Program in Entrepreneurial Skills and European Projects Management

7/29/2019 Program in Entrepreneurial Skills and European Projects Management

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Program in entrepreneurial skills and

European projects management


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Table of contents

Module I. European Projects Management ..................................................................................2A. Project Management .........................................................................................................3B. EU Structural and Cohesion Funds.................................................................................... 10C. The Management of the Structural and Cohesion Funds .................................................... 17D. EU funds for the financial period 2007-2013 .................................................................... 25

Module II. European Business Environment .............................................................................. 59A. Business Goals and Strategies on the European Market .................................................... 60B. The Component Factors of the European Business Environment ....................................... 74C. Euro-marketing ................................................................................................................. 85

References ................................................................................................................................ 95


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Module I. European Projects

Management


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A. Project Management (planning, organizing, securing and

managing resources to achieve specific goals)

Anna MADAN

Center for Studies in European Integration

Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova

Chisinau, Republic of Moldova

To start with I would like to attract your attention to the fact that the term

"management" refers to the activities (and often the group of people) involved in the four

general functions: planning, organizing, securing and coordinating of resources. Meantime,

Project management is a carefully planned and organized effort to accomplish a successfulproject.

Having acquainted with the subject of our conversation, there are several questions that

should be raised. Precisely, what is a project? What is the Project Management Methodology?

What does a project manager do? What skills does a project manager need? What tools and

techniques are used? And, finally, what are those steps to succeed?

In the next few minutes we will try to clarify questions we are interested in. Firstly, a

project is generally defined as a programme of work to bring about a beneficial change. So it has:

a start and an end;

a multi-disciplinary team brought together for the project;

constraints of cost, time and quality;

a scope of work that is unique and involves uncertainty

In such a way, Project Management includes developing a project plan, which includes

defining and confirming the project goals and objectives, identifying tasks and how goals will be

achieved, quantifying the resources needed, and determining budgets and timelines forcompletion. It also includes managing the implementation of the project plan, along with

operating regular 'controls' to ensure that there is accurate and objective information on

'performance' relative to the plan, and the mechanisms to implement recovery actions where

necessary.


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Secondly, if a project has a beginning and an end, what is its life cycle and how is it

managed? To be effective and workable project methodologies should be appropriate to the task

of organization. In order to understand the methodology we need to look at the project life cycle,

which comprises next four stages: initiation, planning, execution and closure. Namely:

Initiation involves starting up the project, by documenting a business case,

feasibility study, terms of reference, appointing the team and setting up a Project Office;

Planninginvolves setting out the roadmap for the project by creating the

following plans: project plan, resource plan, financial plan, quality plan, acceptance plan

and communications plan;

Execution involves building the deliverables and controlling the project

delivery, scope, costs, quality, risks and issues;

Closure involves winding-down the project by releasing staff, handing

over deliverables to the customer and completing a post implementation review.

There are many groups of people involved in the project lifecycle. The Project Team is a

group that is responsible for planning and executing the project. It consists of a Project Manager

and a variable number of Team Project members, who are brought in to deliver their tasks

according to the Project Schedule.

The Project Manageris the person who is responsible for ensuring that the project team

completes the project. The Project Manager develops the project plan with the team and manages

the teams performance of project tasks. It is also the responsib ility of the Project Manager to

secure acceptance and approval of deliverables from the project sponsor and stakeholders.

Typically a project manager will be nominated to lead a project and will be expected to be fully

accountable for meeting its objectives. The project manager will be the leader of the project team

and will be responsible for ensuring the following are completed in a timely way:

Gaining approval for the project aim and terms of reference;

Selecting and leading the team and setting individual objectives;

Ensuring a feasibility study is complete;

Ensuring that the project is planned in appropriate detail;

Allocating and monitoring the work and cost;

Motivating the team;

Reporting progress back to the organization;


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Helping the team to solve project problems;

Achieve, through the team, the goals;

Reviewing and closing down

The Project Team Members are responsible for executing tasks and producing

deliverables as outlined in the project plan and directed by the Project Manager, at whatever

level of effort or participation has been defined for them. On larger projects, some Project Team

Members may serve as team leaders, providing task and technical leadership.

The Project Sponsor is a manager with demonstrable interest in the outcome of the

project who is responsible for securing and spending authority and resources for the project.

Ideally, the Project Sponsor should be the highest-ranking manager possible, in proportion to the

project size and scope. The Project Sponsor initiates the Project Proposal process, champions the

project in the Performing Organization, and is the ultimate decision-maker for the project. The

Project Sponsor provides support for the Project Manager, approves major deliverables, and

signs off on approvals to proceed to each succeeding project phase. The Project Sponsor may

elect to delegate any of the above responsibilities to other personnel either on or outside the

project team.

We cannot ignore the fact that very broad skills and a deal of experience are needed to

manage a large project successfully. They include business knowledge, technical skills and

individual and team leadership skills. Individual skills are likely to include good presentation

and persuasive skills, good written skills but allied to goal orientation, high energy and

credibility.Team skills will appreciate the differing needs of both individuals and the project

team at different stages of the project. And, technical skills are likely to cope with setting

objectives, planning complex tasks, negotiating resource, financial planning, contract

management, monitoring skills, managing creative thinking and problem solving, as well as their

own specialist topic.

Thirdly, and probably mainly, are those steps made to succeed in Project Management:

1. Define the project concept, then get support and approval - A series ofconversations, brainstorming sessions, and other formal or informal discussions about the

project concept with your supervisor and key people whom you hope will provide project

support;


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2. Get your team together and start the project - A series of conversations,brainstorming sessions, and other formal/informal discussions about the project concept

with all stakeholders. Commitments from stakeholders to play particular roles on the

project team throughout or at specific times in the project. Written documentation that

captures roles and responsibilities of all stakeholder;

3. Figure out exactly what the finished work products will be - A series of

conversations, brainstorming sessions, and other formal/informal discussions about

specific project deliverable;

4. Figure out what you need to do to complete the work products. Identify

tasks and phases - A list or graphical collection of all project tasks that must be

completed to create project deliverables. A network diagram showing the sequence and

flow of all project tasks, including opportunities for stakeholders to review and approve

deliverables as they evolve. Descriptions or illustrations of project phase;

5. Estimate time, effort, and resources - A detailed estimate of the duration,effort, and resources required to complete each project task. A summary of duration,

effort, and resources required for the entire project;

6. Build a schedule - One or more overview schedules showing the bigpicture of the project (i.e., showing all activities, phases, and major milestones. One or

more detailed schedules that expand or zoom in on particular parts of the overview

schedule. A strategy to revisit the schedule periodically in order to keep it up to data;

7. Estimate the costs - An estimate of project costs, including the costs oflabor, materials, supplies, and any other costs tracked by your organization, such as

various overhead costs, etc. A description of all assumptions made in the cost estimate;

8. Keep the project moving - Periodic progress checks of each dimension ofthe project as spelled out in the project. Project manager inspection and awareness of

overall progress toward completion. Project manager interventions to correct problems,

remove obstacles, and keep the project moving as planned;

9. Handle scope change - Adjustments to the project plan to deal withadditions, reductions or modifications to the deliverables or work process. Formal

documentation of each scope change. Formal approval of each scope change;


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10. Close out phases, close out the project - Completion of typical project-specific follow-up activities: Project Archive, Lessons Learned, hand-off/training,

performance evaluations, etc.

