 wind turbines); - improved the energy performance of more than 550,000 households; - protected 17 million people from floods and 15 million people from forest fires; - supported over 2.8 million projects in the agricultural sector and rural areas; - maintained more than 48,000 jobs and created more than 6,500 new jobs in the fishing and aquaculture sector.
Link to the report: https://aeur.eu/f/adw (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)