Brussels, 19/02/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 15 February, European Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Hübner launched a seven-year development programme for the Yorkshire and The Humber region of the United Kingdom. The European Union will contribute €583.5 million to the programme which will have a strong focus on business, research and the environment, the Commissioner said.
Taking part in the launch ceremony at the invitation of the regional development agency Yorkshire Forward, Hübner signed programme documents with John Healey MP, Minister of State in the Department for Communities and Local Government. She also met former British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott MP to discuss the UK's application for European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) support following last year's disastrous floods, says a press release from the Commission's spokespersons department. On the UK's request for assistance, the Commissioner said: “The European Commission is determined to mobilise funds to help the regions affected to recover from this catastrophe”. She said that the official procedure to make available €162.3 million for the UK was underway.
The press release speaks, too, of the Commissioner's visit to the Advanced Manufacturing Park in Rotherham, a brownfield regeneration project where a manufacturing cluster is developing in the aerospace, automotive and metal application sectors. This project, the Commission says, includes Sheffield University's Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, set up with major investment from industrial partners, including Boeing. One of the centre's most interesting developments, the Factory of the Future, is scheduled to open its doors this summer to help businesses reduce the risks of new product development. The press release says that the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is contributing €8.3 million to this project. For further information, go to http: //ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/index_en.htm (G.B.)