EU Programmes

The European Union supports the regional and structural policy efforts through regional Objective programmes and Community Initiatives. The instruments of the European Structural fund are the European Social Fund (ESF), the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), The European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG), as well as the Interreg, Urban, Equal and Leader+ Community Initiatives. The current programme period finishes at the end of 2006. More information on the Objective programmes can be found in the Inforegio pages of the Commission http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/intro/regions5_en.htm.

The regional and structural policy in Western Finland is carried out with the support of The Western Finland Objective 2 Programme for the years from 2000 to 2006 and http://www.intermin.fiThe programme covers the regions of Central Finland, Central Ostrobothnia, North Ostrobothnia, Ostrobothnia, Satakunta, South Ostrobothnia, and Tampere Region.

Besides the above the Union also offers over a hundred separate programmes through which common projects between regions and/or actors can be financed.

Background information on the projects being prepared in the daily press releases:
http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/press_room/index_en.cfm
and the Official Journal of the European Union,
Series C -L Information and notices and legislation:
http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/lex/JOIndex.do?/
Series S - Supplement to the Official Journal, including calls for tender
http://www.europa.eu.int/

The actors in the WFA region can receive updates on areas of special interest through registering for the EU information service of the West Finland European Office.