ECU 68 million for industrial regions in Lower Saxony and Schleswig Holstein
The Commission is to make ECU 68.02 million available from the Structural Funds for structural conversion in the industrial regions of Lower Saxony and Schleswig Holstein (Germany). The funds will be allocated under the Objective 2 programme (converting the regions or parts of regions seriously affected by industrial decline) and one of the aims is to create approximately 4,500 jobs. The regions benefiting from the funding in Lower Saxony are Emden, Salzgitter, Peine, Wilhelmshaven, Grafschaft Bentheim and Helmstedt. In Schleswig Holstein, funding will target the area around the port of Kiel. The European aid is being supplemented by ECU 194.72 million from Germany, of which ECU 69.17 million will come from public sources and ECU 125.55 million from the private sector. Continuing the work done between 1994 and 1996, the programmes essentially concentrate on the following areas: - Diversification and modernization of the commercial sector; - Promotion of small and medium sized enterprises; - Promotion of a commercially relevant infrastructure, including the rehabilitation of commercial and industrial sites; - Promotion of research and development and technology cooperation; - Environmental protection and promotion of environmental technologies; - Promotion of the services sector, including measures to support tourism; - Accompanying training and reskilling measures. Two thirds of the funds will be spent on European Regional Development Fund schemes (ERDF), with one third going on training and reskilling measures under the European Social Fund (ESF). The programmes are expected to receive final approval at the beginning of March. They complete a series of programmes for industrial restructuring under which western Germany will have received nearly ECU 1 billion.
Countries
Germany