By following these steps the whole process of Project Management becomes an efficient

and smart-built algorithm.

Talking about Project Management we should obviously mention the question of

Effective Project Team and Resource Allocation.Forming a project team should be a deliberate

act where people are considered in terms of the skills and experience they bring and their

motivation to participate and contribute to the project as an active member of the team. In

addition, they must be committed to the project objectives and have a clear sense of urgency and

accountability to get things done as and when needed. It means that effective project teams aremade by combining skills, experience, motivation, teamwork and sense of urgency into a clear

project structure. In such a way, there are several rules to follow:

Project roles and responsibilities must be clearly defined, preferably with

no overlap of accountabilities. Only one person should be accountable for one thing or

multiple things, although any number of people may contribute towards it. Two or more

people should never be accountable for the same thing as this leads to confusion and

potential problems;

Roles must be organized into a project structure with clear lines of

accountabilities and if appropriate who reports to whom or who are the leaders with sub

teams within the overall project;

Individuals must be assigned to the roles, with the ideal being 100%

resource allocation. As the level of resource committed to the project falls the project

manager must compensate for the time-splitting and therefore reduced level of

productivity due to task switching or, worse, conflicting priorities. Usually, one

individual is assigned to one role, but it is possible for one role to be performed by

multiple people;

A clear and current project organogram is created of the project team. It

must be updated if the project team changes;


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Extended or external project team relationships should be drawn in

relation to the project team as a single entity and includes other entities such as vendors

or third-party suppliers. In essence this is drawing the lines of communications between

the project team and all stakeholders and is useful as an aid to transparency

Understanding project time allocation and productivity and using that knowledge is

essential to realistic project planning and creating a project schedule that has the best chance of

project success. Factoring in the real world time allocation is about making adjustments to

project estimating to include interruptions to work, personal productivity and natural delays.

Project Planning and Estimation showed how to produce better project estimates, but

there is an assumption there that needs to be understood. That assumption is one hundred per

cent time allocation of working on the project task completely and without interruption. In some

cases that assumption will be fine but if that is not true then project estimation needs to be

revisited. So, Project managers should factor into schedules the differences between effort,

duration and elapsed time.

Time allocated for a project task typically assumes 100% time allocation and

productivity. Nevertheless, project time allocation is rarely 100%. The key reasons why time

allocation may not be realized include:

o Interruptions to work from other project team members or externally;

o Unproductive project meetings that are attended but do not help to

complete tasks;

o Natural delays such as social interactions with colleagues, coffee breaks

and lunches;

o Waiting for others to provide necessary inputs;

o Helping other team members to complete their tasks but delaying own task

completion;

o Other distractions such as company meetings or interaction with line

manager;

o Multi-tasking on too many project tasks that delays all of them

In such a way, we should always remember an old, but at the same time very actual

proverb time is money, because its true.


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Towards the end of the plan of activities the project is becoming complete. But before

formally closing it, a final evaluation is necessary. Remember: A project needs both a

beginning and the end. The final evaluation can be described as collecting of information dealing

with project, such as:

Analyzing the goals achieved

Evaluating results and their impact on organization

Drawing conclusions according future projects

To cut a long story short we must certainly revise the information above. So what is the

so-called Project Management? Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing,

securing, and managing resources to achieve specific goals. A project is a temporary endeavor

with a defined beginning and end (usually time-constrained, and often constrained by funding or

deliverables), undertaken to meet unique goals and objectives, typically to bring about beneficial

change or added value.


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B. EU Structural and Cohesion Funds

Ihor YASKAL

Associate Professor

Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National UniversityChernivtsi, Ukraine

The Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund are the financial instruments of European

Union (EU) regional policy, which is intended to narrow the development disparities among

regions and Member States. The Funds participate fully, therefore, in pursuing the goal of

economic, social and territorial cohesion.

The Structural funding period for 2007-2013 follows and thus enhances the Lisbon

Strategy. The Lisbon Strategy, put down by the European Union in 2000, aims at making the EU

"the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world capable of

sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion, and respect

for the environment by 2010". The Structural Funds are divided into three entities. These are:

1. The Cohesion Fund (CF) its main purpose is to reduce economic and social

shortfall, as well as to stabilise the economy in Member States with a Gross National Income

(GNI) per inhabitant which is 90 % less than the Community average. The Cohesion Fund

therefore finances Trans-European Transport Networks and activities related to the

environment1. For the 2007-2013 period the Cohesion Fund concerns Bulgaria, Cyprus, the

Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania,

Slovakia and Slovenia. Spain is eligible to a phase-out fund only as its GNI per inhabitant is less

than the average of the EU-15.

2. European regional development fund (ERDF) its main purpose is to strengthen the

economic and social cohesion within the EU by correcting imbalances between regions. The

ERDF finances aid related to the creation of sustainable employment, infrastructure, financial

instruments to support regional and local development and technical assistance measures.

3. European social fund (ESF)aims at improving employment and job opportunities in

the EU. The ESF finances activities related to adapting workers and enterprises, helping job

1http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/thefunds/cohesion/index_en.cfm
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seekers finding employment, combating discrimination, supporting social integration of

disadvantaged people and strengthening human capital.

For the period 2007-2013, the budget allocated to regional policy amounts to around

348 billion, comprising 278 billion for the Structural Funds and 70 billion for the Cohesion

Fund. This represents 35% of the Community budget and is the second largest budget item.

The Structural Funds have laid down three objectives for the period 2007-2013. These

objectives are:

Convergence

Regional competitiveness and employment

European territorial cooperation

The Convergence aims to help the least-developed Member States and regions catch up

more quickly with the EU average by improving conditions for growth and employment. It

covers the Member States and regions whose development is lagging behind. The fields of action

will be physical and human capital, innovation, knowledge-based society, adaptability to change,

the environment and administrative effectiveness. It will be financed by the European Regional

Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Cohesion Fund.

The total resources allocated to this objective are EUR 251.163 billion, equivalent to

81.54 % of the total. The following are eligible:

for the Structural Funds (ERDF and ESF): 1) regions where per capita GDP is

below 75 % of the European average. They must be at NUTS II2

level3. They will

receive 70.51 % of the funds allocated for this objective; 2) regions where per capita

GDP has risen above 75 % of the European average (due to the statistical effect of EU

enlargement including more deprived regions) will benefit from transitional, specific

and degressive financing. They will receive 4.99 % of the total allocation;

for the Cohesion Fund: Member States whose per capita Gross National Income

(GNI) is below 90 % of the European average and which are running economic

convergence programmes. They will receive 23.22 % of the resources allocated for

this objective. Regions where per capita GNI has risen to above 90 % of the European

2 NUTS was created by the European Office for Statistics (Eurostat) in order to create a single and coherent structure

of territorial distribution. It has been used in the Community legislation pertaining to the Structural Funds since

1988.3http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/nuts_nomenclature/introduction
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For this objective, the following ceilings apply to co-financing rates:

75 % of public expenditure co-financed by the ERDF or the ESF. The ceiling can

be raised to 80 % where the eligible regions are located in a Member State

covered by the Cohesion Fund, and even to 85 % in the case of the outermost

regions;

85 % of public expenditure co-financed by the Cohesion Fund;

50 % of public expenditure co-financed in the outermost regions (a new additional

allocation from the ERDF to compensate for excess costs).

