Policy Officer Aidan Campbell blogs
on the EU Structural Funds and their proposed successor post-Brexit the UK
Shared Prosperity Fund.
Ever heard of the European Union Structural Funds?
The purpose
of the Structural Funds is to promote what the EU calls “cohesion” to reduce
economic and social disparities amongst its member states, a key aim of EU
regional policy. This means that the EU
invests Structural Funds in regions which have lower rates of Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) than the EU average to enable them to catch up with those that are more
prosperous. So, for example, structural
funds can be spent on building or improving infrastructure such as roads, ports
or bridges or it can be spent on re-training adult learners who are long term
unemployed.
Between 1989
and 1999 Northern Ireland had what was called Objective 1 status. Objective 1 status was given by the EU to those
regions that had GDP that was lower than 75% of the EU average GDP. Objective 1 status areas attracted higher
levels of EU Structural Fund investment.
Northern Ireland, located on the periphery of Europe, had endured the
decline of heavy industry since the 1950s and was embroiled in the Troubles so
it retained objective 1 status until 1999.
The region has benefitted from EU Structural Funds of approximately €5,356M[1]
between 1989 and 2013.
Structural
Funds include the European Regional Development Fund, European Social Fund and
the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and others click here for more detail on
structural funds programmes in NI. The
current structural funds programme between 2014-2020 is worth €3,532.5 million
in NI. These sums are match funded by
resources from government departments. Whether
the structural funds ever achieved their aim is debatable but a lot of money
was invested.
The UK
government has committed to underwrite the full value of the 2014-2020
structural funds programme but after Brexit the UK will no longer benefit from structural
funds. The Structural Funds will be
replaced by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). This was a commitment made in the Tory party
manifesto for the 2017 general election to use money which comes
back to the UK as a consequence of leaving the EU to reduce inequality:
“We will use the structural fund money that
comes back to the UK following Brexit to create a United Kingdom Shared
Prosperity Fund, specifically designed to reduce inequalities between
communities across our four nations.”
At a
“pre-consultation” meeting earlier this month rural stakeholder organisations
were invited to give their views on what the outcomes of a UKSPF might be and
to talk about their experience of accessing EU structural funds. At the meeting a short presentation was given
by the UKSPF team who stated that the key objective of the UKSPF was to:
“tackle inequalities between communities by
raising productivity, especially in those parts of the UK whose economies are
furthest behind.”
The UKSPF aims
to align with the Industrial Strategy in England and will work across the UK
whilst respecting the devolution settlements in Scotland, Wales and Northern
Ireland.
So that’s the background, part 2 of
this blog will look at what the initial proposals for a UKSPF are and how that
relates to rural development in Northern Ireland.
[1] This figure is EU contribution only and doesn’t include national public contributions. Source European Funding in Northern Ireland Dr Jodie Carson and Colin Pidgeon Ni Assembly Research and information Service 2010 available at http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/globalassets/Documents/RaISe/Publications/2010/General/15010.pdf
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