Finland has reached agreement with the European Commission on a jobs and growth-led framework for investing EU funding worth € 1.6 billion 2007-2013. Regional policy Commissioner Danuta Hübner and Employment and social affairs Commissioner Vladimír Špidla agreed the plan and priorities for Cohesion policy 2007-2013, set out in the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF).

"It's good news that the Finnish framework shows such a strong commitment to the Lisbon strategy for jobs and growth," said Commissioner Hübner. "At least 88% of the investment available for Regional Competitiveness and Employment objective programmes has been earmarked for Lisbon-related expenditure. This is one of the highest rates in Europe," she added. The Commissioner also welcomed the fact that Finland, which already ranks highly in Europe in terms of innovation, plans to increase Research and Development (R&D) investments to 4% of its gross domestic product by the end of 2010.

Commissioner Špidla said: "Finland is strongly committed to promoting investment in human resources. We know that creating more and better jobs is the core of the European reform agenda. Finland's priorities will make it easier for workers to find a job and improve their skills. The strategy will also promote social inclusion."

The Finnish NSRF, negotiated over the past few months, sets out in broad t 0e6d erms how Finland will use € 1.6 billion of EU resources in the next seven years. Finland's priorities as set out in the NSRF, are to promote regional economies' competitiveness and innovation, making Finnish regions more attractive by improving quality of life and enabling the workforce to become more adaptable and better qualified. These priorities come under the following headings:

• Promotion of business: developing productivity, creating more jobs and safeguarding existing jobs.
• Promotion of innovation, networking and strengthening of knowledge structures: activating an expert advisory network with strong links to the national development projects of enterprises, universities, research institutes as well as regional businesses.
• Competence, labour, employment and entrepreneurship: improving capacity to anticipate and manage restructuring caused by globalisation, technological development and the ageing of the population.
• Improvement of regional accessibility and the environment. Long distances, a sparse population, a vulnerable environment and cold climate pose challenges to increasing the competitiveness of enterprises and quality of life.

Eastern and Northern Finland, due to their remoteness, will benefit from a special allocation from the European Regional Development Fund, amounting to € 35 per inhabitant per year, totalling € 359 million during the programming period.

Finland intends to translate the broad priorities in the NSRF into seven operational programmes:

• five regional programmes for Eastern Finland (phasing-in status), Northern Finland, Western Finland, Southern Finland, and for the Åland Islands, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund
• two thematic programmes for mainland Finland and Åland Islands co-financed by the European Social Fund.

Notes for editors

Finland sent its National Strategic Framework to the European Commission in February 2007. Each Member State prepares an NSRF coherent with the Community Strategic Guidelines for 2007-2013, in the course of an ongoing dialogue with the Commission. That document defines the strategy chosen by the State and proposes a list of Operational Programmes (OPs) that it plans to implement.

Negotiations on the Finnish operational programmes are well advanced and approval can be expected over the coming months.

As of today, 24 Member-States have had their frameworks officially validated by the Commission.

The Lisbon Agenda is an action and development plan of reforms set at the Lisbon European Council in March 2000. The reforms are intended to implement the EU’s strategic goal of becoming the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth, with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion. Progress is regularly reviewed at European Councils held every Spring.
More information on cohesion policy in Finland:

https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/atlas2007/fiche/fi_en.pdf
The Finnish NSRF is available at:

https://www.intermin.fi/
Further information about European Employment, Social affairs and Equal opportunities Policies is available at:

https://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/index_en.html