The Regional Competitiveness and Employment objective aims to strengthen

the competitiveness, employment and attractiveness of regions other than those which are the

most disadvantaged. It must help to anticipate economic and social changes, promote innovation,

entrepreneurship, protection of the environment, accessibility, adaptability and the development

of inclusive labour markets. It will be financed by the ERDF and the ESF.

The eligible regions are:

regions which fell under Objective 1 during the period 2000-06, which no longer

meet the regional eligibility criteria of the Convergence objective, and which

consequently benefit from transitional support. The Commission will produce a

list of these regions. Once adopted, the list will be valid from 2007 to 2013;

all other EU regions not covered by the Convergence objective.

With regard to the programmes financed by the ESF, the Commission proposes four

priorities within the European Employment Strategy4

(EES): to improve the adaptability of

workers and businesses, to increase social inclusion, to improve access to employment and to

implement reforms in the fields of employment and inclusion.

The resources intended for this objective total EUR 49.13 billion, equivalent to 15,95 %

of the total and divided equally between the ERDF and the ESF. Of this amount:

78,86 % is intended for the regions not covered by the Convergence objective.

21,14 % is earmarked for transitional degressive support.

Under this objective, measures can be co-financed up to 50 % of public expenditure. The

ceiling is 85 % for the outermost regions.

4http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/employment_and_social_policy/community_employment_policies/index_en.ht

m
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The European Territorial Cooperation objective aims to strengthen cross-border,

transnational and inter-regional cooperation. It is based on the old

European INTERREG5

initiative and will be financed by the ERDF. It aims to promote common

solutions for neighbouring authorities in the fields of urban, rural and coastal development, the

development of economic relations and the creation of networks of small and medium-sized

enterprises (SMEs). Cooperation will be based around research, development, information

society, the environment, risk prevention and integrated water management.

13 Regions eligible for funding are those regions at NUTS III6

level which are situated

along internal land borders, certain external land borders and certain regions situated along

maritime borders separated by a maximum of 150 km. The Commission will adopt a list of

eligible regions.

In the case of networks of cooperation and exchange of experience, the entire EU

territory is eligible. The ceiling for co-financing is 75 % of public expenditure.

The resources intended for this objective total EUR 7.75 billion, equivalent to 2.52 % of

the total, fully covered by the ERDF. This amount will be distributed between the different

components as follows:

73.86 % for financing cross-border cooperation;

20.95 % for financing transnational cooperation;

5.19 % for financing interregional cooperation.The total budget for the Structural funds for 2007-2013 is amounting to 308,041 billion

euro (in 2004 prices) or 347,41 billion euro (current prices).This is the largest investment ever

made by the EU. The total budget is distributed between the different funds where 81,5 %

allocated for the convergence objective, 16% competitiveness and employment objective and 2,5

% for European territorial cooperation objective. is allocated to the concerned countries. Of this

20,8 % or risk prevention and 1,9 % or 3,149 billion on culture.

5http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/regional_policy/provisions_and_instruments/g24204_en.htm6http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/regional_policy/management/g24218_en.htm
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Figure 1 Distribution of funding

Poland (40%)

Czech Republic (16%)

Hungary (14%)

Romania (11%)

Slovakia (7%)

Bulgaria (4%)

Latvia (3%)

Estonia (2%)

Table 1. Total funding by country

Total funding CultureEnvironmental

protection and risk

Country Amount in Amount in Percent Amount in Percent

Bulgaria 6 673 628 244 133 million 2.0 1 862 million 27.9

Czech Republic 26 302 604 484 605 million 2.3 4 997 million 19.0

Estonia 3 403 459 881 78 million 2.3 854 million 25.1

Latvia 4 530 447 634 50 million 1.1 902 million 19.9

Lithuania 2 305 235 743 74 million 3.2 376 million 16.3

Hungary 22 890 071 092 458 million 2.0 6 455 million 28.2

Poland 66 553 157 091 1 198 million 1.8 10 515 million 15.8

Romania 17 976 384 517 234 million 1.3 5 429 million 30.2

Slovakia 11 360 619 950 261 million 2.3 2 147 million 18.9

Slovenia 4 101 048 636 103 million 2.5 943 million 23.0

Total 162 062 485 149 3 149 million 1.9 33 678 million 20.8

The Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006, Annex III sets the ceilings applicable to co-

financing rates, in other words how much the respective country has to contribute in percentage

of the total costs of the projects set forth in the NSRF and OPs. For the ten concerning countries

the ceiling for funding from the three funds are 85 % of the total costs.


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C. The Management of the Structural and Cohesion Funds

Ihor YASKAL

Associate Professor

Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National UniversityChernivtsi, Ukraine

Systems for ensuring effective implementation and management of EU Funds are crucial

to the success of Cohesion policy. For the Member States, increasing control over the

management and implementation of EU Cohesion policy is associated with both opportunities

and challenges, particularly in the key areas of programme management and delivery,

partnership and cooperation, and monitoring and evaluation.

The scope for diversity in the implementation and management of Cohesion policy isconsiderable. However, it is still possible to highlight shared experience, common challenges and

potential for learning across programmes, regions and Member States.

Within the framework of the three objectives, the principles of intervention are the same

as for the period 200006, which is to say: complementarity, coherence, coordination,

conformity and additionality. Furthermore, the following principles are introduced:

proportionality, equality between men and women and non-discrimination, sustainable

development and using the funds to focus on the Lisbon strategy priorities.

The principle of additionality: for those regions covered by the convergence objective

the Commission and the Member States verify the level of public expenditure. The Structural

Funds must not substitute a States infrastructural spending. For the new programming period,

there moreover exists a financial corrective mechanism in the event of this principle not being

respected, which was not the case in 2000-06.

The Funds must now target the European Union priorities in terms of the promotion of

competitiveness and employment creation (as defined by Annex 4 of the General Regulation).

The Commission and the Member States see to it that at least 60% of the spending of all the

Member States on the convergence objective and at least 75% of the expenditure on the regional

competitiveness and employment objective are assigned to these priorities.


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The principle of proportionality: newly introduced, this consists of modulating the

obligations attributed to the Member States, contingent on the total amount of expenditure on an

operational programme.

This rule concerns:

the choice of indicators used to measure up a programme, the obligations in terms

of evaluation, management and reports (Article 13.1);

control and monitoring: if the programme does not exceed EUR 750 million and if

the contribution of the Commission does not exceed 40% of public expenditure,

the State has less obligations. The auditing authority is not obliged to present an

auditing strategy to the Commission (Article 74).

