Commission approves seven regional development programmes

Seven new programmes have been approved for financing by the European Commission. The programmes concerned will implement Community initiatives in the field of regional policy and development, namely INTERREG II, REGIS II, RECHAR II, RESIDER II, URBAN and SME. The programmes ...

Seven new programmes have been approved for financing by the European Commission. The programmes concerned will implement Community initiatives in the field of regional policy and development, namely INTERREG II, REGIS II, RECHAR II, RESIDER II, URBAN and SME.

The programmes are as follows:

- INTERREG II (Spain/Portugal - Natural gas) will finance systems for the interconnection, reception and transport of natural gas between these two countries. Total cost: ECU 548.16 million; Structural Funds' contribution: ECU 220 million;

- INTERREG II (Greece - Energy) will contribute to the financing of infrastructures required for the transport of Russian gas from Bulgaria to Athens, as well as the reception of Algerian liquefied gas. Total cost: ECU 450 million; Structural Funds' contribution: ECU 180 million;

- REGIS II (Portugal) favours the economic and social development of the autonomous regions of Madeira and Azores. Total cost: ECU 156.813 million; Structural Funds' contribution: ECU 124 million;

- RECHAR II (Portugal) is aimed at helping the area of Castelo de Paiva, which has been affected by the closing of its coal mines. Total cost: ECU 1.147 million; Structural Funds' contribution: ECU 0.86 million;

- RESIDER II (Ijmond (NL)) concerns the global reconversion strategy elaborated by the Netherlands for this region. Total cost: ECU 51.5 million; Structural Funds' contribution: ECU 18.1 million;

- URBAN (Greece) will concentrate its efforts on six new demonstration projects in the field of long-term urban development. Total cost: ECU 67.166 million; Structural Funds' contribution: ECU 45.2 million;

- SME (Northern Ireland) favours SMEs in this region, and their know-how in the field of telecommunications. Total cost: ECU 11.102 million; Structural Funds' contribution: ECU 6.2 million.