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Structural and Investment Funds

The European Structural and Investment Funds are funds that work together to support economic, social and territorial cohesion and deliver the objectives of the European Union's Europe 2020 strategy to generate smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. They cover investments between 2014 and 2020.

There are five funds:

  • the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)
  • the European Social Fund (ESF)
  • the Cohesion Fund (CF)
  • the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD)
  • the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF).

There are three funds that fall under the EU’s cohesion policy: the ERDF, the ESF and the CF. All EU regions are eligible for ERDF and ESF funding but only less-developed regions are eligible for CF support. Available funding under the EU’s cohesion policy between 2014 and 2020 amounts to €351.8 billion.

Two further funds, the EAFRD (under the common agricultural policy, €85 billion) and the EMFF (under the common fisheries policy, €6.5 billion), are specifically targeted at the needs of rural and maritime regions, respectively.

The spending under these funds will be complemented by the European Fund for Strategic Investments, announced in November 2014.

All of the above funds pursue the EU’s goal of economic, social and territorial cohesion as laid down in Article 3 of the Treaty on European Union and Article 174 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

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