The principle of partnership is widened, which is to say that any appropriate

organisation representing civil society, environmental partners, non-governmental organisations

and organisations responsible for promoting equality between men and women can participate in

negotiations concerning the use of Structural Funds. It not only participates in management but is

involved at every programming stage (setting up, follow-up and evaluation).

Documents and activities connected to the Funds are evaluated in order to improve their

quality, efficiency and the coherence of their intervention. These evaluations are the

responsibility of the Member State or the Commission, according to their contribution, and are

carried out in the principle of proportionality. They are carried out by independent evaluators and

their results are made public.

The regulation offers greater flexibility by reducing the number of obligatory evaluations.

Efficiency evaluation

2000-06 2007-13

Obligatory ex-ante, mid-term and

post-ante evaluation for each

intervention

Ex-ante evaluation for each

convergence objective programme

For each regional competitiveness and

employment and European territorial

cooperation objective, the Member States

choose the level of evaluation according

to needs (programme, theme, funds )

Mid-term evaluation according to needs


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The institutional infrastructure for implementing EU Cohesion policy is primarily

determined by the Member States. The EU lays down the principles of Cohesion policy

concentration, partnership, programming etc and the detailed requirements for management

and accountability, but the institutional structures and administrative systems are established

according to national practice (or, in some countries, regional practice). The influence of the EU

is, however, clearly evident. There has been a progressive regionalization of Structural Fund

management in many EU 15 countries, while in the EU 10, the European Commission strongly

encouraged centralized management of EU Cohesion policy.

At the apex of the implementation system is the managing authority. Member States are

required to designate a managing authority with responsibility for the assistance provided and

ensuring compliance with the Council Regulations (planning and management of programmes,

monitoring of assistance, communication with beneficiaries etc). In some Member States, there

may be a managing authority with overall responsibility for EU Cohesion policies as well as

separate managing authorities with specific responsibility for the individual Funds or individual

Structural Fund programmes. Member States are also required to designate one or more paying

authorities to draw up and submit payment applications and receive payments from the

Commission.

Among the new Member States, the overall responsibility for EU Cohesion policy is

allocated to several different types of ministry:

Ministries of financeEstonia, Latvia, Lithuania

Ministry of economicsPoland

Ministries or government offices for regional development Czech Republic

(Ministry of Regional Development), Hungary (Ministry of Agriculture &

Regional Development), Slovak Republic (Ministry of Construction & Regional

Development), Slovenia (Government Office for Structural Policies & Regional

Development)

Prime Minister offices or agencies Cyprus (Planning Bureau), Malta (Office of

the Prime Minister)

In the smaller countries, all the managing authority functions are handled by the

ministries of finance, with the exception of INTERREG in some cases (e.g. Lithuania, where


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INTERREG III is managed by the Ministry of the Interior). With increasing country size, and

scale of EU Cohesion policy, there tends to be a greater spread of programme-specific

management responsibilities. For example: in the Czech Republic, the industry and enterprise

programme is managed by the Ministry of Trade & Industry, and the infrastructure programme

by the Ministry of the Environment; in Hungary, the environmental and infrastructure OPs are

managed by the Ministry of Economy & Transport, and the regional development programme by

the National Office for Regional Development; and in Poland, the transport OP is managed by

the Ministry of Infrastructure.

The distinctive feature of EU Cohesion policy management in the new Member States is

the degree of centralization. In theory, sub-national participation in EU Cohesion policy

programmes can involve several functions.

o

Programme development: Sub-national levels are generally expected to input into

national programming documents through formal consultation processes. In some

cases, regional administrations coordinated the development of individual

operational programmes.

o Programme management: For example, sub-national bodies participate in the

management of regional elements of programming documents or regional

operational programmes.

o Implementation: Sub-national administrations may act as implementing bodies,

administering regional grant schemes.

o Beneficiary: Sub-national authorities have potentially important roles to play as

project applicants and end beneficiaries of EU Cohesion policy.

In the new Member States, sub-national participation in the management and

implementation of EU Cohesion policy is generally limited to a few key areas, including inputs

during programme development and activities as end beneficiaries of funds. Notable exceptions

are the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, which have some form of joint, or integrated

Regional Operational Programmes (ROPs). In Slovakia, the OP for Basic Infrastructure also

incorporates a regional element. In these cases, regional administrations have a slightly greater

involvement in programming activities.

In the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia, regional authorities participated in the

preparation of ROPs, which were used as the basis for subsequent joint programming documents.


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In the Czech Republic, Regional Councils participate in the management of the Joint Regional

Operational Programme. Regional offices are involved in the administration of the Polish

Integrated Regional Operational Programme, and, in Hungary, Regional Development Agencies

are involved in project implementation. Lastly, in Malta, a Regional Project Committee is

involved in implementing special measures for the development of the island of Gozo.

The limited sub-national involvement in EU Cohesion policy management is comparable

to the approach taken in several EU 15 countries when Structural Fund programmes were first

implemented. Since then, however, there has been extensive regionalization of management

responsibilities to devolved levels of government (eg. Italy, UK) or to deconcentrated offices of

the State (France, Sweden). In federal countries Austria, Belgium, Germany regionalized

management has always been the case.

The degree of sub-national involvement depends on the constitutional arrangements and

institutional structures of individual countries, in particular the existence and status of regional

institutions, and the type/scale of EU funding. Over time, it is evident that EU policies and

programmes have also played an influential role in the development of sub-national participation

in Structural Fund management, in several ways.

First, the implementation of Cohesion policybased on the principles of subsidarity and

partnership has provided political legitimacy and economic resources for sub-national

authorities to be involved in regional development where previously their role may have been

minimal. Second, the implementation of Structural Funds has stimulated the creation of specific

frameworks and institutions that, in some Member States, has filled an institutional void at

regional level and boosted regional capacity to steer economic development processes. Third, EU

accession negotiations motivated a range of sub-national administrative reforms in the new

Member States. Finally, EU programmes have offered direct support for institution-building at

the sub-national level, e.g. Phare funding for Regional Development Agencies.

However, the influence of the EU on sub-national participation in the management and

delivery of Cohesion policy is not uniform. First, EU legislation does not compel the Member

States to decentralize decisions to regions and municipalities. Indeed, in the larger new Member

States expectations of a significant decentralization in the implementation of EU Cohesion policy

have not been fulfilled so far. National governments rather than sub-national bodies of the new

Member States are largely responsible for management of the Cohesion funds in the


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programming period. Second, in countries with weak, or non-existent, regional administrative

structures, centralized, sectoral policy-making offers a more robust platform from which to

develop and deliver EU programmes. Even in countries with comparatively well-established

regions, the administration of highly complex EU Funds could easily overload regional

administrations, undermining what authority they have.

Monitoring and evaluation of Cohesion policy

Monitoring has been one of the most challenging aspects of EU Cohesion policy

implementation for all Member States. EU Regulations stress the need for rigorous financial and

physical monitoring to ensure the transparency accountability of expenditure to the Council,

Parliament and Court of Auditors, as well as a pre-requisite for effective programming in

providing critical intelligence to inform programme planning and delivery.

