The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is one of the

European Structural and Investment Funds The European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI Funds, ESIFs) are financial tools governed by a common rulebook, set up to implement the regional policy of the European Union, as well as the structural policy pillars of the Common Agricultu ...

allocated by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. Its purpose is to transfer money from richer regions (not countries), and invest it in the infrastructure and services of underdeveloped regions. This will allow those regions to start attracting private sector investments, and create jobs on their own.

History

During the 1960s, the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

occasionally tried to establish a regional fund, but only Italy ever supported it. Britain made it an issue for its accession in 1973, and pushed for its creation at the 1972 summit in Paris. Britain was going to be a large contributor to the CAP and the

EEC The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

budget, and sought to offset this deficit by having the ERDF established. They would then be able to show their public some tangible benefits of EEC membership. The ERDF was set to be running by 1973, but the

1973 oil crisis In October 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) announced that it was implementing a total oil embargo against countries that had supported Israel at any point during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which began after Eg ...

delayed it, and it was only established in 1975 under considerable British and Italian pressure.George, Stephen (1990). ''An Awkward Partner: Britain in the European Community''. Oxford University Press. pp. 56–67. . It started with a budget of 1.4 billion

units of account In economics, unit of account is one of the functions of money. A unit of account is a standard numerical monetary unit of measurement of the market value of goods, services, and other transactions. Also known as a "measure" or "standard" of ...

, much less than the original British proposal of 2.4 billion units of account, but has increased rapidly both proportionally and absolutely in the course of time. Since its creation, it has operated under changing set of rules that were standardised with

Single European Act The Single European Act (SEA) was the first major revision of the 1957 Treaty of Rome. The Act set the European Community an objective of establishing a single market by 31 December 1992, and a forerunner of the European Union's Common Fore ...

and is now in its 2014–2020 period.

Scope (2014–2020)

As part of its task to promote regional development, the ERDF contributes towards financing the following measures:

Objective convergence

* Modernising and diversifying economic structures * Creating sustainable jobs * Stimulating economic growth * Attention to urban, remote, mountainous, sparsely populated, and the outermost regions

Regional competitiveness and employment

* Innovation and knowledge economy (e.g., research and technological development, innovation and entrepreneurship,

financial engineering Financial engineering is a multidisciplinary field involving financial theory, methods of engineering, tools of mathematics and the practice of programming. It has also been defined as the application of technical methods, especially from mathe ...

) * Environment and risk prevention (e.g., cleaning up polluted areas, energy efficiency, clean urban public transport, risk prevention plans) * Access to transport and telecommunications

Territorial cooperation

* Cross-border economic, social, and environmental activities * Transnational cooperation, including bilateral cooperation between maritime regions * Inter-regional cooperation, including networking and exchange of experiences between regional and local authorities

ERDF compliance

All awards of ERDF must comply with European Union competition law (including State Aid Law and Government procurement in the European Union). Failure to comply with these legal requirements may result in irregularity rulings which carry financial implications.

Criticism

One project supported by the Fund is the Golf Club Campo de Golf in the African Spanish

exclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...

Melilla, located right next to the border with Morocco where African migrants regularly attempt to enter the territory of the EU by climbing a triple fence with razor wire. In 2009, Ecologists in Action called the location insulting and asked the EU to investigate why more than €1.1m was given to the project by the ERDF. The petition was dismissed, because the objectives of the golf course to “increase tourism, create jobs and promote sport and sporting values” was compatible with the goals of the ERDF.

References

External links

Open Data Portal for the European Structural Investment Funds

North Sea Region Programme
Transnational Cooperation Programme under the ERDF
Baltic Sea Region Programme
Transnational Cooperation Programme under the ERDF
Alpine Space Programme
Transnational Cooperation Programme under the ERDF
Atlantic Area Operational Programme
Transnational Cooperation Programme under the ERDF
INTERREG North-West Europe Programme
Transnational Cooperation Programme under the ERDF {{Authority control 1975 establishments in Europe Economy of the European Union Regional policies of the European Union 1973 oil crisis eo:Eŭropaj Strukturaj Fondusoj