Brussels, 16/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Friday, the European Commission and Italian authorities agreed Italy's National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) and its cohesion policy priorities for 2007-2013. In its NSRF, Italy describes how they plan to invest EU funding of €28.8 billion over seven years in line with the Lisbon strategy for growth and jobs.
Four main priorities have been defined: - developing knowledge circuits; - increasing living standards, security and social inclusion; - fostering business clusters, services and competition; - internationalising and modernising the economy. This includes, for instance, the improvement of quality of life and territorial attractiveness (enhancement of security conditions for people and investors), and the diversification of tourism and the extension of the tourist season. The Italian NSFR also makes priorities of Trans-European Network corridors and financial engineering schemes for small and medium-sized enterprises.
The objectives of the NSRF are to be achieved through operational programmes: - 19 under the "Convergence" objective, including "phasing-out" for the region Basilicata (which will benefit from transitional support); - 33 under the "Regional competitiveness and employment" objective; - 4 under the "European territorial co-operation" Objective. The Convergence regions (Campania, Puglia, Calabria, Sicily and Basilicata) are the main beneficiaries of the Italian framework, says a Commission press release.
Further information: http: //http://www.ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/atlas2007/fiche/it_en.pdf (gb)