NEWS FROM THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
INFOREGIO-INTERREG GO 2025 Event
DG Regional and Urban Policy invites cooperation stakeholders and Interreg programmes to participate in the Interreg GO! event on 27-28 March 2025. The event will conclude the broad consultation process on Interreg post-27, launched during the last Interreg Annual Event in Santiago de Compostela in October 2023.
The programme combines the annual Interreg event, dedicated to the review and debate on burning issues for the current Interreg programmes for 2021-2027, with a high-level event presenting the key messages of the Interreg post-27 consultation, taking into account broader political and policy perspectives.
More information: Inforegio – Interreg GO 2025.
The European Commission launches a new course for journalists to strengthen training on EU and cohesion policy.
The Commission has launched a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) entitled “Cohesion Policy Coverage in Europe”. The course is a collaboration with six European universities and two journalists’ associations.
Students who have completed the Massive Open Online Course on EU and Cohesion Policy by 25 December will be eligible for a prize draw to win 5 cameras: New competition for student journalists.
The European Commission is launching a call for proposals for information measures for EU cohesion policy.
The European Commission has launched its eighth call for proposals to support media activities focusing on cohesion policy. With a total budget of €3.5 million, this initiative invites media, universities, communication agencies and both private and public entities to submit proposals to produce editorially independent content on the theme.
Applications must be submitted via the funding portal before the deadline of 7 January 2025 at 17:00 CET . Inforegio – Call for proposals for information measures for EU cohesion policy .
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION AND THE INTERREG PROGRAMMES JOINTLY DISCUSS THE FUTURE OF INTERREG
The Interreg post-27 Harvesting Event, organised by the Interact programme together with DG Regio of the European Commission, took place in Brussels on 25-26 November.
More than 200 representatives of the 86 Interreg territorial cooperation programmes of the European Union and the Member States discussed the seven key issues affecting the future of Interreg in the coming period 2028-2034: cooperation at the external borders of the Union, improved governance, flexibility and adaptability of the programmes, synergies and cooperation (capitalisation/macro-regional and sea basin strategies), performance-based implementation, simplified costs and other elements such as the maritime dimension of Interreg, data management, common indicators, etc.
Furthermore, experiences have been exchanged on the public consultations carried out by the programmes on the future of Interreg and some provisional conclusions have been put forward. The work will be continued with a further pooling of experience between the Commission and the Interreg programmes in March 2025 at the Interreg GO! meeting.
In addition to actively participating in the Harvesting Event, representatives of the Managing Authority and the Joint Secretariat of the INTERREG Madeira-Azores-Canary Islands (MAC) programme held a meeting with the other Interreg programmes of the EU’s Outermost Regions (ORs) and the European Commission at the Canary Islands Government office in Brussels. At this meeting, specific issues were discussed on the future of the Interreg ORs programmes as external borders of the Union and progress was made on the materialisation of the ERDF-NDICI funds through joint calls for proposals between the two funds.
CAPITALISATION CALL FOR PROPOSALS (1ST PHASE) OF THE INTERREG MAC 2021-2027 PROGRAMME IS NOW OPEN. CALL IS NOW OPEN FOR SUBMISSION!
The call for proposals for the 1st phase of the Capitalisation Call of the Interreg MAC 2021-2027 programme, focused on the presentation of capitalisable results of projects developed under the previous Interreg MAC 2014-2020 programme, is now open for submission.
The deadline for submission of proposals will be from 25 November to 13 December 2024 (inclusive) by submitting project applications through the e-MAC IT system.
On 21 November 2024, an online workshop was held to present the 1st phase of the Call for the capitalisation of results.
You can download the presentations:
- Presentation ‘The concept of capitalisation in the framework of the Interreg MAC programme’.
- Presentation ‘The basis of the capitalisation call for proposals - 1st phase’.
You can access the recording of the session on the YouTube channel of the programme:
Link to the recording: https://youtu.be/ugIxu-93nFQ
THE KICK-OFF SEMINARS FOR THE PROJECTS APPROVED UNDER THE 1ST INTERREG MAC CALL FOR PROPOSALS WAS HELD IN THE AZORES AND MADEIRA
On 5 November in Funchal (Madeira) and on 7 November in Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira (Azores), the respective kick-off seminars for the projects approved under the 1st INTERREG MAC 21-27 call took place, attended by a total of 80 people (around 40 people in each of them).
The conference was opened in Madeira by Maria João Monte, President of the Regional Development Institute of the Autonomous Region of Madeira and in the Azores by Nuno Melo Alves, Regional Director of Planning and Structural Funds of the Government of the Azores, and was attended by representatives of the Managing Authority of the programme (Elsa Casas) and the Joint Secretariat (Irene Ruiz).
During these sessions, crucial issues for the beneficiaries were discussed: the fundamental aspects of the ERDF grant contract, the financial management of the projects, the details of the rules of eligibility of expenditure, communication obligations and other fundamental aspects for an efficient implementation of the projects.
You can download in the section ‘1st call for proposals’ the presentations of the seminars
Azores
Madeira
LAUNCH DAY OF THE CAPITALISATION CALL (1ST PHASE) INTERREG MAC PROGRAMME 2021-2027 ONLINE, ZOOM, 21/11/2024
The Managing Authority of the Interreg MAC 21-27 programme invites you to participate in the Launch Day of the Capitalisation Call on 21 November at 10:00 Canary and Madeira time (9:00 Azores time).
