The French Secretary of State for Regional Planning, Hubert Falco, wants to take advantage of the French Presidency of the Council to appeal to the European Commission to broaden the scope of funding possibilities for housing within the EU's Cohesion Policy. He has included this dossier in the priorities which he came to present to the European Parliament's Regional Development Committee in Brussels, on 16 July. The current legislation governing the EU Structural Funds specifies that housing expenditure is only possible in the new member states (Regulation 1080/2006 of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). In the fifteen older member states it is not possible to obtain Community co-funding in this area. Negotiations on amendments to this legislation have been in progress for several months, although no agreements have been reached. France, a strong supporter of the idea, hopes now to be able to move forward with the dossier. The idea is to make all EU regions eligible for co-funding of certain energy investments linked to the housing sector, especially in cases of social housing. Many poorly insulated houses mean that energy consumption per square metre in this sector is the highest.
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