Regional policy Commissioner Danuta Hübner and Employment and social affairs Commissioner Vladimir Spidla congratulated the Austrian authorities for becoming the third Member State to have reached agreement with the European Commission on the national plan and priorities for Cohesion policy 2007-2013. In their National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) Austrian authorities describe how they are going to invest EU funding of Euro 1 461 million that they will receive over seven years to deliver growth and jobs to their regions. The adoption procedure has now been completed as the European Commission issued its decision on elements of the Austrian NSRF, including priorities, indicative annual allocations, and list of operational programmes.

Commissioners Hübner and Spidla expressed their satisfaction at the Member State's efficiency in the timely submission of this key document and having all its elements adopted, urging other countries to follow their example.

"I am happy that the Austrian NSRF includes a significant commitment to the Lisbon strategy for jobs and growth. About 90% of the investments have been earmarked for Lisbon related expenditure. I am confident that we can make an important contribution to improving the competitiveness of the Austrian regions", said Danuta Hübner. She added that she is expecting more good news in the weeks to come as NSRFs from other Member States are finalised and the first operational programmes decided.

"The Austrian strategy shows a strong commitment to promoting the quality and intensity of investments in human resources," said Commissioner Spidla. "This proves once again that more and better jobs lie at the heart of the European reform agenda. With the priorities chosen by Austria, workers will be able to better adapt to changing circumstances. The strategy will also boost employment and promote social inclusion."

All Member States have already sent their national strategic reference frameworks (NSRFs) to the Commission, Malta and Greece being the first countries to have the plan approved by the Commission in December 2006 and March 2007 respectively.

The Austrian NSRF, negotiated over the past few months, sets out in broad terms how Austria will use Euro 1 461 million EU resources in the next seven years to deliver growth and jobs (EU Resources).

Austria's priorities for 2007-2013, as set out in the NSRF, are to promote regional economies' competitiveness and innovation, making Austrian regions more attractive with increased quality of living and improving adaptability and qualification of the country's workforce.

Austria intends to translate the broad priorities contained in the NSRF into eleven operational programmes. The poorest region of Burgenland will receive transitional support from two programmes financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF), while all other eight regions (Bundesländer) will benefit from individual programmes funded from the ERDF. Horizontal ESF operational programme for promotion of employment will cover the whole Austrian territory except for Burgenland.

Austria sent electronically its National Strategic Reference Framework to the European Commission on November 30, 2006. Now that negotiations have been successfully concluded on the wider framework document, the list of programmes and the indicative annual allocation from each fund will soon be adopted by the Commission. Approval of the NSRF is a legal prerequisite for adoption of the operational programmes for which negotiations are at present in the final stage.

In drawing up their NSRFs, all Member States must take account of the Community guidelines for 2007-2013 which place particular emphasis on innovation, research and technological development, the information society, environmental protection, renewable energy sources and creating more and better jobs. The NSRF must also tie in closely with Member States' national reform programmes which set out the measures they will implement to deliver the Lisbon jobs' and growth strategy.