RAPID - PRESS RELEASES
Regional policy Commissioner Danuta Hübner and Employment, social affairs and equal opportunities Commissioner Vladimír Špidla congratulated the Lithuanian authorities for reaching agreement with the European Commission on the national plan and priorities for Cohesion policy 2007-2013 under the Convergence objective. In their National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) the Lithuanian authorities describe how they are going to use EU funding of € 6 775 million that they will receive over seven years to deliver growth and jobs to their regions. The adoption procedure has now been completed as the European Commission issued today its decision on elements of the Lithuanian NSRF, including priorities, indicative annual allocations, and list of operational programmes.
Commissioners Danuta Hübner and Vladimír Špidla expressed their satisfaction at the openness and efficient cooperation between the Lithuanian authorities and the Commission services.
"I am very happy that the Lithuanian NSRF includes a significant commitment to the Lisbon strategy for jobs and growth. 54,6% of the investments for the "Convergence" objective has been "earmarked" for Lisbon related expenditure. This is the proof of Lithuania's commitment to the Lisbon Strategy. I am confident that we can make an important contribution to improving the competitiveness of Lithuania through this new generation of cohesion programmes", said Danuta Hübner.
"The Lithuanian strategy shows a strong commitment to promoting the quality and intensity of investments in human resources," said Commissioner Špidla. "This proves once again that more and better jobs lie at the heart of the European reform agenda. With the priorities chosen by Lithuania, workers will be able to better adapt to changing circumstances. The strategy will also boost employment and promote social inclusion."
The NSRF, negotiated over the past few months, sets out in broad terms how Lithuania shall use € 6 775 M EU resources in the next seven years to deliver growth and jobs (http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/atlas2007/fiche/lt_en.pdf).
Lithuania's main priority for 2007-2013, as set out in the NSRF, is to close by 2015 the socio-economic gap with the more advanced EU members, by creating the conditions for sustainable high economic growth in the long term and ensure that interventions reach all beneficiaries. To achieve this aim, Lithuania has identified as strategic priorities to foster: long term economic growth, more and better jobs, and promotion of social cohesion.
Lithuania intends to translate the broad priorities contained in the NSRF into three thematic operational programmes for: development of human resources, economic growth and cohesion promotion.
Lithuania sent electronically its National Strategic Reference Framework to the European Commission on December 12. Now that negotiations have been successfully concluded on the wider framework document, the list of programmes and the indicative annual allocation from each fund will soon be adopted by the Commission. Approval of the NSRF is a legal prerequisite for adoption of the operational programmes, negotiations on which are at present in the final stage.
All Member States have already sent their national strategic reference frameworks (NSRFs) to the Commission, Malta, Greece, Austria and Denmark being the first countries to have the plan approved by the Commission in December 2006, March and April 2007 respectively.
In drawing up their NSRFs, all Member States must take account of the Community guidelines for 2007-2013 which place particular emphasis on making Europe and its regions more attractive places in which to invest and work, improving knowledge and innovation for growth and creating more and better jobs. The NSRF must also tie in closely with Member States' national reform programmes which set out the measures they will implement to deliver the Lisbon jobs' and growth strategy.
Further information about European Regional Policy available at:
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/index_en.htm
Further information about European Employment, Social affairs and Equal opportunities Policies is available at:
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