Community co-financing of infrastructure investments for health and education goes exclusively to these regions.
Features of Objective 2: covers former objective 2, 5b.
The major problem for areas undergoing conversion is not the lack of infrastructure but the decline in traditional economic activities. This requires the development of alternatives. Targeted supplementary infrastructure may be built in these areas to increase their attractiveness and their employment levels.
Specific features of Objective 3: covers former objective 3, 4.
Objective 3 acts as a frame of reference for all human resources measures financed by the Structural Funds, which includes:.
basic and life-long training, apprenticeships, etc. .
support for employment and unwaged work .
the social economy .
improved structures of education, training and aid for employment .
the creation of partnerships between training institutions and firms .
helping workers to become flexible and adaptable .
equal opportunities.
It is important to see that the policy area is extremely wide in scope. Even though, the Funds concentrate on clearly defined priorities .
70% of the funding goes to regions whose development is lagging behind. They are home to 22% of the population of the Union (Objective 1); .
11.5% of the funding assists economic and social conversion in areas experiencing structural difficulties. 18% of the population of the Union lives in such areas (Objective 2); .
12.3% of the funding promotes the modernisation of training systems and the creation of employment (Objective 3) outside the Objective 1 regions where such measures form part of the strategies for catching up .
As it was mentioned above more than 40% of the whole EU population is affected by Objective 1 and 2 actions. For further details on population covered by Objectives see Appendix 3.
There are also four Community Initiatives seeking common solutions to specific problems.