The funds include the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the EU Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) and the Youth Employment Initiative.
New elements of the funding period 2014-2020 include increased simplification of procedures and are result orientated. Together, they are expected to ensure that money is used more efficiently and effectively to create sustainable economic growth.
Under the EMFF in particular, a total of €5.75 billion will be spent on implementing the objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and the Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP). To plan for this implementation, 27 operational programmes have now been adopted, one for each participating Member State. Luxembourg has opted out of the EMFF.
Under their respective operational programmes, Member States have committed to supporting sustainable and competitive fisheries and aquaculture, creating 10,200 jobs while maintaining another 85,000. Fuel efficiency is expected to increase by more than 40 per cent, while the introduction of the landing obligation will lower the volume of unwanted catches by more than 20 per cent.
These and other selected indicators for all five Funds are available on the ESIF Open Data Platform, also launched today. Crucially, the platform includes target values against which Member States' success can be measured. EMFF data are currently available at EU level, and the database will be updated with more detailed national data on operational programmes in the coming months.
