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Double issue The European Social Fund an overview of the programming period 1994-1999 European European Social Fund European Commission Employment and ESF Information Sector (DGV), Directorate-General for Employment, Industrial Relations and Social Affairs Rue de la Loi 200 B- 1049 Brussels Fax: (+32-2) 295 49 18 e-mail address: [email protected] www: http://europa.int/en/comm/dg05/esf/esf_home.htm Front cover: Manuel Geerinck The European Social Fund an overview of the programming period 1994-1999 European Commission Manuscript completed in November 1997. Readers who wish to consult sources quoted in this report should contact the Employment and ESF Information Sector (DGV) Fax: (+32-2) 295 49 18. A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu.int). Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1998. ISBN: 92-828-1136-0 © European Communities, 1998 Reproduction is authorized, provided the source is acknowledged. The contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of the European Commission, Directorate-General for Employment, Industrial Relations and Social Affairs. Printed in Belgium Printed on chlorine-free paper FOREWORD FOREWORD Foreword by Padraig Flynn, Commissioner with special responsibility for Employment and Social Affairs For over 40 years, the European Social Fund has been years, to as many people as possible. Between 1994 the European Union's main source of finance to help and 1999 (the current ‘programming period’) the people to help themselves - by funding training, guid­ Commission will have spent some ECU 47 billion ance, counselling, employment creation, and a host of through the European Social Fund on these aims. other activities which enable people to improve their jobs or their prospects on the jobs market. And yet there has never been one single publication bringing together what the Fund does, which is why I It has done this in two main ways. Within the less devel­ am happy to commend this one to you. Here you can oped regions of the Community, it has been a major dri­ see how the Fund sets out to support Member States in ving force behind the improvement of education, train­ their efforts against unemployment, and get an ing and re-training. Elsewhere, it has played an impor­ overview of the wider thematic issues (such as Equal tant role in helping Member States to match their labour Opportunities) across the Fund as a whole. Now that supply to the ever changing needs of the economy. the European Employment Strategy, which the Treaty of Amsterdam calls for, has been well and truly launched It has thus been a tangible manifestation of Europe's by the Luxembourg jobs summit in November 1997, it concern for the issues of social inclusion and of equal­ is appropriate that the Union's only Fund aimed specif­ ity of opportunity for all, helping to spread the vast ically at people should be presented in this easily com­ improvement of living standards over those 40 and more prehensible and accessible manner. ■■■ T A B L E OF CONTENTS from 1957 to 1988 Chapter 2 19 The 1988 reform of the Structural Funds Chapter 3 23 The 1993 review; future developments TABLE 0 F CONTENTS ESF PROGRAMMING 1994-1999 overview of the situation in each Member State Chapter 4 - Austria 39 . Chapter 5 - Belgium 55 Chapter 6 - Denmark 71 Chapter 7 - Finland 83 Chapter 8 - France 99 Chapter 9 - Germany 117 Chapter 10 - Greece 133 Chapter 11- Ireland 145 Chapter 12 - Italy 157 Chapter 13 - Luxembourg 175 Chapter 14 - The Netherlands 189 Chapter 15 - Portugal 203 Chapter 16 - Spain 215 Chapter 17 - Sweden 233 Chapter 18 - United Kingdom 251 APPENDICES 279 General comments 267 Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2081/93 of 20 July 1993 Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2082/93 of 20 July 1993 Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2084/93 of 20 July 1993 EUROPEAN SOCIAL FUND 9 _______________________________ INTRODUCTION What is the ESF ? The European Social Fund (ESF) invests in people. Its purpose is to improve the prospects of those who face the greatest obstacles in finding, keeping or regaining work. In this way the ESF enables millions of people throughout the European Union to play a fuller role in society and thus improve their quality of life. The ESF provides funding on a major scale for programmes which develop or regenerate people's employ­ ability by providing them with the right skills, both for work and for social interaction, improving self-con­ fidence and adaptability in the job market. The ESF channels its support into strategic long-term programmes which help regions across Europe, particu­ larly less prosperous ones, to upgrade and modernise workforce skills and to stimulate entrepreneurial initiative. The ESF is the main tool through which the European Union translates its employment policy aims into action. In the six years 1994-1999 the ESF, which operates in all Member States, will have made avail­ able ECU 47 billion, accounting for almost ten per cent of the European Union's total budget. Through a joint-funding principle, the ESF adds to the scope and the impact of active measures being undertaken by Member States to increase people's employment prospects. The ESF's aims are both preventive and remedial. To help prevent future long-term unemployment, the ESF focuses its support on programmes which prepare young people better for working life, which help those in employment adapt or develop their skills to meet the challenges of change in the workplace, or which intervene early to help those losing their jobs who may be at risk of long-term unemployment to regain work quickly. For those who have reached the stage of long-term unemployment, the ESF concen­ trates on supporting coordinated programmes which provide a step-by-step path for getting people back into work. Underlying all the ESF's work is the principle of ensuring equal access to employment for men and women, the disabled, and disadvantaged minorities at risk of social exclusion. 10 About this publication Information on the ESF is currently dispersed among a provide an overview of the manner in which each of the number of sources at Community and national level. 15 Member States intends to implement its operations The only option open to those seeking a comprehensive in the different areas covered by the ESF Regulation, in overview of the Fund's activities and how it works is to the light of its own social, economic and administrative consult the relevant Community legislation and the var­ situation and, of course, its priorities. The report also ious programming documents (CSFs, SPDs, OPs). The provides the different ESF players with information on information contained in these texts is not always spe­ the Fund's activities outside their own country. cific to the ESF and is consequently somewhat frag­ mentary, while the programming documents are often The first part of the report outlines the legal and available only in the national language. administrative framework in which the Fund has evolved since its creation and provides a detailed This publication is an attempt to fill the existing gap. A description of the current situation (operational, bud­ sort of ‘guide’ to the ESF, it brings together for the first getary and financial aspects). The aim is not to analyse time in a single publication the different aspects of ESF the Funds' activities, still less to evaluate them, hence programming for the period 1994-1999 and the con­ the absence of information from which to draw qualita­ text in which they are set, together with a description of tive conclusions on the current state of play. how the Fund is administered and implemented. The report might best be described, in fact, as a sort of The greater part of the report is devoted to a description inventory: a basic reference tool for anyone wishing to of the Fund in each Member State. These 15 summaries enhance his knowledge of the Fund, notably ESF key present rather than analyse the choices made by the players and training and employment professionals. It Member States in the form of programmes devised in should also be of use to all those who, inside or outside accordance with ESF financing criteria and guidelines. the European Union, want to know more about the ESF. They are based for the most part on national program­ ming documents, which is why the level of detail may vary from one Member State to another. The aim is to The Employment and ESF Information Sector EUROPEAN SOCIAL FUND 11 o THE ESF FROM 1957 TO 1993 historical background and legal framework CHAPTER 1 Evolution of the ESF from 1957 to 1988 CHAPTER 2 The 1988 reform of the Structural Funds CHAPTER 3 The 1993 review; future developments Evolution of the ESF from 1957 to 1988 The European Social Fund has naturally under­ In those early years, unemployment was nothing like the problem it was later to become and to the extent gone many changes since its establishment with that it did exist, it was thought that it could be largely contained by a policy of support for the training and the evolution of the social and economic situa­ mobility of workers exercising their right of freedom of movement within the Community. Economic growth tion, the changing nature of Community policies, was expected to solve unemployment problems by the progressive enlargement of the Union from itself without the active social and labour market poli­ cies that were to become indispensable as conditions six to fifteen Member States and not least worsened in later years.

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