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European Social Fund


The European Social Fund (ESF) is the European Union's main financial instrument for supporting employment in the member states of the European Union as well as promoting economic and social cohesion. ESF spending amounts to around 10% of the EU's total budget.

The ESF is one of the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), which are dedicated to improving social cohesion and economic well-being across the regions of the Union. The funds are redistributive financial instruments that support cohesion within Europe by concentrating spending on the less-developed regions.

The particular aim of ESF spending is to support the creation of more and better jobs in the EU, which it does by co-funding national, regional and local projects that improve the levels of employment, the quality of jobs, and the inclusiveness of the labour market in the Member States and their regions.

The European Social Fund was created in the founding Treaty of Rome in 1957. It is the oldest of the Structural Funds. It was established as a "remedial instrument" against the end of nationalist protectionism due to the advent of the European Economic Community.

As of 2015, the main goal is to foster employment, reduce social exclusion and invest in skills. In some EU countries it also supports administrative reform.

The overarching strategy of the European Union is the Europe 2020 strategy, which aims to promote "smart, sustainable, inclusive growth" with greater coordination of national and European policies. In 2010 this succeeded the Lisbon Agenda which aimed to make Europe the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion, and respect for the environment, by 2010. The objectives of Europe 2020 shape the priorities of the ESF.

In the light of the need to increase competitiveness and employment against a background of globalisation and ageing populations, the European Employment Strategy provides a coordinating framework for the Member States to agree common priorities and goals in the field of employment. These common priorities are then taken up in the Employment Guidelines and incorporated into the National Reform Programmes prepared by the individual Member States. ESF funding is deployed by the Member States in support of their National Reform Programmes as well as their National Strategic Reference Frameworks (NSRF) which establish a member state's main priorities for spending the EU Structural Funds it receives.


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