NOTE FOR THE FILE. Purpose and background of the draft decision 2007IT052PO008

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1 NOTE FOR THE FILE Purpose and background of the draft decision 2007IT052PO008 The attached draft Commission decision concerns the adoption of the Operational Programme (OP) for Community structural assistance from the European Social Fund, for the region Molise, CCI 2007IT052PO008, under the Regional competitiveness and employment objective. The National Strategic Reference Framework was submitted to the Commission by Italy on 2 March 2007, and approved on 13 July 2007 with the decision no C(2007) Italy proposed that the NSRF should be implemented through 62 Operational Programmes (see annex 1 for the whole list). It foresees 19 OPs for the Convergence objective (7 ESF OPs and 12 ERDF OPs), 33 for the Regional competitiveness and employment objective (17 ESF OPs and 16 ERDF OPs) and 10 ERDF OPs for the Territorial Cooperation objective. The OP has been prepared taking into account the result from the ex-ante evaluation which has been formally submitted to the European Commission. The informal preparation process with Italy started in 2006 and during this period a number of bilateral meetings as well as informal technical working meetings between (and within) the Commission services and the Italian authorities were held on the informal draft NSRF and draft OPs. After the formal submission on 12 June 2007, inter- and intra-service consultations on the ESF OP and draft Decision were carried out from June 2007 to October As a result of this process, Italy was invited to carry out technical corrections of the OP text. The requested corrections were provided on 11 October. OP objectives and targets The overall objective of the OP Molise is to increase employment and competitiveness in the region by increasing adaptability and employability, investing in human capital and fostering social inclusion. The ESF OP is organised around the following priorities: Priority axes of the OP ESF contribution ( ) (1) Adaptability (2) Employability (3) Social inclusion (4) Human capital (5) Transnationality and interregionality (6) Technical assistance

2 Priority axes of the OP ESF contribution ( ) Total The maximum co-financing rate is set at 36,60 %. The national counterpart is , for a total public eligible expenditure of As for earmarking, the total indicative financial allocation to earmarking categories represents 91,5 % of the total public eligible expenditure, according to the categories listed in Annex IV of the Council Regulation No 1083/2006. Economic and social context The region performs well in terms of socio-economic indicators in comparison with the southern Italian regions' average but it is still under the national average as far as the main indicators are concerned, exception made for early school leaving and adult participation to training and work. There has been a progressive improvement on the main labour market indicators over the last years. However, a gap often remains with respect to the national data. Some examples (2005 values): - Employment rate: 51,1% (Italy: 57,5%) - Women's employment rate: 36,7% (Italy: 45,3%) - Employment rate years: 37,4% (Italy: 31,4%) - Unemployment rate: 10,1% (Italy: 7,7%) - Lifelong learning, participation of adult population: 6,3% (Italy: 5.9%) - Early school leavers: 15,3% (Italy: 22.1%) The OP highlights several issues that should be tackled, such as - economic performance: strong mitigation of GDP growth, low investments in R&S activities, lost of competitiveness of the regional production system, low internationalisation level; - labour market: presence of undeclared work, low activity rate and female activity rate, increase of precariousness in jobs. Rationale for the Operational Programme The Operational Programme will contribute to overcoming the identified difficulties by focusing on a number of specific objectives considered key for the further social and economic development of the region, namely: Adaptability: (1) to develop systems for continuous training and to support workers' adaptability; (2) to improve innovation and productivity through a better work organisation and quality of jobs; (3) to develop policies and services to anticipate and manage change, to promote competitiveness and entrepreneurship. Employability: (1) to increase the efficiency, effectiveness, quality and inclusiveness of labour market institutions; (2) to implement active and preventive labour market policies, with particular attention to

3 migrants' integration into the labour market, to active ageing, to self-employment and business start-ups; (3) to improve women's access to employment and reduce gender disparities. Social inclusion: (1) to develop integration paths and improve work (re-)insertion of people at disadvantage and fight any form of discrimination in the labour market. Human capital: (1) to design and introduce reforms in the education, training and employment systems to improve their integration and develop employability, with a particular attention to guidance; (2) to increase lifelong participation to training opportunities and increase human capital levels; (3) to create networks among universities, research and technology centres, with a particular attention to the promotion of research and innovation. Transnationality and interregionality: (1) to promote inter-regional and trans-national initiatives and networks, with a particular attention to the exchange of good practices. The Priority Axes will address all the above-mentioned issues. Adding to these, a Technical Assistance Priority Axis will facilitate and underpin the implementation of the Operational Programme. Coherence with the Community Strategic Guidelines The strategy is well in line with the Lisbon objectives and European Employment Strategy in terms of stimulating employment and growth. It addresses all the priorities. The OP is also coherent with the draft National Reform Programme (NRP) , and takes on board the main activities foreseen by the NRP under the Employment Sections. Quantified objectives and indicators have been formulated for each priority axes of the Operational Programme, at output and (for all but the technical assistance axes) result levels. Their level is satisfactory and largely reflects the scope of the intervention. Social partners and civil society have been and will be involved in all the different phases of the programme, from preparation to implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Institutional and economic and social partners are represented in the monitoring committee. The OP will be implemented in coherence with the European strategy for sustainable development and its principles and will contribute to its objectives also via some of the foreseen activities, in particular in the field of training. Gender equality and equal opportunities are addressed by the OP both in the socio-economic analysis situation, in the strategy and at the level of priority axes, in particular the employability and social inclusion axes. The OP will promote gender equality and equal opportunities in the different phases of implementation, monitoring and evaluation and the managing authority will ensure the respect of the principle of non-discrimination in the implementation of all activities and in the access to funds. The presence of a specific axes dedicated to trans-national and inter-regional cooperation shows the importance assigned to this aspect by the OP. Initiatives will focus for instance on co-operation in the field of labour and training policies and exchange of good practices.