Among the EU 15 Member States, monitoring has progressively improved over

successive programming periods with respect to the development of hierarchies of indicators

(from programme to measure level), the setting of relevant benchmarks and targets, investment

in data collection and analysis systems to ensure the input and collation of accurate data,

effective IT infrastructure, and human resources for managing monitoring systems.

Notwithstanding the improvements over time and particularly in the current programming period

there are still significant problems in obtaining data with respect to physical outputs, results and

impacts.

In the EU 10 Member States, the focus of programme monitoring committees and

monitoring systems has been on financial management issues, in particular to ensure adequate

oversight of the absorption of funding. Although there has been substantial investment in

monitoring, programming authorities face a range of challenges, notably: delays in establishing

effective monitoring systems (eg. Latvia, Poland); problems with IT (Poland); inadequate of

human resources (Slovenia); indicators with insufficiently clear definition and focus; poor

coordination and data-gathering systems (Poland, Slovak Republic, Slovenia); and difficulties in

dealing with the differing requirements if ERDF, ESF and EAGGF.

Complementing programming monitoring, evaluation is a further vital component of the

programming process, helping to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of policy, guide the

design ofnew policies, and support the implementation of policy programmes and instruments.


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the quality of evaluations could be negatively affected by weaknesses in monitoring systems and

evaluation experience. Finally, problems could be encountered with ensuring that evaluations

play a constructive role in improving programmes. Relevant authorities have to be prepared to

feed into the evaluation process, as opposed to taking a defensive stance against evaluators, and

authorities have to be sufficiently flexible and open to acknowledging the results of evaluation.


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D. EU funds for the financial period 2007-2013

Olesea SIRBU

Center for Studies in European Integration

Academy of Economic Studies of MoldovaChisinau, Republic of Moldova

EU's funding structure and the associated instruments and programmes have been

modified for the new 2007-2013 budgetary period. While some of the previous programmes will

continue to run in this new period, some programmes have been merged for simplification and

some entirely new ones have been launched.

EU provides financial aid for all types of organisations including -companies, publicbodies, universities and NGOs situated mainly in the Member States, however certain

programmes target also Non-Member States. Small, medium and large sized projects can be

financed by the EU in various fields from agriculture to education, from environment to

transport.

This section introduces the funding opportunities of the EU for the 2007-2013 financial

period structured in five categories:

A. Pre-Accession Assistance: EU provides funding for candidate countries and potentialcandidate countries in order to support their efforts to enhance political, economic and

institutional reforms. This comprises a broad range of financial support for various types

of projects in the fields of agriculture, environment, transport, IT, human rights, civil

society, media, etc.

B. External Assistance: EU's external assistance target other countries than the MemberStates and aims to support various types of reforms, political and economic stability, as

well as countries or regions in crisis.

C. Regional Assistance: The regional assistance accounts for a larger portion of theexpenditures and finances regional development within the Member States in order to

obtain economic and social prosperity and to reduce the gaps in development between

regions.


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D. Natural Resources: The Natural Resources section comprises several fundingopportunities in the fields of agriculture, rural development, environment and fisheries.

E. Community Programmes: EU provides financial assistance through various communityprogrammes in a broad range of fields such as research, competitiveness and innovation,

media, education, health, youth, culture, etc. Different organisations, bodies and

companies from all Member States can participate, as well as participants from Non-

Member States according to their agreements with the EU.

A. Pre-Accession AssistanceThe European Union provides specific targeted financial aid for Acceding Countries,

Candidates and Potential Candidate Countries in order to support their efforts to enhance

political, economic and institutional reforms. This implies a broad range of Community funding

for various types of projects in the fields of agriculture, environment, transport, IT, human rights,

civil society, media, etc.

This section presents the structure of EU Pre-Accession Assistance in the 2007-2013

budgetary period by focusing on the new funding instruments, as well as the instruments that

continue to exist.

Funding is available through the following instruments:

IPA - Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance

Period: 2007-2013

Budget: EUR 12 900 million

The Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance is designed to create a single framework

and to unite under the same instrument both Candidate and Potential Candidate Countries, thus,

facilitating the transfer from one status to another.

IPA replaces the 2000-2006 pre-accession financial instruments PHARE, ISPA,

SAPARD, the Turkish pre-accession instrument, and the financial instrument for the Western

Balkans; CARDS.

The main objectives of IPA are;

Strengthening democratic institutions


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field of approximation, application and enforcement of EU legislation. Assistance is also

provided to those countries included in the EU's European Neighbourhood Policy, as well as

Russia.

The main objectives of TAIEX are defined as:

To provide technical assistance and advice on the transposition of the acquis

communautaire into the national legislation of beneficiary countries and on the subsequent

administration, implementation and enforcement of such legislation.

To provide technical training and peer assistance to the officials of the administrations of

the 10 New Member States who remain beneficiaries of TAIEX assistance

To provide programmed technical assistance to the countries of the Western Balkans

To be an information broker by gathering and making available information on the

Community Acquis

To provide database tools for facilitating and monitoring the approximation progress as

well as to identify further technical assistance needs.

The following countries are eligible for funding under TAIEX:

Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovak

Republic, Slovenia Bulgaria, Romania

Republic of Croatia, Republic of Macedonia and Turkey

Turkish Cypriot Community in the northern part of Cyprus

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Albania, Serbia and Montenegro and Kosovo (as

defined in UN Security Council Resolution 1244 of 10 June 1999)

Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian

Authority, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia

Russia

The main areas covered by TAEIX:

Agriculture - veterinary and phytosanitary legislation and rural development etc


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Freedom, Liberty and Security - judicial co-operation in criminal &law latters, organised

crime, fight against money-laudering, human traffcking, environmenal crime, vehicle crime,

asylum and migration issues etc

Internal market - customs, public procurement, state aids, social policy, patent, trade

markets, health and saftey in workplaces etc

Transport, Energy and Environmental Sectors - maritime and aviation saftey, energy data

management, waste package rules and noise legislation, environmental liability, road transport,

groundwater medelling etc

The following bodies make up the target group for funding under TAIEX:

Civil servants working in public administrations

Civil servants working in administrations at sub-national level and in associations of local

authorities

Members of Parliaments and civil servants working in Parliaments and Legislative

Councils

Professional and commercial associations representing social partners, as well as

representatives of trade unions and employers associations

Judiciary and Law Enforcement authorities

Interpreters, revisers and translators of legislative texts.

Types of assistance under TAIEX include:

1. Experts sent to a beneficiary country

2. Study visits to understand how Member States deal with practical issues

3. Seminars and Workshops to present and explain issues

4. Training to provide necessary technical skills

5. Monitoring and analysis of progress

6. Database and information products

7. Translation


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TAIEX's Official website: www.taiex.cec.eu.int

TWINNING

Period: 1998 -

Budget: EUR 157 million / year

The Twinning programme aims to help beneficiary countries in building their

institutional and administrative capacity to implement the acquis communautaire to the same

standards as Member States. Twinning provides the framework for administrations and semi-

public organisations in the beneficiary countries to work with their counterparts in Member

States. Together they develop and implement a project that targets the transposition, enforcement

and implementation of a specific part of the acquis communautaire.

