The Federal Minister of Economics, Michael Glos, has launched the new promotional period in the European Structural Funds Programmes as the President of the Council of the European Union in the Franconian city of Hof in Germany yesterday. In the coming seven years, a total of EUR 346 billion will be spent on EU structural policy, a good 50 percent of which will go the new Member States. Germany will receive around EUR 26.3 billion, of which around EUR 15 billion will go to new Federal States which belong to the biggest recipients. The focus of funding will be innovation, R&D, increasing the competitiveness of companies (especially SMEs), infrastructure, vocational training and advanced training. Delegations from all 27 EU Member States and numerous representatives of the Federal Government and the Federal States celebrated the event under the motto: “Strong Regions - Building Bridges for Europe”.
The officiating President of the EU Council and Federal Minister of Economics and Technology, Michael Glos, voiced his optimism informally at the ceremony: “EU structural policy supports disadvantaged regions in Europe and hence stands for solidarity within the community. I am certain that EU funding will further expedite both the upswing in the new Member States and the catching-up process with the EU average. The EUR 26 billion that we will be able to spend in Germany will also be a great boost for growth and employment.”
The highlight of the ceremonial act was the signing of the German national strategic reference framework. The overall strategy of EU structural funding in Germany is defined in this document. The Federal States implement the national strategy in regional programmes that are oriented to the respective local conditions. The Federal States of Bavaria, Saxony, Bremen and Lower Saxony have already completed their coordination work with the European Commission. They managed to reach agreement on their programmes with the Commission, and to have this agreement signed and sealed in Hof.
Several Member States took the ceremonial act hosted by Germany’s EU Council Presidency as a reason to celebrate the successful conclusion of negotiations on their funding documents with the European Commission. Lithuania, Hungary, Spain and Poland presented their national strategic plans, Austria presented several regional plans in Hof
“I was delighted to be able to host such a ceremonial act as the Acting President of the Council of the European Union”, Michael Glos said in Hof. “EU structural policy is making an important contribution to the growing together of Europe. The city of Schweinfurt in my native region of Franconia managed to successfully overcome a serious structural crisis in the early 1990s with the help of EU structural funds and is today a flourishing region of Bavaria. I hope that this will set an example and that structural funds will be used efficiently and in a goal-oriented way throughout the EU”.
