From the Northern Periphery and Arctic - through the Baltic and the Black Sea – to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, the Interreg transnational cooperation programmes help protect natural ecosystems, promote the blue economy, and work towards climate neutrality by 2050.
- 16 December 2022
For 2021-2027, Interreg transnational programmes will contribute to a range of EU sea-basin strategies, including the Atlantic Maritime Strategy, the Western Mediterranean initiative, the common maritime agenda for the Black Sea, as well as the EU macro-regional strategies for the Baltic Sea region, for the Adriatic and Ionian region, and for the Danube River.
This week, the European Commission adopted two new transnational programmes, providing cooperation opportunities with Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Türkiye, Israel, Jordan, Palestine, Algeria, Tunisia, Lebanon, and Egypt.
The Interreg NEXT Black Sea Basin programme secures EUR 65 million for climate change mitigation actions, blue economy and smart solutions in line with the priorities of the common maritime agenda for the Black Sea. To address the environmental degradation of the area, the programme also supports environmental conservation, protection and restoration of the ecosystem and biodiversity.
The Interreg NEXT Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme (Interreg NEXT MED), which is the largest of the cooperation programmes along the EU’s external border, has expanded its territorial and financial size to cover 15 countries, with a budget allocation of EUR 253 million.
Focusing on innovative smart economic and digital transformation, growth and competitive SMEs, energy efficiency, climate change adaptation, water quality and circular economy, the programme is targeting the regional disparities, growth, jobs and poverty and contributes to the Union for Mediterranean action on the blue economy.
In total, nine cooperation programmes between EU Member States and non-EU partners are ready to fund joint projects in support of EU sea basin and macro-regional strategies. In addition to the two mentioned above, they are the Interreg IPA Adrion programme, the Interreg Danube Programme, the Interreg Baltic Sea Region programme, the Interreg Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme, the Interreg North Sea programme, the Interreg Euro Med programme and the Interreg Atlantic Area programme.