GUIDED VISIT

Community funds are financial instruments that have been created with the ultimate objective of reducing development differences among the regions and member States. To achieve this, specific objectives have been established. These objectives are of a double nature: regional and functional. The geographically defined Structural Funds - 85% of the total - target the less favoured regions. They criteria for allotments are the economic indicators that characterise their relative situation with respect to the Union average. The remaining 15% are distributed among horizontal and functional objectives that are not geographically defined but rather are applied in action areas that are considered priority such as attention to long term unemployment, youth unemployment, adapting active population to industrial change, fomenting equal opportunities, etc.

The funds that Gipuzkoa has received and which, to a great extent, have been managed by the Diputación Foral, and to a lesser extent by city halls and other levels of public ad-ministration with competence in our territory, have been conditioned by the consideration of Gipuzkoa, together with most of the territory of the BCAC, under objective 2 or zone affected by industrial decline. Horizontal funds for objective 3 and objective 4 have also been accessed. Since 1994, nine municipalities - Aia, Albiztur, Alkiza, Asteasu. Beizama, Bidegoian, Errezil, Hernialde and Larraul - have been classified as zones susceptible to receiving aid corresponding to objective 5b, which aims to adapt agricultural structures and promote the development of rural areas. Likewise, Gipuzkoa has received financing by applying different community initiatives or specific programmes such as RESIDER, INTERREG, LEONARDO, EUROFORM, ADAPT, HORIZON, etc., and the Cohesion Fund should also be specifically mentioned.