The main feature of a Twinning project is that it sets out to deliver specific andguaranteed results and not to foster general co-operation. It involves the secondment of experts

from the Member States to the administrations of the candidate countries and within limits, to the

administrations of potential candidate countries. Twinning can only work, if the Beneficiary

Country is fully determined to carry out the reforms and reorganization needed in accordance

with the policy priorities set in the context of enlargement or other fields of co-operation with the

EU.

The key features of the Twinning programme are;

1. Projects are built around jointly agreed EU policy objectives

2. Beneficiary country retains ownership of the project

3. Projects yield concrete operational results linked to adoption of the EU acquis

4. Projects involve a peer-to-peer exchange of hands-on public sector expertise and

experience

5. Projects are genuine partnerships fostering close co-operation

EU Member States, Acceding Countries, Candidate Countries and Potential Candidate

Countries are the target countries for the Twinning programme. Local and regional authorities,

training centers, federations and unions are eligible for funding.

Twinning's website:

www.ec.europa.eu/enlargement/financial_assistance/institution_building/twinning_en.htm
http://www.taiex.cec.eu.int/http://www.taiex.cec.eu.int/http://www.ec.europa.eu/enlargement/financial_assistance/institution_building/twinning_en.htmhttp://www.ec.europa.eu/enlargement/financial_assistance/institution_building/twinning_en.htmhttp://www.ec.europa.eu/enlargement/financial_assistance/institution_building/twinning_en.htmhttp://www.taiex.cec.eu.int/


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Promotion of dialogues between political, economic and social actors and NGOs

Promotion of people-to-people links, education and training programmes and intellectual

exchanges and enhancement of mutual understanding between cultures and civilisations

Promotion of cooperative projects in the areas of research, science and technology, energy,transportation and environmental matters

The enhancement of awareness about and understanding of the European Union and of its

visibility in partner countries

Support for specific initiatives, including research work, studies, pilot schemes or joint

projects

Implementation

The Commission draws up multi-annual cooperation programmes on the basis of which annual

action programmes are adopted. The annual action programmes describe the operations to be

financed, the amount and gives an indicative timetable.

Funding is available through grant agreements (including scholarships), procurement

contracts, employment contracts and financing agreements.

The following 17 countries are eligible for funding under the ICI: Australia, Bahrain,

Brunei, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Hong-Kong, Japan, Republic of Korea, Kuwait, Macao, New

Zealand, Oman, Quatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, United States.

DCI - Development Cooperation and Economic Cooperation Instrument

Period: 2007-2013

Budget: EUR 16.897 million

Development Cooperation Instrument is financing the European Community development

cooperation policy, which aims to reduce poverty, strive for sustainable economic and social

development as well as a gradual integration of development countries into the world economy. The

instrument is implemented through geographic and thematic programmes and provides support to

18 countries in Latin America, 29 in Asia, 5 in Central Asia, 5 in the Middle East and South Africa.

The Geographic programmes support the development of and reinforce the cooperation with

countries and regions in Latin America, the Middle East and South Africa.

Thematic programmes complement the Geographical Programmes and supports projects that


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are not geographically specific mainly in developing countries.

The overall objective is to eliminate poverty in partner countries and regions and help them

to reach the Millennium Development Goals.

This should be achieved through cooperation aiming to:

Support democracy, the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms, good

governance, gender equality and related instruments of international law

Foster the sustainable development by all aspects; political, economic, social and

environmental

Promote partner countries smooth and gradual integration into world economy

Help develop international measures to preserve and improve the quality of the

environment and the sustainable management of global natural resources, in order to ensure

sustainable development

Reinforce the relationship between the Community and partner countries and regions

Sugar Protocol Countries - The 18 countries from Latin America and Africa that are

affected by the reform of the Common Market Organisation for sugar should also be provided and

aim at supporting their adjustment process.

Thematic programmes

The thematic programmes complement the geographical programmes in DCI, in ENPI and

cooperation activities under the European Development Fund. They address specific activities of

interest for a group of countries that is not determinate by geography. Thematic programmes also

serve to help to develop Community policies externally and to ensure sectorial consistency and

visibility.

Investing in people

Environment and sustainable management of natural resources, including energy

Non state actors and local authorities in development

Food security


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Migration and asylum

Implementation

For the implementation of geographical programmes, the Commission draws up strategy

papers in dialogue with the partner country. The strategic paper serves as a base for the

development of multiannual indicative programmes, which is adopted for each partner country or

region.

The thematic programmes are implemented on the base of strategy papers and annual action

programmes drawn up by the Commission for each partner country or region

Budget allocation

Of the total budget of 16.897 million euro, the Geographical Programmes have been

allocated 10.057 million euro, the Thematic programmes 5.596 million euro and the support to the

Sugar Protocol countries amounts to 1.244 million euro.

Financing instrument for the promotion of democracy and human rights worldwide

Period: 2007-2013

Budget: EUR 1 104 000 000

The financial instrument for the promotion of democracy and human rights worldwide is

new created instrument supports the promotion, development and consolidation of democracy and

the rule of law as well as the respect for human rights.

It aims to contribute to an increased respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and

to promote democratic reforms in third countries through support to civil society organisations

support. Furthermore to support and enhance the international framework for the protection,

promotion and monitoring of human rights, the promotion of democracy and the rule of law and

reinforce an active for civil society within these frameworks.This instrument is implemented through Strategy papers setting out the priorities and

specific objectives and through Annual Action Programmes which are based on the Strategy papers.

In case of exceptional circumstances, the Commission can adopt Special measures which are not

included in the Strategy papers. Funding is also available by Support measures and Ad hoc


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measures. Ad hoc measures are used to support human right defenders responding to urgent needs.

Funding under this instrument is awarded to the following types of activities:

Projects and programmes

Grants to projects submitted by international and regional intergovernmental

organisations

Grants to human rights defenders to finance urgent protection measures

Grants to support operating costs of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for

Human Rights

Grants to support operating costs of the European Inter-University Centre for Human

Rights and Democratisation

Following types of entities are eligible for funding

Civil society organisations

Public sector non profit agencies, institutions and organisations and networks at a local,

regional and international level

National, regional and international parliamentary bodies

International and regional inter-governmental organisations

Natural persons when it is necessary for the achievement of this instruments objectives

Exceptionally even other bodies and actors can receive funding if it is justified in order to

achieve the objectives of this instrument

ENPI - European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument

Period: 2007-2013


The ENPI will target to achieve sustainable development and will introduce a radical change

in supporting cross-border cooperation along the EU's external borders. The main objective is to

avoid new dividing lines. The ENPI will replace MEDA and TACIS and other existing instruments


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People-to-people cooperation

More information:www.ec.europa.eu/world/enp/funding_en.htm

Instrument for Stability

Period: 2007-2013


Instrument for Stability is designed to provide an adequate response to instability and crises

and to longer term challenges with a stability or security aspect. It will be complementary to the

IPA, ENPI and the DCECI , and will provide assistance to establish the necessary conditions for

the implementation of the policies supported by these three instruments.

