Brussels, 11/01/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has approved the operational programme (OP) for Brandeburg for the period 2000-2006, programme part of the Community Support framework (CSF) devised for german regions eligible for aid under Objective 1 of the Structural Funds. It has to allow for the creation or retention of 30,000 jobs and the equivalent of 40,000 full time jobs but temporary and offer, moreover, 204,000 people the possibility of training intended to prevent the risk of unemployment. It represents a financial volume of close to 7 bn euro, 3.09 of which funded by the EU Structural Funds, the remainder being financed by the public and private sectors to the tune of 1.84 bn euro and 1.80 bn euro respectively.
Among the regions of the Union behind in development, Brandenburg has serious structural problems, one of the most worrying being the economic and demographic disparity between the centre and the periphery of the Land. In 1998, real per capita revenue in the region corresponded to 64% of the Community average, whereas the unemployment rate was 18.7% in 1999 ( for an average of 19% for the "new Laender" and 9.9% for the "old Laender"). Three Structural Funds will co-finance the programme in order to attain these goals: - the Erdf to the tune of 53%. It will, notably support investments into company, transport, training and research infrastructures, as well as specific environmental measures; - Eaggf, to the tune of 23%, will deal with agricultural and rural development, notably through aid to young farmers, village renovation, etc.; - ESF, to the tune of 24% to help the development of human resources and support training programmes for the unemployed as well as workers.