Sustainable growth: the EU is investing EUR 107 million in south-western Europe

Today the Commission adopted a territorial cooperation programme for south-western Europe (the SUDOE Programme). The programme will receive more than EUR 100 million in financial support from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) during the period 2014-2020.

The SUDOE Programme covers:

• All of Spain, except for the Canary Islands
• All of Portugal, except for Madeira and the Azores
• The regions of south-western France: Aquitaine, Auvergne, Languedoc-Roussillon, Limousin, Midi-Pyrénées, Poitou-Charentes
• Gibraltar
• Andorra

The SUDOE area has a densely populated coastal zone, with cities such as Lisbon, Porto, Barcelona, Valencia and Bordeaux, and a more rural inland zone, including regions such as Auvergne, Limousin, Extremadura, Castile, Alentejo and the Centre region of Portugal; with the exception of Madrid and Toulouse, this zone mainly contains small to medium-sized towns and cities.

The programme consists of five priority axes (plus technical assistance for implementing the programme):

The results expected from these investments include:

• 600 businesses and organisations participating in international research projects
• 50 services for the development and internationalisation of SMEs
• 30 pilot actions, tools or services for improving the energy efficiency of buildings
• 13.5 million people benefiting from transnational action plans for risk prevention and management
• 50 natural sites benefiting from management processes for sustainable development or environmental protection.

Additional information:

• Press release 
• Cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation programmes for the period 2014-2020
• Twitter: @EU_Regional  @CorinaCretuEU #cohesionpolicy