The Instrument for Stability will be an effective, immediate and integrated response to

situations of crisis and instability in third countries.

The Instrument for Stability will:

Address global and regional trans-border challenges with a security or stability

dimension arising in third countries, including issues such as nuclear safety, as well as the fight

against trafficking, organised crime and terrorism and unforeseen major threats to public health

Enable the Community to deliver a timely response to future urgent policy challenges

faced by the Union, by piloting measures unforeseen under the three policy-driven instruments,

until such time as they can adequately be integrated within the policy framework of those

instruments

The target groups for the Instrument for Stability are:

Partner countries and regions and their institutions

Decentralised bodies in the partner countries (e.g. regions, departments, provinces and

municipalities)

Joint bodies set up by the partner countries and regions and the Community

International organisations (regional organisations, UN bodies, departments,

international financial institutions) and development banks
http://www.ec.europa.eu/world/enp/funding_en.htmhttp://www.ec.europa.eu/world/enp/funding_en.htmhttp://www.ec.europa.eu/world/enp/funding_en.htmhttp://www.ec.europa.eu/world/enp/funding_en.htm


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Macro Financial Assistance

Period: 1990 -

Budget: NA

Macro-financial assistance (MFA) supports the political and economic reform efforts of the

beneficiary countries and is implemented in association with support programmes from the IMF and

the World Bank.

It has promoted policies that are tailored to specific country needs with the overall objective

of stabilising the financial situation and establishing market-oriented economies.

MFA typically offers long-term loans, but in some cases has been made available as a grant

or as a combination of loan and grant. It has also been combined with PHARE, TACIS or CARDS

programmes to strengthen the capacity of institutions that were essential to the success of the

necessary structural reform measures.

EC macro-financial assistance concentrates in the Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and

Herzegovina, and Serbia and Montenegro) particularly those that formerly comprised the Republic

of Yugoslavia. Elsewhere, the Council decided on operations for some Newly Independent States

(Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyz

Republic, Moldova, Russia) and a few countries of the Mediterranean, a region that also receives

other forms of macroeconomic support from the EU, notably under the MEDA StructuralAdjustment Facilities.

European Development Fund

Period: 2008-2013


The European Development Fund (EFD) was established in the Treaty of Rome as a way for

Member States to provide financial assistance to their former African colonies. The objective of the

Fund is to provide support and funds to improve the economic and social situation in the African,

Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States and those Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) with EU

connections, focusing on fighting poverty and spurring development.


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The Alan Programme is run together by the EuropeAid Co-operation office of the

European Commission and a group of 45 EU Universities and Higher Education Institutions with

the goal of building cooperation between the EU and Latin America in the field of Higher

Education.

The programme name is an acronym in Spanish and Portuguese that stands for "Latin

America, High Level Scholarships," as the programme grants two types of Scholarships for Latin

American citizens to study or train in the EU:

1. Postgraduate education scholarships for qualified Latin American students to obtain aMasters or Doctorate education at an university or educational institution in the EU in all

subject areas outside of language study

2. Specialisation scholarship for experienced Latin American professionals to obtainprofessional training in the European Union for 6 to 18 months.

Besides building another link of cooperation between Europe and Latin America, the

programme also aims to allow the young people of Latin America to experience the European

educational system and culture in hopes of continuing the positive and close relationship

between the two regions into the future. The scholarships and education abroad, will also allow

the young people to improve their skills and thus positively impacting their career opportunities

and impact on Latin American economies.

To be eligible for the Postgraduate scholarship, participants must fulfil the following

requirements and submit an application online on the Alan website:

Citizen of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El

Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and

Venezuela, having lived there since September 1st, 2005

Completed the required educational requirements for their programme of choice and have

the support of one of the institutions recognized by the Alan programme

Be accepted to study at a educational institution in the EU

Explain how they plan to use their education or training in their home country upon

completion of the programme


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Funding will be available through the following instruments:

European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)

Period: 2007 - 2013

Budget: NA

The ERDF contributes to the financing of assistance towards the reinforcement of

economic, social and territorial cohesion by reducing regional disparities and supporting the

structural development and adjustment of regional economies, including the conversion of

declining industrial regions.

The ERDF will focus on financing in the following areas:

Productive investment

Infrastructure

Other development initiatives including services to enterprises, creation and development

of financing instruments such as venture capital, loan and guarantee funds and local development

funds, interest subsidies, neighbourhood services, and exchange of experience between regions,

towns, and relevant social, economic and environmental actors

Technical assistance

The type and range of actions to be financed within each priority shall reflect the different

nature of the Convergence , Regional competitiveness and Employment and European

Territorial Cooperation objectives.

Under the Convergence objective, the ERDF shall focus its assistance on supporting

sustainable integrated regional and local economic development by mobilising and strengthening

endogenous capacity through programmes aimed at the modernisation and diversification of

regional economic structures, primarily in the following areas:

R&D in technology, innovation and entrepreneurship

Information technology

Environment

Risk prevention


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The eligible countries for funding under ERDF are the EU Member States (EU 27).

Regional Policy- Info Regio:www.ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/index_en.htm

European Social Fund (ESF)

Period: 2007 - 2013

Budget: NA

The European Social Fund (ESF) is the EU's financial instrument for investing in people.

The ESF channels European funds into helping Member States meet the goals they have agreed

together to create more and better jobs. Its mission is to help prevent and fight unemployment, to

make Europe's workforce and companies better equipped to face new challenges, and to prevent

people losing touch with the labour market.The ESF provides support for anticipating and managing economic and social change. It

will be implemented in line with the European Employment Strategy and will focus on four key

areas:

Increasing adaptability of workers and enterprises

Enhancing access to employment and participation in the labour market

Reinforcing social inclusion by combating discrimination

Facilitating access to the labour market for disadvantaged people, and promoting

partnership for reform in the fields of employment and inclusion

As one of the EU's two Structural Funds the other being ERDF the ESF aims to

reduce the differences in living standards between the people and the regions of the EU by

pursuing the following Objectives:

Convergence objective aims to strengthen human resources so as to increase

employment prospects, boost labour productivity and stimulate growth, as well as to support

good governance and the strengthening of the institutions and administrative capacities.

Regional Competitiveness and Employment objective - the actions will concentrate on

the ability of workers and firms to adapt to change, access to job market, social inclusion of the

most disadvantaged, fight against discrimination and development of partnerships and networks

for employment and social inclusion.
http://www.ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/index_en.htmhttp://www.ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/index_en.htmhttp://www.ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/index_en.htmhttp://www.ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/index_en.htm


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The ESF will finance up to 75% of public spending in areas covered by the

"Convergence" objective and 50% in those covered by "Regional competitiveness and

employment".

The eligible countries for funding under ERDF are the EU Member States (EU 27).

