Brussels, 14/07/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 11 July, MEP Nathalie Griesbeck (ALDE, France) presented a working paper on the economic impact of the Structural Funds for the period 2000-2006 to the Budgets Committee. Entitled “Assessment of the impact of Structural Funds on employment, quality of life and infrastructures - Relevant indicators”, the paper was drawn up by the Spanish survey body, INFYDE D, in response to a call for tenders from the parliamentary committee. It gives an overall assessment of the impact of the European Social Fund (ESF), the EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development) and the Cohesion Fund on Objective 1 (convergence, growth and employment) and Objective 2 (regional competitiveness and employment), and explains the relationship between structural actions and the Lisbon Agenda and the national/regional strategies, and sets out a series of political recommendations.
The context of the next programming period is defined by an obvious need to enhance the EU's visibility in the daily life of citizens and to enhance the feeling of belonging to a common project, Ms Griesbeck told a small group of journalists. The document mainly recommends:
A. Improving the utility and impact of Structural Funds: (1) Cohesion Fund and development of the territorial dimension: part of the Cohesion Fund resources should be used for the development of common supranational infrastructures; (2) competitiveness and improved innovation: - the EBRD must foresee specific actions to finance venture capital systems, by carrying out feasibility studies and finding local partners; - the ESF must focus part of its funding on research training and high technology in enterprise, while backing the development of new intensive entrepreneurial activities in research in the Objective 1 regions.
B. Non-quantifiable dimension of the added value of Structural Funds: According to the report, it is necessary to: (1) evaluate national and regional administrative capacities beforehand; (2) improve human capital for management administration; (3) attribute to the authorities responsible for the management of Structural Funds the mission of assessing the evolution of administrative capacities and promoting initiatives for rationalisation and improvement, among other things; (4) establish joint interactive services for information and interregional communication on employment policy, regional development, etc. and (5) increase the visibility of structural actions by giving a specific image for citizens regarding social intervention actions (gender equality, urban transformation, etc.).
C. Impact indicators: It is necessary to strengthen the human and material resources of Eurostat in order to be able to gather and diffuse the statistical information required (availability of homogenous statistics in fact means there are failings when it comes to regionalised data).
Danuta Hübner: independent studies show link between job creation and Structural Funds
The question of Commission assessment of the impact of Structural Funds on national and regional wealth and on employment for the period 2000-2006 was raised on the occasion of the press conference given on 13 July by Danuta Hübner after the adoption of the Community's strategic guidelines (see EUROPE 9232). The Commissioner replied that a first evaluation had been made of the way in which the Funds had contributed to growth during 2000-2006. Ms Hübner noted that the data is positive and is valid for the regions under both Objective 1 and 2. She went on to give the example of the German Länder where there were positive results in job creation and the safeguarding of jobs. Through a study of independent experts, one can analyse the greater impact on employment in a region that has benefited more from Structural Funds than elsewhere, Ms Hübner said. The Commission is carrying out an analysis for the operational programmes and has also created an indicator to measure the aptitude of innovation in European regions, she explained.