Cohesion Policy: Commission commits more than 66 billion euro to promote economic development across Europe

9 years ago  By  Iuliana Velniciuc     No comments

On 13 February, the European Commission adopted 40 new programmes under the European Cohesion Policy to support economic development and social cohesion across the European Union. An additional 10 programmes will be adopted before the end of this month. Together, these 50 programmes will be worth more than 66 billion euro.

Thanks to these decisions, 266 Cohesion Policy programmes, worth more than 256 billion euro, have now been approved for the 2014-2020 budgetary period. These programmes are vital, performance-guided investments that have an important impact on people’s everyday life. They help boost economic competitiveness, enhance research and innovation, promote entrepreneurship, tackle unemployment, fight social exclusion and support the shift towards a low-carbon economy in Europe.

Commenting on the adoptions, Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Creţu said: “We are proud of these sound and forward-looking programmes. They focus on key measures to bring back trust and growth in Europe’s cities and regions: connecting people, skills and jobs. I wish the national and regional authorities every success in implementing these programmes as soon as possible and to ensure their positive impact.”

Marianne Thyssen, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, added: “The European Social Fund will contribute to creating better job opportunities for people in different parts of the EU. By promoting employment, particularly for young people, investing in education and skills, promoting social inclusion and improving public administration, the funding will improve the lives of many European citizens. The investments will also make an important contribution to the promotion of structural reforms to enhance the competitiveness of the European labour market in the Member States”.

The Commission will adopt the remaining programmes as soon as possible. With a budget of 351,8 billion euro for a total of 387 programmes for the period 2014-2020, the European Structural Funds are the EU’s main investment policy.

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