Subheading 2a Economic

Subheading 2a amounts to €48.2 billion in commitments and ring-fences the allocation known as the EU budget for cohesion policy. It supports the harmonious economic, social and territorial development of EU regions and cities. Most of the expenditure in this subheading is pre-allocated to the Member States and implemented through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund+ (ESF+) and the Cohesion Fund. As far as the ESF+ is concerned, its allocation is divided between the two subheadings. The majority of the fund (€12.8 billion) is implemented under ‘shared management’ (see Section 3.3.) and calculated as part of subheading 2a; a relatively small part, known as the employment and innovation strand (€102.5 million), is included in subheading 2b