Regional aid map almost complete

Date: 20/01/2000

By Simon Coss

THE European Commission revealed this week how it intends to share out regional aid funding targeted at areas in economic decline in France, Austria, Luxembourg and Sweden.

The move means that the EU-wide map of areas which will receive assistance under the newly-revamped structural funds programme over the next five years is now almost complete. Only Italy is still unsure of precisely which regions will benefit from 'Objective 2' cash injections between 2000 and 2006.

All of France's 22 regions will benefit from some funding, although five areas are set to receive the lion's share: much of the Nord-Pas de Calais region; significant parts of the Pays de la Loire; much of Aquitaine, the centre-west region which includes French wine capital Bordeaux; the south-western Midi-Pyrenées region around the city of Toulouse; and the Rhône-Alpes region in the south of the country.

In Luxembourg, three areas have been given Objective 2 status under the revised scheme: the Oesling region, a large, mainly rural area with a population of almost 10,000; an entirely new Objective 2 zone in the east of the country which includes the cities of Echternacht and Grevenmacher; and an area comprising eight communes and almost 95,000 people in the south-west.

Sweden's new Objective 2 zones are in four main areas, all of which already receive some sort of structural fund assistance: a largely rural area in the north stretching westward from just above Stockholm; a large section of western Sweden which includes much of the country's border with Norway; and Jönköping, Kronobergs, Kalmar, Blekinge and Östergötland in the south. Several archipelagos along the Swedish coast will also benefit.

In Austria, the Commission has called for significant cuts in the amount of money Vienna receives from Union coffers, partly because the eligibility criteria for funding have been tightened up, but also because the Commission believes several areas which currently get EU funding have prospered in recent years and no longer require Euro-cash injections. Austria's main losers in the new funding round are areas around the city of Salzburg and parts of Über Östereich and Nieder Östereich.