TTHHEE EEUURROOPPEEAANN FFUUNNDD FFOORR RREEGGIIOONNAALL DDEEVVEELLOOPPMMEENNTT ((FFEEDDEERR)) AANN [600898]

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TTHHEE EEUURROOPPEEAANN FFUUNNDD FFOORR RREEGGIIOONNAALL DDEEVVEELLOOPPMMEENNTT ((FFEEDDEERR)) –– AANN
IINNSSTTRRUUMMEENNTT OOFF FFIINNAANNCCIIAALL SSOOLLIIDDAARRIITTYY OOFF TTHHEE PPOOLLIICCYY OOFF CCOOHHEESSIIOONN
OOFF TTHHEE EEUURROOPPEEAANN UUNNIIOONN
Popa Diana
University of Oradea, [anonimizat] , University street no. 1, Oradea, [anonimizat], Facu lty of Sciences
Economics
This study describe the principles which are based the European fund of regional development and its p riority
objectives for the period 2007 -2013, accordind to EC provision no. 1080/2006 of the European Parliam ent
and the Council of 5 July 2006. FEDER is the princi pal instrument of financial solidarity that has an objective
the decrease of the economic and social discrepanci es existent between different regions of Europe.
Key words: Cohesion policy, structural funds, objectives
Though EU is one of the richest regions in the worl d, there still are big discrepancies regarding the level of
development, both between the member countries and inside these, determined by the differences existen t from
a region to another, in what the economic, social a nd geographic conditions are concerned.
The cohesion policy of EU is a very specific instru ment that has as an objective the decrease of the e conomic
and social discrepancies existent between different regions of Europe, by means of its special instrum ents – the
structural funds-, and working upon some significan t domains of development, as the economic growth an d the
SME sector, transportations, agriculture, urbane de velopment, environment protection, employment and
professional training, education, gender equality e tc. conceived as a policy of solidarity at European level, the
cohesion policy is mainly based on financial solida rity, i.e. the redistribution of a part of the comm unitarian
budget gathered by through the contribution of the Member States to in favour of less prosperous regio ns and
social groups (for the period 2000-2006 the corresp onding sum represents approximately a third of the EU
budget) 1.
The cohesion policy 2 of EU, a policy more than thirty years old, has su ffered continuous transformation, both at
the level of the specific objectives, of the instru ments of applying these, and at that of allocating implied
finances. The bigger the number of member states an d the clearer the discrepancies, the greater the to tal amount
of Structural Funds, from about 43.8 billion ECU be tween 1988-1993 to over 141 billion ECU for 1994-19 99
(values calculated in prices 1992), to 286 billion ECU between 2000-2006 and 308.2 billion ECU in 2007 -2013.
The main instrument of intervening of this policy t hat has the biggest rate among the structural funds , the
European Fund of Regional Development (FEDER), was created in 1975, after the first extension of the
Community (Great Britain, Ireland and Denmark). Thu s, FEDER redistributes the communitarian budget in
productive investments (for creating and maintainin g some durable work places) and in infrastructural
investments. Even if the appearance of this fund wa s explained by the Commission as answering the need to
meet the regional discrepancies that appeared, it h olds true for the fact that the financial instrumen t created now,
can be seen as being a compensation granted to Grea t Britain for its net contribution to the communita rian
budget.
In order to reduce the distance between the levels of European regional developments and to make up fo r the
delay of the less favoured regions, EC provision no . 1080/2006 of the European Parliament and the coun cil of 5
July 2006 concerning FEDER and that abrogates the E C provision no. 1783/1999, defines the types of act ions
that can benefit from financing from the European f und for regional development (FEDER). It also estab lishes
the tasks and the scope of FEDER in the context of the objectives "convergence" and "regional competit iveness
and employment" and "European territorial cooperati on" of the cohesion policy reformed for the period 2007-
2013.
The principles at the basis of the implementation o f the regional development fund are: planning, part nership,
addition and concentration.
− The planning principle is one of the essential elements of the SF impleme ntation and it refers to the
preparation of the multiyear plans of development, which are fulfilled on the basis of decisions taken
together with the member states and through a serie s of successive phases, ending with undertaking
duties by the public and private organisms (which w ill also accomplish these duties). The member
states are also required to elaborate two types of programmatic documents of strategic nature (the
Reference Strategic National Frame) and operational (Operational Plans). Unlike the old National plan
of development, in what the strategic contents is r egarded, RSNF does not involve the aspects
connected to rural development and fishing. Moreove r, in what financing is concerned, RSNF is
exclusively sustained by the structural and cohesio n funds and by the corresponding national financing ,
while the National plan for development included ot her finances (European funds of rural development
etc.). On the basis of these planning documents, a negotiation process takes place between the

