Europan Community Fund in Gand the Sustainability Transition

Using European Commission estimates, approximately 17 billion ECU of the European Community’s (EC) budget will directly fund environmental measures between 1994 and 1999 (see Appendix 7.1). The majority of these resources originate from the EC’s structural and cohesion policy instruments. Although the difficulties in making such estimates are notorious, this represents 11 per cent of the total EC budget over that period, a significant proportion. The approach adopted to community funding, including funding for environmental projects, should therefore be a major factor in the successful transition of the EC towards sustainable development.