Brussels, 07/09/2009 (Agence Europe) - During his visit to the Skåne-Blekinge region (South Sweden) on 4 September, European Regional Policy Commissioner Pawe³ Samecki discussed priority issues in the area of regional policy for the EU Swedish Presidency (see EUROPE 9968). Skåne-Blekinge has benefitted from a range of measures put in place by the European Commission as part of the European Recovery Plan. It has received €1.8 million to help get European-backed projects off the ground more quickly. This is in addition to the €3.5 million in front-loaded payments that the region has already received from the Commission in 2007 and 2008, the Commission says in a press release.
Travelling on to Malmö, the Commissioner learned about EU-funded projects, including the “Moving Media Southern Sweden”, which is seen as a key innovative approach to digital media policy and aims to develop an existing digital media cluster into the leading cluster in Sweden in this field and as an international centre of excellence (European Regional Development Fund - ERDF - contribution: €1.2 million).
The Commission notes that between 2007 and 2013, Sweden will receive a total of €1.2 billion from the ERDF, €700 million from the European Social Fund (ESF) and €1.8 billion from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). Between 2000 and 2006, EU investment created more than 77,000 new jobs in Sweden. (G.B./transl.rt)