Communication on European Social Fund support for the European Employment Strategy

Summary:

In Agenda 2000, the Commission put forward plans to reform the European Structural Funds. The objective was to increase the effectiveness of the Funds through greater thematic and geographic concentration in order to respond effectively to the new challenges of economic and social cohesion. At the Berlin European Council in 1999, Heads of State and Government reached a political agreement on the reform. In particular, the European Social Fund received a new role to support the European Employment Strategy initiated at the Luxembourg summit in 1997. As ESF programmes for 2000-2006 have now been adopted, this communication addresses the question of how these programmes have taken into account the need to integrate the ESF within the key priorities of the European Employment Strategy.