As indicated in the European Commission document Structural Funds and their co-ordination with the Cohesion Fund , the main aim of the structural and cohesion policies of the Union is to help reduce economic and social inequality. They are a framework for domestic and regional policies in the weaker regions and on domestic and regional labour markets. Although the responsibility for defining priorities for development falls mainly upon the Member States and their regions, co-financing by the European Union means that the priorities of the Community must be taken into account, in order to promote the community dimension and economic and social cohesion.
That is why, pursuant to Article 10 (3) of Council Regulation (EC) N° 1260/99, which establishes the general stipulations of the Structural Funds, the Commission has adopted the indicative and general directives, taking the pertinent and agreed-upon policies in relation to the objectives of the Funds as a basis for this. These directives attempt to help national and regional authorities to prepare their programming strategies for objectives nos. 1, 2 and 3 of the Structural Funds and their links to the Cohesion Fund. The objective is to establish the Commission's priorities, based as much on the experience obtained from the application of earlier programmes and from the current Community policies on interventions for structural purposes. These priorities will help guarantee that the best use possible is made of Community assistance, at both national and regional level. This document formalises the draft directives adopted by the Commission on 3 February 1999.