Brussels, 06/05/2008 (Agence Europe) - On 29 April, the European Commission said that it had approved the following:
(1) on 2 October 2007, an Operational Programme for the Lazio region in Italy for the period 2007-2013. This Operational Programme comes under the Regional Competitiveness and Employment objective and has a total budget of some €744 million, with around €372 from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), representing some 1.3% of total EU investment in Italy under the cohesion policy 2007-2013. The four priorities of the programme are: (1) research, innovation and strengthening of production (around 34.5% of total investment); (2) environment and risk prevention (around 25.5% of total investment); (3) accessibility (around 36.5% of total investment); and (4) technical assistance (around 3.5% of total investment). The programme aims to contribute significantly to achieving the objectives of the Lisbon Strategy (allocation 79.89%), with considerable support for research, technology transfer, innovation and entrepreneurship (33.49% of the Community funds), says the Commission in a press release. Important activities include the better provision and accessibility of environmentally-friendly transport services (30.40%). The programme will also take into account activities to promote the production and use of renewable energy sources, without forgetting activities designed to save energy (10.09%). The efforts to be made to improve telecommunications in mountainous or outlying areas, in order to strengthen the information society, should also be noted (5.92%), the Commission says. For further information: adgcomplazio@regione.lazio.it
(2) on 20 December 2007, the multi-regional Operational Programme 2007-2013, “Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency”, for the Italian regions of Calabria, Campania, Apuglia and Sicily. The Programme falls within the framework laid out for the Convergence Objective and has a total budget of around €1.6 billion. Community funding through the ERDF amounts to some €803 million, which represents approximately 2.8% of the total EU investment earmarked for Italy under the Cohesion Policy for 2007-13. For more information: http: //http://www.regione.puglia.it
(3) on 21 December 2007, the multi-regional programme 2007-2013, “Research and Competitiveness”, for the same regions as in (2), above. This programme, too, comes within the framework laid out for the Convergence Objective. It has a total budget of €6.2 billion. The ERDF is providing €3.1 billion, approximately 10.8% of the total EU investment earmarked for Italy under the Cohesion Policy 2007-2013. For information: http://www.ponricerca.miur.it/Public/PonRicerca/F1736/F1735.aspx (G.B.)