The future of EU regional policy: report with evidence, 19th report of session 2007-08

The present policies to tackle regional disparities in Europe are rooted in the creation of the Social Fund in 1958. In the intervening time expenditure on the policies has grown to the extent that 36 per cent of the EU budget in 2008. The European Social Fund is still in place, and has been joined by the European Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund: the triumvirate of Funds is colloquially known as the Structural Funds. The majority of funding targets the poorest third of European regions, but approximately one fifth is distributed across the remaining regions with the aim of improving their competitiveness. With work now beginning to examine the priorities for the European budget in the period after 2014, this report examines the distribution, management and impact of the Funds.The Committee supports the underlying principle of intervention in the market to counter the uneven distribution of the benefits and costs of the single market, but this support must be delivered in an efficient and effective manner. The Committee finds that the Funds are effective and fit for purpose, and that the size of the funding distributed to the poorest regions under the Convergence Objective is approximately correct. Objections about the cost of management of the funds are overstated. The funding and scope of the Convergence Objective, which supports the poorest regions, is appropriate and it should remain.