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Introduction

The EU Structural Funds exist to help areas of Europe which, for one reason or another are suffering difficulties. This could be due to the decline of local industry or falls in income (e.g. because of falling commodity prices reducing farm incomes). The funds are intended to be used to help sponsor projects which will directly address locally identified needs (e.g. to help train people with new skills, or help set-up new businesses). You can find out more details about structural funds at the European Community website on the Regional Policy pages and the Agricultural Policy pages.

Background

At the Berlin European Council on 24 and 25 March 1999, the Heads of State and Government decided to allocate EURO 260 billion to structural measures in the European Union for the period 2000-2006. Of this sum, EURO 213 billion was committed to the 15 existing Member States via the Structural Funds programmes (EURO 195 billion) and the Cohesion Fund (EURO 18 billion).

The Regulations governing these Funds were adopted by the Council of the European Union on 21 June 1999.

Under the new Structural Funds there will be 3 Objectives:

There is a special scheme covering restructuring in the fisheries sector outside Objective 1 regions. Rural development projects are implemented throughout the European Union, financed either by the Structural Funds or the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

Find out more from DEFRA's website...