The event will take place online and will explain the basis of the 1st phase of the call, focused on the presentation of the capitalisable results of projects developed in the framework of the previous Interreg MAC 2014-2020 programme. Therefore, the event is aimed at ERDF beneficiary entities from the Canary Islands, Azores and Madeira that implemented those projects.
Download:
Link to the ZOOM meeting: https://zoom.us/j/96462594554?pwd=wOdGf5szfD4e7hE0d5v6wO1DIypOYb.1
INTERREG MAC SEMINARS IN MADEIRA AND AZORES (5 and 7 NOVEMBER 2024): LAUNCHING OF PROJECTS APPROVED UNDER THE 1ST CALL OF THE INTERREG MAC TERRITORIAL COOPERATION PROGRAMME 2021-2027
The kick-off seminars for Portuguese partners of projects approved under the 1st call of the Interreg MAC 21-27 programme will be held on 5 November in Funchal (Madeira) and 7 November in Angra do Heroísmo (Terceira).
Representatives of the Managing Authority, the Joint Secretariat and the Regional Governments of Madeira and the Azores will participate. Fundamental issues for the correct implementation and management of the approved projects will be discussed.
REGISTRATION: Please fill in the following application form until Monday 4th November, due to limited capacity.
Link registration forms:
- MADEIRA: https://forms.gle/bgNZ5otizmPBHJuq5
- AZORES: https://forms.gle/k7r45AMFSm7PTRCC9
Download the AGENDAS:
THE EVENT FOR THE SIGNING OF CONTRACTS AND THE LAUNCH OF THE PROJECTS APPROVED UNDER THE 1ST INTERREG MAC CALL FOR PROPOSALS WAS HELD IN THE CANARY ISLANDS
On Friday 25 October, the launch event for the 34 projects approved under the 1st INTERREG MAC call took place in the Canary Islands. The event was attended in person by more than 100 people and was broadcast live via streaming, which was followed by another hundred people.
The conference was opened by Ms. Matilde Asián González, Minister of Finance and Relations with the European Union of the Government of the Canary Islands and was attended by representatives of the Directorate General of European Funds of the Government of Spain and the Directorate General for Regional Policy of the European Commission.
Firstly, the signing of the ERDF grant contracts took place between the Managing Authority of the programme, Ms. Celia Alberto Pérez, General Director of European Affairs, and the legal representatives of the main partner entities of the approved projects. The contracts for a total of 13 projects were signed in person, while the rest will be signed electronically.
The basic content of the contract, the main features of the financial management of the projects and the details of the rules of eligibility of expenditure, project modifications, communication obligations and implementation reports were explained during the day.
You can download in the section ‘1st call’ the presentations of the conference and watch the recording of the conference on our YouTube channel.
Please do not forget to give your feedback on the conference by filling in the following questionnaire: https://forms.gle/LdEkC3FfYEQA7Erj9
Thank you very much to everyone for your attendance and participation!
TAKE PART IN THE PUBLIC CONSULTATION ON THE FUTURE OF INTERREG AFTER 2027
The future of Interreg after 2027
The Interreg MAC programme, co-financed by the EU, has been a fundamental support for boosting cooperation between Madeira, the Azores and the Canary Islands and neighbouring West African countries. For more than 20 years, the MAC programme has co-funded hundreds of joint projects, which have created strong links between the entities of the participating territories and generated an extremely valuable capital of knowledge and good practices.
In the current period 2021-2027 the geographical scope of the programme has been extended to 4 additional African countries, in addition to the 3 that were already participating in the 2014-2020 period, bringing the total number of programme partner countries to 7: Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Mauritania, Senegal, Sao Tome and Principe.
What do we want this cooperation to look like in the future? How can Interreg continue to help strengthen relations between the EU outermost regions (ORs) of Madeira, the Azores and the Canaries and their African neighbours?
The debate on the future of Cohesion Policy and Interreg (territorial cooperation) started last year and the European Union (EU) wants to hear stakeholders' views on what improvements should be included in the design of this policy.
With this short questionnaire we would like to contribute to the public consultation that is being coordinated by the European Commission. Your contribution will be used to feed its reflection and to design concrete proposals on the future of Interreg.
We encourage you to take advantage of this unique opportunity and send us your ideas and proposals until 4 October.
LINK TO THE QUESTIONNAIRE: https://forms.gle/JZLe2ghZ12acC5Bs7
RESULTS OF EU COHESION POLICY 2014-2020: Our MAC project, DESAL+, included in the publication
The European Commission has published a publication entitled ‘Bringing Europe closer: EU COHESION POLICY - A better life for Europe's citizens’, which presents the main achievements of the different programmes funded by the €405 billion of EU investment under the Cohesion Policy.
More than 100 Interreg programmes drive sustainable development and progress in the EU's border regions. Among the 12 Interreg projects selected in the publication is the MAC DESAL+ project (Macaronesian Platform for the increase of excellence in R&D in water desalination and in the knowledge of the desalinated water-energy nexus), led by the Instituto Tecnológico de Canarias (ITC).
See publication: BRIDGING GAPS: EU COHESION POLICY 2014-2020
PUBLIC VOTING FOR THE REGIOSTARS 2024 AWARDS
Public voting for the REGIOSTARS 2024 is open from 2 September to 9 October at 12:00 CET.
The most voted projects among all finalists, for each of the categories, will receive the Public Choice Award.
The winners will be announced at the REGIOSTARS ceremony on 9 October in Brussels in the framework of #EURegionsWeek.
A total of 262 applications were submitted in 2024 and of the 25 RegioStars finalists, 10 are Interreg projects! Thanks to all those who took part
You can vote now on the REGIOSTARS website