Cohesion Fund

Period: 2007 - 2013

Budget: EUR 61.6 billion

The Cohesion Fund is a structural instrument that helps the less developed Member States

to reduce economic and social disparities and to stabilise their economies. The assistance is

focused to cover major transport and environmental protection infrastructures.The Cohesion Fund supports the following types of projects:

a) Environment projects helping to achieve the objectives of the EC treaty and in

particular projects in line with the priorities conferred on Community Environmental policy by

the relevant Environment and Sustainable Development action plans.

The Fund gives priority to drinking-water supply, treatment of wastewater and disposal of

solid waste. Reforestation, erosion control and nature conservation measures are also eligible.

In this context, the Fund may also intervene in areas related to sustainable development

which clearly present environmental benefits, namely energy efficiency and renewable energy

and, in the transport sector outside the trans-European networks, rail, river and sea transport,

intermodal transport systems and their interoperability, management of road, sea and air traffic,

clean urban transport and public transport.

b)Transport infrastructure projects establishing or developing transport infrastructure

as identified in the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) guidelines (railways, road

traffic, inland waterways, civil air transport, etc.).

The priority measures concern:

Completion of the connections needed to facilitate transport

Optimization of the efficiency of existing infrastructure

Achievement of interoperability of network components
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Integration of the environmental dimension in the network

The eligible countries for Cohesion Fund are the least prosperous Member States of the

Union whose gross national product (GNP) per capita is below 90% of the EU-average. This

currently includes the 12 new Member States as well as Greece and Portugal.INITIATIVES:

Jeremie

Period: 2007 - 2013

JEREMIE is a joint initiative by the European Commission and the European Investment

Fund, created to support improved access to finance for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises

(SME) and development of micro-credit in regions supported by the European Regional

Development Fund. It aims to enable EU Member States and Regions to use their structural fundallocations more efficiently and flexibly.

JEREMIE is the acronym for Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium

Enterprises.

The JEREMIE initative foresees 3 main financial instruments:

Advisory and technical assistance

Equity and venture capital

Guarantees (both for micro credit and SME loans)

The JEREMIE imitative aims to:

Increase funding opportunities for business development through loans, equity, venture

capital, guarantees and technical assistance

Improve national and regional cooperation to allow for better management of public

resources and exchange of good practices

Improve the use of public resources under EU-programmes.

The initiative also allows for national and regional authorities can to utilize funds from

the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as market- driven financial instruments,

rather than just offering grants. Therefore, the fund can be reinvested several times, thereby

improving smaller companies access to finance.


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Structure

Regions for Economic Change consists of four components to encourage projects for

economic modernisation and competitiveness

Fast Track Option

Two-way bridge approach

Consistent and open communication network

Themes for action

In addition to providing cities and regions the initiative to start networks, the fast track

option gives the Commission initiative to develop networks. Working with Member States, the

Commission decides a theme, establishes a network around this theme and encourages regions

and cities to join, for which the Commission oversees the projects implemented by the network.

In return for joining the network, the participating regions and cities may utilize the Commission

for advice and expertise regarding testing and evaluating best practices as well as receive

administrative support if needed.

The two-way bridge provides for the follow of ideas and examples throughout the

Union by allowing regions to submit examples of best practice for possible distribution to other

Member States. The bridge also refers to the connection regions, Member States and cities

make between their Regions for Economic Change network and regular programmes, to allow

for the Regions for Economic Change ideas and effective tactics to reach other States through

mainstream programmes.

A key component of the Regions for Economic Change is an effective and open

communication network to share ideas, information and best practices. The Regions for

Economic Change will also hold seminars and create publications to spread best practices and

information as well as hold a yearly conference analyzing progress made towards economic

modernisation and thus the Lisbon objectives. During the conference, annual innovation awards

will be handed out to exemplary projects from each theme, as another way of communicating

effective projects and ideas.

While Member States and regions may decide a theme to steer their actions, the

Commission provides four thematic options:


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Improve Member States, cities and region's attractiveness and accessibility while

preserving the environment

Innovation, entrepreneurship and knowledge

Creation of more and higher quality jobs

Improve the growth potential and allow for equal regional development

D. Natural Resources

With an aim to contribute to the attainment of the objectives of the Common Agricultural

Policy (CAP), the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), and the Community environment policy,

the European Union allocates a significant share of the total Community budget.

This section presents the newly structured financial assistance in support of agriculture,

fisheries and environment fields for the 2007-2013 budgetary period.

Funding will be available through the following instruments:

European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF)

Period: 2007-2013

Budget: NA

The financial system for the Common Agriculture Policy has been simplified and brought

into a new single legal framework establishing two funds the European Agricultural Guarantee

Fund (EAGF) and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). These two

funds replace, from 2007, the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund.

The EAGF finances expenditure origin from application of the market and price policy.

The Commission and the Member States manage these expenditures jointly.

Direct payments to farmers under the CAP

Refunds for export to third countries granted under the Common Organisation of Markets

(CMO)

Intervention payments to regularise agricultural markets


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Certain informational and promotional measures

It also finances measures, which are not strictly related to the management of agricultural

markets. The Commission manages these expenditures centrally.

Specific veterinary and plant health measures, inspections of food stuffs and animal feed,

animal disease eradication and control programmes

Instruments intended to provide information on the common agricultural policy including

evaluation actions

Promotion of farm production

Measures to conserve, characterise, collect and use genetic resources in farming

Farm survey system

Single payment scheme (SPS)

The single payment scheme introduces an annual payment with the main aim of

guarantying more stable incomes for farmers. The support is based on the entitlements from the

2000 - 2002 period (except for New Member States) and is granted to farmers who hold eligible

hectares. Eligible hectares normally include all types of agricultural land except land used for

permanent crops. This new system cuts the link between support and production and the main

difference is that the aid no longer depends on the type of production. Since 2005 or 2006, this

system applies to the majority of the common market organisations. The Member States could

opt for a transitional period ending 1 December 2005 or 31 December 2006.

To receive aid, the farmers must comply with the cross compliance standards, which

mean they must prove that they keep their land in a good agricultural condition and they comply

with public health, animal and plant health, the environment and animal welfare standards.

If the farmer fails to comply with these rules, the direct payments may be reduced by 5-

15 % and by at least 20 % in the longer run and the producer might be excluded from receiving

aid.

The farmers must also set aside part of their land, except land used for organic production

or for materials not intended for human or animal consumption.

The entitlements may be transferred, but only after the system is introduced and only

within the Member States and in some cases only within regions.


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The main reasons for the introduction of the Single Payment Scheme was to:

Allow farmers to produce according to the market demand

Promote environmentally and economically sustainable farming

Simplify CAP application for farmers and administrators

Strengthen the EU's position in WTO agricultural trade negotiations

European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD)

Period: 2007-2013

Budget: EUR 96 billion

European Agriculture Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) is one of the two

instruments financing the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) It will finance actions in the field

of rural development in the Member States in line with the rural development plans submitted by

each country.

The main objectives of EAFRD are:

Improvement of the competitiveness of agriculture and forestry by supporting

reconstruction, development and innovation,

Improvement of the environment and the countryside