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These are special financial instruments of EU structural policy that the Commission proposes to the Member States on its own initiative. The Community Initiatives aim to resolve problems that have a particular impact at European level. They have three features which give them their added value as compared with the other measures financed by the Structural Funds: their transnational and innovative nature, the ‘bottom-up’ approach to implementation and the high profile given to the measures on the ground. (See the Europa website glossary.)

The Structural Funds provide funding to Member States to support four Community Initiatives:

• Interreg III aims to stimulate cross-border, transnational and inter-regional cooperation

• Leader+ promotes rural development through the initiatives of local action groups

• EQUAL provides for the development of new ways of combating all forms of discrimination and inequality in access to the labour market

• Urban II encourages the economic and social regeneration of declining towns, cities and suburbs.

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© 2002, Institute for Employment Studies