The Europe 2020 Strategy is the European Union’s blueprint for growth and employment, begun in 2010 with a planned duration of 10 years. The aim is to create the right conditions to achieve smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.
The Cohesion Policy, within the framework of the Europe 2020 Strategy, is the main direct instrument of the European Union to drive growth and employment in the continent’s regions. Through this policy, the idea is to reduce the differences between the regions in the EU and encourage equal opportunities among people.
The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is one of the funds under the Cohesion Policy for achieving the objectives set. Specifically, it focuses its investments on priority areas such as innovation and research, the development of the digital economy, support for SMEs and the development of the low-carbon economy.
The programming process of the European Structural Funds for Investment for the 2014-2020 period in Spain has been completed with the approval of the Partnership Agreement for Spain 2014-2020, and in the case of the Basque Country, with the approval of the Operational Programme 2014-2020 by the European Commission in February 2015.
The ERDF Operational Programme for the Basque Country 2014-2020 should help to increase the competitiveness of the economy and strengthen cohesion and social equality and the sustainability of the productive model in 6 priority areas.
Area 4: Facilitate the change to a low-carbon economy in all productive sectors. This consists, among other things, of the following investment priority:
- PI 4.1.: Encouraging the production of energy from renewable sources.