Parliament Support for European Funding
The campaign in the South of Scotland to retain its own European Funding Programme today received a major boost in the form of support from an influential Holyrood Committee.
The European and External Relations Committee of the Scottish Parliament has supported the case put forward by the South of Scotland Alliance to retain a locally administered European Programme for the South of Scotland.
Concerns were rising about the loss of identify in the South of Scotland with Scottish Executive proposals suggesting a merger of European Funding Programmes into one Lowlands and Uplands Scotland Programme, possibly run from Glasgow.
The statement from the Committee forms part of its submission to the Department for Trade and Industry consultation on the future of European Structural Funds in the UK. The influential report states:
"The rest of Scotland faces significant changes as the proposals indicate that four Programme Management Executive areas will become one area administering an ERDF and ESF programme. The Committee is concerned that areas in the South of Scotland, which face similar challenges in many respects to those experienced in the Highlands and Islands, could suffer from the change from a specific South of Scotland programme to one for lowlands and uplands Scotland. One of the advantages of the Programme Management Executive is the local accountability that they provide. The Committee emphasises the need for such issues to be taken into account when finalising the structure for delivering the funds in Scotland".
Speaking following the news from the Scottish Parliament, Dumfries and Galloway Convener Councillor Tommy Sloan who also Chairs the South of Scotland Alliance commented:
"This support from the main Holyrood Committee dealing with European Affairs is a vindication of the stance that the South of Scotland Alliance has been taking on this issue. European Funding has been a main driver of Economic Regeneration in the South of Scotland for over 20 years now. While we know that European enlargement will mean less money for programmes such as the South of Scotland Objective 2 Programme, one of the great strengths in the current arrangements is that this is a local programme, run locally with decisions made at local level involving local partners. The notion that we will have our needs met by a partnership run out with the south of Scotland is a nonsense. Hopefully the DTI will listen to the case being made both by the Alliance and now the European and External Affairs Committee of the Scottish Parliament".
Speaking from Newton St Boswells in the Borders, the other Co-Chair of the Alliance Councillor Alasdair Hutton added:
"The Alliance fails to see the logic being pursued by the Scottish Executive who, until recently, were keen supporters of the unique Scottish Local Partnership approach to running European Structural Funds. We have had plaudits from Brussels and across Europe in terms of the way that we have localised and run successive European Structural Fund Programmes. Putting the South of Scotland in with a general Lowland focussed programme that would run across all of Scotland apart from the Highlands and Islands would clearly see local needs marginalised. It is critical therefore that the Alliance continue to lobby on this issue. This support from MSPs is a great boost to our campaign".
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