Objective 1 Programme for Galicia
Programme description
The European Commission will actively participate in the development of Galicia by co-financing an integrated operational programme for the area during the 2000-2006 period. This programme falls within the Community support framework for the Spanish regions eligible for assistance under Objective 1. The total cost of the programme is EUR 5,087 million, of which EUR 3,430 million will be provided by the EU Structural Funds.
Eligible areas / Contact / Financial tables 1. Action PrioritiesThe programme revolves around seven priority areas and technical assistance measures. Priority 1: Improvement of competitiveness and employment, and development of production structures The main objective in view is to stimulate the exportation capacity of the region. Innovation in production and supply of financial services which correspond to production structures are the two key elements of the strategy. A wide variety of aid is proposed to industrial, commercial and service businesses. This may involve material investment, support for the transition towards clean technologies, creating or adapting areas and services to businesses (business incubators, creation of networks, etc.), promoting their capacity for organisation (organisation, management, infrastructures and procedures), aid for internationalisation and external promotion, or improving the conditions whereby they are financed. Farming businesses may receive specific aid to improve the processing and marketing of their products. Priority 2: The knowledge society (innovation, R&D, the information society) In order to develop scientific research activities and the transfer of technologies to the sector of production, investment grants in human capital will be attributed. Public research centres and technological centres will be set up or modernised; projects in the fields of research, innovation and technological development will be given grants, and scientific and technological equipment may be funded. Aid will also be given to support the generalisation of the information society, particularly as a tool of cross-frontier co-operation with the North of Portugal. Priority 3: Environment, natural habitats and water resources Water supply to the population and to industries is a priority. The efficiency of existing infrastructures will be improved, as will be rational use of water and integrated management of the water cycle. Waste water will receive hygienic and purifying treatment; likewise, urban and industrial waste will be treated in an integrated process. Projects will be implemented to protect and regenerate the natural habitat; various kinds of pollution will be controlled and reduced, and projects will be implemented to regenerate the soil and open areas (particularly coastal districts). Given the major territorial impact and the economic weight of the commercialisation of wood, forestry will receive financial support within the revision of the Galicia Forestry Plan. Environmental projects will be implemented to preserve the countryside and the farming economy. Priority 4A: Educational infrastructures and strengthening of technical and vocational teaching Teaching and training centres will be built, renovated and equipped. Projects will be implemented to ensure all have access to vocational training. Parallel to this, new initial or continuous vocational training offers will be made available, the efficiency of vocational training sub-systems will be improved and new integration mechanisms will be set up for people who have not completed their studies at school (later teaching hours, new methods, etc.).Priority 4B: Vocational insertion and re-insertion of the unemployed Aid will be offered to the unemployed (especially to young people) to help their insertion on to the labour market. To combat long-term unemployment, specific vocational re-insertion projects will be undertaken. Vocational insertion programmes will be set up for young people. Generally speaking, training as a tool for the development of human capital will be a priority for all categories of unemployed persons. Priority 4C: Stabilisation of jobs and adaptability The projects have two major objectives: first, bringing workers� fields of competence up to date, especially as regards new information technologies, and secondly, consolidation of existing jobs. Apart from training projects, aid will be given to transform temporary work contracts into unlimited work contracts, so as to eradicate precariousness in employment. SMEs and local authorities will be the priority beneficiaries of this measure. Priority 4D: Integration on to the labour market of people with specific difficulties This sub-priority is aimed a two particular groups: handicapped people will receive aid to help their vocational insertion and preventive action will be taken in favour of groups in danger of exclusion from the labour market (immigrants, former prisoners, former drug addicts). In most cases, training will be combined with aid for employment or entrepreneurship. Priority 4E: Participation of women on the labour market In order to increase the number of women in work, especially in those sectors in which they are insufficiently represented, measures will be adopted to render women more employable (recruitment aid, aid for transforming work contracts to an unlimited period, tax rebates for employers who recruit a person to replace another on maternity leave, etc.). Aid will be offered to women wishing to set up their own businesses (training, information, counsel, funding). Campaigns will also be conducted to detect and eliminate segregation and pay discrimination. Lastly, aid will be given to improve the combination of family and professional life.Priority 5: Local and urban development This measure has two objectives in view: stimulating urban and local competitiveness and providing deteriorated urban quarters and medium sized towns with the basic conditions necessary for their development and for them to retain their population. In order to pursue these goals, projects will be implemented to renovate buildings and to improve the environment and facilities. Urban mobility will be improved by work on infrastructures and on the urban transport systems. Local employment initiatives will be supported. Campaigns will be undertaken to protect and renovate the historical, artistic and cultural heritage so as to offer a panoply of widely ranging tourist products within a concept that needs yet to be defined: that of �Atlantic tourism�. Infrastructures and social and health facilities, as well as tourist and cultural infrastructures will be inaugurated, particularly in small towns. Priority 6: Transport and energy networks This measure concerns both the external accessibility of Galicia and the internal accessibility of its isolated