4 The co-ordination with other Funds and Programmes is another key aspect. In this area, the OP will pursue the integration of interventions, also building on the positive experiences of the programming period. Considering the importance of research, development and innovation, the Operational Programme includes a series of interventions in particular under the Priority Axis on Human Capital, especially focusing on the creation of networks among universities, research centres and companies. Timing for adoption The decision on the ESF OP should ideally be adopted in November Philippe Hatt Head of Unit

5 Annex: Italy - List of OPs 2007CB163PO014 Alpine Space (Transnational Cooperation) 2007CB163PO033 PO Italia-Francia frontiera marittima 2007CB163PO034 PO Italia-Francia Alpi (ALCOTRA) 2007CB163PO035 PO Italia-Svizzera 2007CB163PO036 PO Italia-Slovenia 2007CB163PO037 PO Italia-Malta 2007CB163PO045 Programme opérationnel CTE MED - Méditerranée 2007CB163PO052 PO Italia-Austria 2007CB163PO060 Πρόγραµµα Ευρωπαϊκής Εδαφικής Συνεργασίας Ελλάδα Ιταλία 2007CB163PO061 Central Europe IT051PO001 POR Campania FSE 2007IT051PO002 POR Calabria FSE 2007IT051PO003 POR Sicilia FSE 2007IT051PO004 POR Basilicata ST FSE 2007IT051PO005 POR Puglia FSE 2007IT051PO006 PON Governance e Azioni di Sistema FSE 2007IT051PO007 PON Competenze per lo Sviluppo FSE 2007IT052PO001 POR Abruzzo FSE 2007IT052PO002 POR Emilia-Romagna FSE 2007IT052PO003 POR Friuli-Venezia Giulia FSE 2007IT052PO004 POR Lazio FSE 2007IT052PO005 POR Liguria FSE 2007IT052PO006 POR Lombardia FSE 2007IT052PO007 POR Marche FSE 2007IT052PO008 POR Molise FSE 2007IT052PO009 POR P.A. Bolzano FSE 2007IT052PO010 POR P.A. Trento FSE 2007IT052PO011 POR Piemonte FSE 2007IT052PO012 POR Toscana FSE 2007IT052PO013 POR Umbria FSE 2007IT052PO014 POR Valle d'aosta FSE 2007IT052PO015 POR Veneto FSE 2007IT052PO016 POR Sardegna ST FSE 2007IT052PO017 PON Azioni di sistema 2007IT161PO001 POIN Attrattori culturali, naturali e turismo FESR 2007IT161PO002 POIN Energia rinnovabile e risparmio energetico FESR 2007IT161PO003 PON Governance e Assistenza Tecnica FESR 2007IT161PO004 PON Ambienti per l'apprendimento FESR 2007IT161PO005 PON Reti e mobilità FESR 2007IT161PO006 PON Ricerca e competitività FESR 2007IT161PO007 PON Sicurezza per lo Sviluppo 2007IT161PO008 POR Calabria FESR 2007IT161PO009 POR Campania FESR 2007IT161PO010 POR Puglia FESR 2007IT161PO011 POR Sicilia FESR 2007IT161PO012 POR Basilicata ST FESR 2007IT162PO001 POR Abruzzo FESR 2007IT162PO002 POR Emilia-Romagna FESR 2007IT162PO003 POR Friuli-Venezia Giulia FESR 2007IT162PO004 POR Lazio FESR 2007IT162PO005 POR Liguria FESR 2007IT162PO006 POR Lombardia FESR 2007IT162PO007 POR Marche FESR 2007IT162PO008 POR Molise FESR 2007IT162PO009 POR P.A. Bolzano FESR 2007IT162PO010 POR P.A. Trento FESR

6 2007CB163PO IT162PO IT162PO IT162PO IT162PO IT162PO IT162PO016 Alpine Space (Transnational Cooperation) POR Piemonte FESR POR Toscana FESR POR Umbria FESR POR Valle d'aosta FESR POR Veneto FESR POR Sardegna ST FESR