"Promoting economic growth, creating jobs", improving life standards in the old continent: Danuta Hübner, European Commissioner for regional policies, insists on the main objectives of the EU cohesion policy. For the period 2007-2013, this sphere of EU action "has been endowed with 347.4 billion euros, a figure that accounts for 35% of the budget" of the 27 member states. Hübner explains: "We have arrived at a decisive turning point in our cohesion policy", which offers us "the opportunity to modernise our regions and the whole of the Union. Right now, my collaborators and those of my colleague pidla are negotiating schemes worth over 311.5 billion euros, so that we can start the investments as soon as possible". The operating schemes, shared between all the member states, will be 441; 206 will be funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and 105 by the European Social Fund (ESF). These schemes "will implement according to the Commissioner the priorities of the EU, i.e. growth, employment and sustainable development. Substantial investments will be made in renewable energy as well as in EU-wide infrastructure".