districts. This dual thrust is present in the road network development projects (improvement of services on the stretches with the heaviest traffic, better connection with the surrounding regions, connecting the whole of the territory with the main highways). Multimodal transport systems and transport centres will be developed according to the needs of the centres of activity. As regards the railways, the objectives are to reduce the slowness of travel and to connect the regional network to high speed networks. The ports must move towards greater specialisation in order to reap the benefits of complementarity with the other ports along the Atlantic coast; their multi-functional character and their integration into the urban environment and into the road network will be developed. Energy distribution networks will be extended (gas) and re-organised (electricity). Technologies capable of making significant cuts in overall costs and in the amount of energy consumed will receive support. Recourse to alternative and renewable forms of energy will be encouraged. Priority 7: Farming and rural development The new guidelines of the CAP (support for incomes rather than for production, extensive farming, etc.) are particularly appropriate for the kind of farming practised in Galicia which has never attained the proportions of the intensive farming found in the plains in Spain). In this context, farms will receive various kinds of aid: improvement of support infrastructures (particularly as regards accessibility, electricity and water supply), development of services to farms (support for sanitation, for example,) and support for the marketing of quality farming products; aid for financial engineering will also be given. In order to call a halt to the trend whereby the number of farms is diminishing, measures will be adopted to encourage young people to continue on their family farms. Such measures will include technical training and training in management, which will be offered and supplemented by continuous training projects. Trainers� qualifications will be brought up to date.Quality farming products will be a priority objective, which will be implemented particularly by improving production techniques and supporting preventive structures for animal and plant hygiene.Technical Assistance: Measures will equally be provided to assist with the management of, information on, implementation of, control and evaluation of all aspects of the programme. 2. Description of the eligible areasIn Galicia, the GDB per inhabitant rose from 54.6% of the European average in 1986 to 62.25% in 1995. The specific topography of the region has hampered its development for many years: this peripheral region in the Union is more easily accessible by sea than by land on account of the mountain range formed by Mounts Ancares, Caurel, Segundera, Quiexa and San Mamede, most of which are over 6,000 feet in altitude. Galicia is part of the Atlantic peripheral area and draws benefit from the proximity of the Portuguese development centre at Porto. Its slight population density � with the exception of the two coastal towns of La Coruña and Vigo � and the richness of its natural heritage point towards the development of quality tourism based on the natural heritage resources. However, major efforts have yet to be made to render the region accessible (roads and railways), to modernise spa facilities, to restore historical monuments and to provide acceptable rural accommodation for this tourist potential to become reality.
The primary sector occupies a dominant position in the economic structure of the region, since it still supplies 20% of the jobs in the region. However, the number of people employed in this sector diminished by one half between 1986 and 1996, whereas it increased to the same degree in the other sectors of activity, and the level of workers� qualifications rose considerably. The raising of livestock is very fragmentary (in 1998 only 1.04% of farmers possessed over 50 cattle). The dominant crop is forage (67%). The forestry sector produces 45% of all wood produced in Spain, and gives rise to numerous derived activities, offering positive prospects for growth. As for fishing, Galicia produces 75% of all tinned fish in Spain, and fishing activities account for 10% of regional exports.
As for the secondary sector, mining (natural stone), of which 53% is destined for export, and the automobile industry are the two pillars in the region.
3. Management and contact detailsThe Managing Authority for this integrated operational programme is the Directorate General of Community Funds and Territorial Financing (DGFCFT) of the Secretariat of State for the Budget and Expenditure of the Ministry of Finance. The Managing Authority will co-ordinate all the actors involved in implementing the programme and will organise the meetings of the Implementation Committee. The Implementation Committee is composed of the following members: representatives of the Ministries of Finance, Agriculture, Fishing and Food, Employment and Social Affairs;representatives of the Autonomous Community of Galicia, of the regional authority competent for the environment, of the regional unit or body competent for equal opportunities, and a representation from the European Commission directed by the DG co-ordinating the programme.
Financial information
Breakdown of finances by priority axis
| Priority Axis | EU Investment | National Public Contribution | Total Public Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Improvement of competitiveness and employment, and development of production structures | 374.781.546,00 | 514.585.986,00 | 514.585.986,00 |
| The knowledge society (innovation, R&D, the information society) | 136.672.700,00 | 182.230.271,00 | 182.230.271,00 |
| Environment, natural habitats and water resources | 604.551.894,00 | 836.855.901,00 | 836.855.901,00 |
| Education infrastructure and reinforcement of professional, technical education and training | 214.610.405,00 | 319.971.666,00 | 319.971.666,00 |
| Insertion and professional reinsertion of unemployed people | 86.696.911,00 | 123.852.728,00 | 123.852.728,00 |
| Reinforcement of stability in employment and adaptability | 51.820.963,00 | 69.094.616,00 | 69.094.616,00 |
| Insertion of people with particular difficulties in the labour market | 30.984.096,00 | 41.312.127,00 | 41.312.127,00 |
| Participation of women in the labour market | 27.732.352,00 | 34.665.442,00 | 34.665.442,00 |
| Local and urban development | 185.198.783,00 | 257.069.634,00 | 257.069.634,00 |
| Transport and energy networks | 1.480.581.619,00 | 2.419.106.867,00 | 2.419.106.867,00 |
| Farming and rural development | 378.455.596,00 | 510.546.721,00 | 510.546.721,00 |
| Technical Assistance | 9.168.993,00 | 11.755.244,00 | 11.755.244,00 |
| Total | 3.581.255.858,00 | 5.321.047.203,00 | 5.321.047.203,00 |