Brussels, 03/11/2008 (Agence Europe) - During her visit to Martinique on 30 October, Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Hübner met the authorities who manage the structural funds. She met the prefect of the region, Ange Mancini, and visited two projects which receive Community aid: the Fort-de-France maternity hospital, a European reference maternity hospital, and an incinerator which takes waste from four island municipalities (Fort-de-France, Lamentin, Ducos and Schoelcher).
Hübner called, in particular, for further support for the tourism sector, one of Martinique's main industries. The new programme for 2007-2013, financed by the cohesion policy, has a strand on developing local potential, says the Commission in a press release. This programme will receive €417 million in regional funding and will give priority to support for research, innovation, management of the environment, risk prevention, education and health equipment and transport systems, the Commission says. The commissioner also highlighted the need to close the 2000-2006 programme and noted that there was a risk that European funding could be lost if credits were not spent in time. Around €80 million from the European rural Development Fund (ERDF) could still go to the region by the end of 2008 if it manages to make the necessary investments.
For the period from 2007-2013, Martinique will receive around €1.2 billion under the “convergence” objective, with almost €417 million of this sum coming from the ERDF. For information, go to http: //ec.europa.eu/regional policy/atlas2007/france/index_en.htm (G.B./transl.rt)