Jems
This year’s Europe Day on 9 May also marks the 35 years of Interreg, Europe’s flagship programme for territorial cooperation. It is a programme aimed at improving the quality of life of citizens in the border regions of the Member States of the European Union, as well as those who have not yet become part of it.
Interreg is a key initiative of the European Union that connects countries, regions and communities through a series of funding programmes promoting cross-border, transnational, interregional and outermost regions cooperation. Thanks to the Interreg projects in the areas of entrepreneurship, rural development, health, social tourism and the environment, the quality of life of many inhabitants of border areas has seen remarkable improvement. Also, friendly cooperation between numerous institutions from different countries has been established. Therefore, Interreg raises awareness of the importance of cooperation between the EU Member States and aspiring countries.
In the border areas of Croatia several Interreg programmes have been implemented: Italy-Croatia, Slovenia-Croatia managed by the partner countries. However, with the accession of Croatia to the EU, two more Interreg cross-border cooperation programmes, Croatia-Serbia and Croatia-BH-Montenegro, have been established and are managed by Croatia. Recently, Croatia has also taken on the management of the Hungary-Croatia programme.
The Interreg programme Interreg IPA Cross-border Cooperation Programme Croatia – Serbia 2014-2020 enabled the implementation of 48 EU projects with an investment of 30,9 million euro from the EU funds in the following areas: Improving the quality of public social and health services, environment and energy, tourism and cultural heritage, and entrepreneurship. In the 2021-2027 financial period, 34,8 million euro is available from EU funds for cross-border projects through four key priorities: Cooperating for smarter programme area; Cooperating for greener and climate change resilient programme area; Cooperating for healthier and more inclusive programme area and Cooperating for more sustainable and socially innovative tourism and culture. Following the first call for proposals 27 projects are in implementation.
With the support of Interreg programmes, residents across the cross-border programme area achieve better mutual understanding and improve their quality of life, being not divided but connected by the state borders.