1 P. Prisecaru "Politici comune ale Uniunii Europene ", Editura Economic ă, Bucure ști, 2004, p.75-76
2 a.k.a. the regional development policy, common reg ional policy or structural policy

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European Commission and the Member States, process that end in allocation of structural funds for
each state.
− The partnership principle supposes a tight collaboration between the Commiss ion and the national,
regional and local authorities, economic and social partners and other competent organisms, especially
their implication in all the stages of regional dev elopment fund – from elaboration and approving
development plans to implementation and monitoring these. This principle underlines the degree of
decentralization that characterises the entire regi onal policy and implementation of subsidiarity.
− The addition principle deals with completion of the communitarian assista nce through national
financing, so that the communitarian funds shall no t replace the national funds allocated for the
development of a certain sector but to complete the se 3.
− The concentration principle implies the allocation of the fund for regional de velopment to the regions
late in their development, whose GDP/citizen is inf erior to the communitarian average.
In what the management of the regional development fund is concerned there will be included some alter ations
by the provision in July 2006. Thus, under the obje ctive "convergence", there will be created an autho rity for
audit (independent organism, in charge with checkin g the well functioning of the systems of management and
control), a certifying authority (in charge with ce rtification of the expenses'statements and requests for payment,
previous to their transmission to the Commission) a nd the authority of payment will disappear. Under t he
objective of European territorial cooperation, will appear an authority of certification, a unique aut hority of
control and a group of financial controllers (forme d of a controller appointed for each member state, having the
role of supporting the authority of control).
The FEDER's objective is to contribute to the stre ngthening of the economic and social cohesion reduc ing
differences between regions. This objective is acco mplished, by and large, by sustaining the developme nt and
the structural adjustment of the regional economies , as well as by reconverting the industrial regions in decline.
FEDER focuses its intervention upon a number of th ematic priorities, which reflect the nature of the objectives
"convergence" and "regional competitiveness and emp loyment" and "European territorial cooperation". It is a
primarily a matter of relative financing concerning :
− Investments that contribute to the creation of stab le work places.
− Technical support
− Investments in infrastructures
− Maintenance measures for the regional and local dev elopment, that comprise assistance and services
offered to the enterprises, especially to the small and medium size enterprises.
Within the objective "convergence", FEDER focuses i ts help on supporting a integrated stable economic
development, as well as on creation of durable serv ices. The operational programs in the member states tend to
modernise and diversify the regional economic struc tures, among others in the following domains:
− Technologic research and development, innovation an d enterprising spirit.
− Informational society
− Environment
− Risk prevention
− Tourism
− Cultural investments
− Investments in transportation
− Energy
− Investment in the support of education
− Investment in sanitary and social infrastructures
− Direct support of investments in small and medium s ize enterprises.
In what the objective "regional competitiveness and employment" is regarded, the priorities can be gro uped on
three directions:
− Innovation and the economy of knowledge, especially in the field of improving the regional capacity of
research and technological development, of innovati on, of enterprising spirit and of creation of new
financial instruments for the enterprises.
− The environment and the risks prevention, which inc lude the rehabilitation of contaminated lands,
stimulation of energetic efficiency, promotion of u rbane public transport and elaboration of plans for
the prevention and management of natural and techno logical risks.
− The access to the transport and telecommunication s ervices of general economic interest, especially
improvement of secondary networks and supporting th e access to the informational technologies for the
SMEs.
In what the objective "European territorial coopera tion" is concerned, FEDER focuses its assistance on three
directions:

3 M. Lechantre&David Schajer „Le budget de l'Union e uropéenne”, editura La documentation Française, Par is, 2003, p. 87-
88

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− Developing economic and social activities over bord ers by strategic means considering the durable
territorial development. That is to say, for exampl e, the support of the enterprising spirit, the prot ection
and the management of natural and cultural resource s as well as the collaboration, the capacities and
the use of those related to infrastructures.
− The establishment and the development of trans-nati onal cooperation, comprising here the bilateral
cooperation between maritime regions. The prioritie s gravitate around innovation, environment,
accessibility improvement and durable urban develop ment.
− Strengthening the efficiency of regional policy tha t is to say the promotion of collaboration and
exchange of experience between local and regional a uthorities.
At the request of the member states, the Commission can suggest rules for certain categories of expens es. The
member states have the duty to appoint a single man agement authority, an authority of certification an d
authorities of unique audit. The member states can imply the juridical instrument of cooperation, The European
Group of Cross-border Cooperation (EGCC) to delegat e the duties to the management authority and the
technique secretariat.
For a project to be selected it has to contain bene ficiaries from at least two countries that have to act together in
at least two of the following four domains: develop ment, implementation, team and financing. In the ca se of
cross-border collaboration a program can be impleme nted in a single member state under the condition t o have
been introduced in at least two states. When the co operation networks and those of experience exchange are at
stake they have to contain at least three beneficia ries in at least three regions in minimum two membe r states,
these having to act uniformly in the four domains m entioned.
The operational program has to contain especially t he following information:
− An analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the cooperation zone;
− A justification of the retained priorities;
− Information on main directions of action;
− A financing plan;
− The breakdown of the intervention domains on catego ries;
− Dispositions of implementation;
− Indicative list of great projects;
In what financing is regarded there are particulari ties in connection to localization. the co-finan cing can come
to:
− 20% for the cross-border cooperation in NUTS III ar eas (in the vicinity of the frontier zones of the
Union).
− 20% for the trans-national cooperation for operatio ns that include partners external to the area that we
make reference to.
− 10% for cross-border and trans-national cooperation for expenses assigned for actions on the territory
of third countries of the European Union, under the condition that they are benefited by the regions o f
the Community 4.
FEDER pays a special attention to the territorial p articularities. The actions concerning the urban di mension are
integrated in the operational programs counting on the experience of the URBAN initiative. The FEDER a ction
concerns indeed the sorting of the economic, enviro nmental and social programs of the cities.
In what the rural areas and the areas relying on fi shing are concerned, the EFRD intervention focuses on
economic diversification, namely:
− Infrastructures for improving accessibility;
− Telecommunication networks and services in rural ar eas;
− Development of new economic activities;
− Strengthening connections between urban and rural a reas;
− Development of tourism and rural territorial planni ng.
For the areas with natural handicap, FEDER contribu tes to the financing of investments taking into acc ount the
accessibility of the economic activities related to the cultural patrimony, to the durable exploitatio n of resources
and to the stimulation of tourism.
Finally, FEDER contributes to the financing of the surcharges connected to the geographical situation of the
ultra peripheral regions, such as:
− Support of goods transportation and transport servi ces provision.
− Support of warehouse contracts, of production tools maintenance and of the insufficient human capital
on the local labour market.
References:
1. M. Lechantre&D. Schajer „Le budget de l'Union Euro péenne”, La Documentation Française, Paris,
2003

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2. P. Prisecaru coordonator „Politici comune ale Uniun ii Europene”, Editura Economic ă, Bucure ști, 2004
3. coordonator L. Ghica “Enciclopedia Uniunii Europene ” , Editura Meronia, Bucuresti, 2007
4. www.europa.eu