Report points to winners and losers in battle for regional aid

Date: 21/10/1999

By Simon Coss

A CLEARER picture is beginning to emerge of which EU regions will receive cash injections from the Union's multi-billion-euro structural funds over the next six years.

The European Commission is set to publish a report next week in which it will outline how it believes 'Objective 2' structural fund money should be spent in four EU member states - Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland and Denmark. Recommendations on funding for other Union countries are due later in the year.

The report drawn up by Regional Affairs Commissioner Michel Barnier's officials is based on requests for funding from the four countries and will have to be approved by the European Parliament and EU governments. If it wins their support, the Union's structural funding map is likely to change considerably.

EU leaders agreed at the Agenda 2000 summit in March that structural fund spending for 2000-2006 should focus on three key areas or 'objectives' rather than the current six. Under the new regime, Objective 1 funding will be made available to regions whose per capita gross domestic product is less than 75&percent; of the EU average, while Objective 2 money will target urban and rural regions in economic decline. The third objective is designed to promote job-creation by funding education and training programmes, and it is not geographically based.

In Denmark, the Commission is set to recommend that four main regions benefit from Objective 2 funds, proposing continued funding for all the country's small islands and province of Lolland in the south, and adding Falster and Moen in the south and the southern part of Fyn province in central Denmark to the list. The main losers would be parts of Northern Jutland, which will probably see their cash hand-outs phased out.

In the Netherlands, the report is expected to suggest granting Objective 2 for the first time to five of the country's smaller towns - Arnhem, Nijmegen, Enschede, Eindhoven and Maastricht. Parts of Friesland, Groningen and Drente in the north and areas of Brabant and Limburg in the south are also set to benefit from the shake-up, as are rural areas in Gelderland, Overijssel and around Utrecht. The Netherlands' largest cities - Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag and Utrecht - already receive funding and this looks set to continue. Areas likely to see their funding phased out include parts of south eastern Brabant, Limburg and Twente.

In Belgium, the Commission is likely to support giving most of the coast Objective 2 status, along with parts of the cities of Ghent and Antwerp. Areas where funding is set to be phased out include most of the Westhoek region and parts of Meetjesland. In Wallonia, the region between the cities of Dinant and Philippeville and the area between Huy and Liège will benefit, and the province of Hainault is set to become an Objective 2 region as its current Objective 1 status is phased out. In Brussels, first-time bids for Objective 2 funding from the communes of Molenbeek, St. Gilles and Forest are likely to win Commission support.

In Finland, the Commission is set to recommend granting Objective 2 status to most of western and southern Finland, excluding the areas immediately surrounding the capital Helsinki and second city Tampere. This wide geographical area would include all of Finland's semi-autonomous Åland islands. In the north of the country, the city of Oulu, where mobile phone giant Nokia has a strong presence, would benefit from the shake-up.