MORE than 50 voluntary groups will be forced to close projects for the most vulnerable in society after ministers decided to restrict vital European funding.

Some 103 projects involved in training for hundreds of unemployed and disabled people in Scotland will lose their funding because they fall beneath a minimum £200,000 target set by the Scottish Executive. Groups such as SAMH, the mental health charity, have warned that projects will have to close.

European funding currently pays for projects serving 17,500 people across Scotland. Parts of Glasgow, the West of Scotland and Fife, which have received millions of pounds in European funding over the past 20 years, will be worst hit.

Martin Sime, chief executive of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, said: "We are being told that smaller projects aren't welcome - an arbitrary decision which we regard as unfair, inappropriate and not in the interests of the people who benefit from these services. Voluntary organisations are being debarred in the interests of administrative convenience."

Allan Wilson, Deputy Minister for Enterprise, said: "I remain committed to helping ensure a smooth transition from the previous European Structural Funds Programme to the next one."