ERDF FUNDS 2014-2020

The European Commission has wanted to acknowledge the role of cities as areas where a large part of economic activity, employment and innovation are currently concentrated and, therefore, where the most significant opportunities for future smart, sustainable and integrated growth are to be found, as set out in the Europe 2020 Strategy.

Because of this, for the current 2014-2020 programming period, it was decided to allocate at least 5% of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to sustainable and integrated urban development. As for Spain, this financing is included in the Multiregional Operational Programme for Spain (POPE) (former Sustainable Growth Operational Programme), specifically in the Urban Axis. In this area, 1,200 million euros have been allocated to those cities with more than 20,000 inhabitants and whose Integrated Sustainable Urban Development Strategies (ISUDS) were selected in one of the three open calls that took place in the first years of the programming period.

The City Council of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria was allocated an ERDF grant of 14,985,494.05 euros, which will be supplemented with its own funds (2,644,499.70 euros) to implement its Integrated Sustainable Urban Development Strategy in the Cono Sur area of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. With this grant, the City Council plans to carry out a series of projects to achieve a better quality of life for all citizens, promoting the use of new technologies, improving mobility, protecting the environment and cultural heritage, reducing pollution and regenerating the city’s most disadvantaged areas.

The Europe 2020 Strategy points the way towards smart, sustainable and inclusive growth for the European Union in this decade. It aims not only to overcome the crisis that has hit European economies but also to address the shortcomings of our growth model and create favourable conditions for smarter, more sustainable and inclusive growth.