Spotlighting the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF): Yesterday and Today
As Europe once again finds itself reeling from an economic crisis that has left many vulnerable economic regions struggling to get back to growth, the ERDF has been a steadfast institution. Through funding projects in industrial and agricultural regions within the EU that were hardest hit by the global recession and the Eurozone crisis, the mechanisms of this important fund have been working behind the scenes.
Here are 5 little known facts about the ERDF, its work, and how it has been an influential factor throughout the development of the EU.
1. The ERDF was originally enacted in 1975 to help procure funds for struggling economic regions during a time when many industrial and agricultural regions were increasingly in need of economic strategies to boost competitiveness. Italy was a major early proponent of the ERDF and continues to support its mission. Its three target goals were to correct regional imbalances due to predominance of agriculture, structural unemployment, and industrial change.
2. The ERDF gained prominence during the 1980s under the enactment of the Single European Act. This was mainly due to the strategic desire to bring Spain, Italy, and Greece in the Single European Market, and as a result of an objective by EU leadership to bring several regions within these countries up to pan-EU economic standards. This, in turn, was an important action on the part of the European Community, which further bound member countries both politically and economically.
3. During the formation of the European Single Market (ESM), the ERDF played a major role in strengthening European regional cooperation by creating partnerships with private and public entities, ensuring that the regulatory impacts of the ESM would not negatively affect struggling regions and helping to strengthen regional understanding of EU insitutions.. From 1994-1999, the ERDF’s budget increased to 30 percent of the overall EU structural budget.
4. During the second EU expansion in the 2000s, the ERDF’s funds helped to facilitate the same kinds of initiatives in vulnerable regions of EU-accession states that occurred during the Single European Act in the 1980s in Spain, Italy, and Greece. Regions in countries like Poland, Slovenia, Hungary, and Slovakia have benefitted from the ERDF’s ongoing mission to strengthen regional development.
5. In 2015, the ERDF is the largest single source of EU funds to regions, localities and enterprises, and represents nearly 30 percent of the total EU annual budget. Regional economic policy is more important than ever given the economic situation in many EU countries. The ERDF and its Cohesion Fund programs continue across many policy areas and member states. Today, the ERDF has helps support long term investments strategies that are necessary for recovery from the euro crisis.
Pictured Above: A street scene in Slovakia, which has historially benefited from ERDF funding.
Links of Interest:
http://ec.europa.eu/atwork/synthesis/aar/doc/regio_aar_2014.pdf
http://ec.europa.eu/atwork/synthesis/aar/index_en.htm
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/EN/atlas/programmes/2014-2020/france/2014fr16rfop002
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:g24232
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:ec0004