# Council Decision of 6 October 2006 on Community strategic guidelines on cohesion (2006/702/EC), Division 1: INTRODUCTION: GUIDELINES FOR COHESION POLICY, 2007-2013

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

In accordance with the integrated guidelines for growth and jobs of the renewed Lisbon agenda, the programmes supported by cohesion policy should seek to target resources on the following three priorities:
improving the attractiveness of Member States, regions and cities by improving accessibility, ensuring adequate quality and level of services, and preserving the environment,
encouraging innovation, entrepreneurship and the growth of the knowledge economy by research and innovation capacities, including new information and communication technologies, and
creating more and better jobs by attracting more people into employment or entrepreneurial activity, improving adaptability of workers and enterprises and increasing investment in human capital.
In taking on board the renewed Lisbon agenda in the new programmes, attention is drawn to the following principles:
First, in line with the re-launch of the Lisbon agenda itself, cohesion policy should focus to a greater extent on knowledge, research and innovation, and human capital. Accordingly, the overall financial effort in support of these fields of action should be significantly increased, as required by the new earmarking provisions. In addition, Member States and regions should be inspired by best practice where this has delivered visibly positive results in terms of growth and jobs.
Second, Member States and regions should pursue the objective of sustainable development and boost synergies between the economic, social and environmental dimensions. The renewed Lisbon strategy for Growth and Jobs and the National Reform Programmes emphasise the role of environment in growth, competitiveness and employment. Environmental protection needs to be taken into account in preparing programmes and projects with a view to promoting sustainable development.
Third, Member States and regions should pursue the objective of equality between men and women at all stages of the preparation and implementation of programmes and projects. This may be done through specific actions to promote equality, as well as by taking careful account of how other projects and the management of the Funds may affect men and women.
Fourth, Member States should take appropriate steps to prevent any discrimination on the basis of gender, race or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation during the various stages of implementing the Funds. In particular, accessibility for disabled persons is one of the criteria to respect in defining operations cofinanced by the Funds and to take into account during the various stages of implementation.
In the following sections, key aspects of each of these broad areas are examined with specific guidelines under each heading. Not all of these more detailed guidelines will be relevant to all regions. The most appropriate mix of investments ultimately depends on the analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of each Member State and region and specific national and regional circumstances. The guidelines rather represent a single framework which Member States and regions are invited to use when developing national, regional, and local programmes, in particular with a view to assessing their contribution to the Community's objectives in terms of cohesion, growth and jobs.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudn/2006/702/annex/division/1 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2006-702/annex/division-1
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.