BRUSSELS, July 4 (Xinhua) -- The European Parliament on Tuesday adopted a set of rules on how the European Union (EU) member states should use tens of billions euros of regional fund for the next seven years.

    EU leaders last December agreed to allocate 308 billion euros of funds for 2007-2013 to support poorer regions and boost social solidarity. But the parliamentarians pressed for some changes or clarifications in the guidelines.

    The parliamentarians argued the new rules will be more environmentally friendly and less bureaucratic while at the same time providing more room for maneuver for the member states.

    It is the very first regulation package on the EU's so-called "structural funds," aimed at reducing regional discrepancies, after ten new countries mainly from central and eastern Europe joined the bloc in 2004.

    Due to the overall decrease of the union's average GDP (gross domestic products), some of the "old" member states will no longer qualify to receive cash from Brussels.

    The EU executive European Commission quickly welcomed the new legislation, calling the decision of the Parliament a "most satisfying development to the benefit of all European regions".

    The newly-adopted legislation consists in one general and four specific regulations. The general one lays out the common rules in programming, managing, controlling and evaluating the new Cohesion policy.

    The other four regulations outline specific rules on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund and the European grouping of territorial co-operation respectively. Enditem