Financial Mechanism
Partnership Agreement (PA) 2014-2020
The PA (Partnership Agreement for the Development Framework) 2014-2020 constitutes the main strategic plan for growth in Greece with the contribution of significant resources originating from the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) of the European Union. The PA, through its implementation, seeks to tackle the structural weaknesses in Greece that contributed to the economic crisis, as well as other economic and social problems caused by it. Moreover, the PA 2014-2020 is called upon to help attain the national targets within the Europe 2020 Strategy. The target of the Europe 2020 Strategy is to foster growth that is: smart, with more efficient investments in education, research and innovation; sustainable, because of the decisive shift to a low carbon economy, and inclusive, focusing especially on job creation and poverty reduction.
Integrated Territorial Investments is yet another feature of the development planning for the 2014 – 2020 period. These are integrated territorial development tools for applying development strategies in regions that present specific problems or stand out because of their significant development capabilities. Combined investments can be realised in the context of Integrated Territorial Investments, enabling them to be financed by more than one Fund, aiming at comprehensively tackling problems or fully capitalising on the development capacities of a region.The 2014-2020 PA comprises 20 Programmes, of which 7 are Sectoral and 13 Regional:
- The Sectoral Programmes pertain to one or more sectors, with nationwide geographical scope
- The 13 Regional Operational Programmes (ROPs), one for each Greek Region, contain actions of regional scope.
Operational Programme Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation (EPAnEK)
The “Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation” (EPAnEK) Operational Programme is one of the five sectoral operational programmes of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (the new NSRF) for the period 2014-2020, which along with the 13 Regional Operational Programmes, were approved on 18/12/2014 by the European Commission.
EPAnEK covers the whole of Greece and has a 4.916 billion Euros public expenditure budget (3.84 billion Union contribution). The pivotal strategic objective is to enhance the competitiveness and extroversion of enterprises, to facilitate transition to quality entrepreneurship with innovation and the growth of domestic added value as the cutting edge. The Operational Programme for Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation occupies a central position to the Country's efforts to create a new production model that will lead to development and will strengthen the competitiveness of the Greek economy by leveraging private financing.
The new model brings to the fore productive, competitive and outward-looking sectors of the economy, such as tourism, energy, agri-food, the environment, the supply chain, information and communication technologies, health and the pharmaceutical industry, creative and cultural industries, materials – construction.
Greek ministry of finance & development website EPAnEK website
European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)
It was founded in 1975 with the main task of reducing regional disparities. This is the EU's largest structural instrument. ERDF intervention focuses on a number of thematic priorities reflecting the nature of the Convergence, Regional Competitiveness and Employment and European Territorial Cooperation objectives.
These include, in particular, financing for:
- investments contributing to the creation of sustainable jobs;
- investment in infrastructure;
- measures to support regional and local development, including the provision of assistance and services to enterprises, medium-sized enterprises (SMEs),
- technical support for implementation