HAVE YOUR SAY ON THE NEW EU’S OUTERMOST REGIONS STRATEGY
The European Commission has launched a call for evidence to gather input on the upcoming strategy designed to help the outermost regions benefit more fully from EU policies, funds and programmes.
Purpose: To align the strategy with new political priorities, boost prosperity, address the specific needs of the outermost regions, and unlock their unique potential as the EU’s gateways to the world.
We look forward to your feedback! Strategy for the EU’s outermost regions
Deadline: 15 December 2025
2nd CALL (CAPITALISATION): PRESENTATION AND RECORDING OF THE ONLINE SEMINAR ON THE START-UP OF APPROVED PROJECTS NOW AVAILABLE
You can download the presentation of the online Seminar on the start-up of the 16 approved projects, held online on 29 October 2025, in the section Calls / 2nd Call Capitalisation / Seminar on the start-up of approved projects:
You can access the recording of the webinar on the programme's YouTube channel:
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/4RtNX9tC3JA
3rd CALL FOR PROJECTS: PRESENTATION AND RECORDING OF THE ONLINE LAUNCH EVENT FOR THE 3rd CALL NOW AVAILABLE
You can download the presentation of the 3rd Call for Interreg MAC projects, held online on 4 November 2025, in the section Calls / 3rd Call / Presentation day of the 3rd call for proposals:
You can access the recording of the conference on the programme's YouTube channel:
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/JlCAB37UfiM
TECHNICAL WORKSHOP ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PROJECTS APPROVED IN THE 2ND CALL FOR PROPOSALS OF THE INTERREG MAC PROGRAMME 2021-2027 (CAPITALISATION)
On 29/10/2025, a technical workshop will be held in which the Managing Authority, the Joint Secretariat and the Regional Controllers of the programme will address the basic aspects for the correct implementation and execution of the projects approved in the 2nd call (Capitalisation).
The workshop is aimed exclusively at ERDF beneficiaries from the three European regions that are part of the 16 projects approved in this call.
The estimated duration will be a maximum of 2 hours. Interpretation will be provided in Spanish and Portuguese. There is no registration process or attendance limit per entity. The workshop will be recorded and published on the programme's YouTube channel.
Topic: Interreg MAC_Workshop on projects approved in the 2nd call for proposals CAP
Time: 29 October 2025, 10:00 Lisbon
Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/97249842997?pwd=DQG99b77Nlds37khwn3JiYKZMzvlj5.1
Meeting ID: 972 4984 2997
Access code: 702509
We look forward to seeing you there!
16 PROJECTS APPROVED BY THE STEERING COMMITTEE UNDER THE 2nd CALL (CAPITALISATION) OF THE INTERREG MAC PROGRAMME 2021-2027
On 18 August 2025, the Steering Committee of the INTERREG Madeira-Azores-Canary Islands (MAC) Programme 2021-2027 adopted the decisions to approve the projects submitted to the CAPITALISATION Call, which were ratified by the Monitoring Committee on 3 September 2025.
The evaluation was carried out jointly by external capitalisation experts, responsibles from the regional governments of Madeira, the Azores and the Canary Islands, representatives of African third countries and the Joint Secretariat.
Of the 19 projects submitted to the 2nd phase of the capitalisation call, a total of 16 projects have been approved, with 2 projects remaining on the reserve list and 1 project not approved.
The list of projects is available in the section Calls/2nd Call Capitalisation/Phase 2 Resolution.
The Lead Partners of the projects will shortly receive communications regarding the decisions taken.
The Interreg MAC programme promotes cooperation on migration and governance in the Macaronesian region and West Africa
Mr Julián Zafra, representing the MAC programme's Managing Authority, took part in a round table discussion, organised as part of the Interreg GO event, with representatives from other programmes and from the European Commission.
His speech focused on the importance of the migratory phenomenon in the geographical area covered by Interreg MAC, reaffirming the Programme's commitment to improving migration management and the socio-economic inclusion of migrants in its area of cooperation.
On the other hand, it highlighted the strategic Atlante project as a key platform for promoting shared governance between European regions and African partner countries, defining common priorities, in a context where coordination with NDICI funds is emerging as a crucial challenge.
The Interreg MAC Programme advocates strengthening the specific Interreg objectives, highlighting the need to redefine the role of governance as a cross-cutting priority and to increase support for the migration dimension in the face of the humanitarian and structural challenges affecting the region.
36 PROPOSALS SELECTED IN THE 1ST PHASE OF THE CAPITALISATION CALL
On 14 March 2025, the second meeting of the Steering Committee of the INTERREG Madeira-Azores-Canary Islands (MAC) Programme 2021-2027 was held online, and decisions were taken on the proposals submitted in the 1st phase of the capitalisation call. The Monitoring Committee ratified these decisions on 21 March.
The evaluation was carried out by external capitalisation experts. In the first stage of the evaluation, of the 67 proposals submitted, 13 were excluded because they did not have a sufficient relationship with climate resilience. The remaining 54 were evaluated using assessment criteria (scores from 1 to 5).
The criteria adopted by the Committee for these proposals were:
- Select the proposals with a score of 3 or higher.
- Limit the submission of projects in the 2nd phase to a maximum of 2 per organisation.
- The same project in the 2nd phase may group together several approved capitalisable results from the same or different projects of origin 14-20.
In the section Call for Proposals/2nd Call for Proposals Capitalisation, you will find a list of the 54 proposals with their corresponding scores.
The Rules of the 2nd phase of the call for proposals for capitalisation have also been published in the same section.
On 11/04/2025, an online conference will be held for all the organisations that submitted proposals selected in the 1st phase to inform about the presentation of complete projects in phase 2. Information will be sent to those selected shortly.
1st STATEMENT OF EXPENSES PAID (for ERDF European partners only)
The 1st statement of expenses paid must include all expenses paid up to 30th June 2025 and must be submitted between 1st and 15th July 2025.
The start date for eligibility of paid expenses will be 21 September 2022 for projects that have period 0 active in the activity schedule and 25 October 2024 (date of signing of contracts) for projects that have not activated period 0.
The Declaration of expenses paid module will be enabled in e-MAC next April; once this module is enabled, you will be able to create and save your expenses and the corresponding supporting documentation. In other words, it is not necessary or convenient to wait for the 15-day period for submitting declarations to be opened in order to create expenses.
We will soon be organising online sessions to explain to the European partners of the projects how the new module for the Declaration of Paid Expenses works. All project contact persons and active e-MAC users will receive information about these sessions shortly.
PRESENTATION IN MAURITANIA OF THE NEW INTERREG MAC PROJECTS
On 20 February 2025, the conference for the presentation of the projects approved in the 1st Interreg MAC (Madeira, Azores, Canary Islands) call for proposals was held in Nouakchott, Mauritania. The conference was held within the framework of the strategic project ATLANTE, approved by the Interreg MAC programme to support and boost cooperation with the programme’s African partners.
The institutional opening was attended by the President of the Government of the Canary Islands, the Spanish Ambassador, the European Union Ambassador, the Mauritanian Minister of Economy and Finance and senior officials from the Government of the Azores and the Canary Islands (Directorate General for Relations with Africa and Directorate General for European Affairs, Managing Authority of the Interreg MAC programme).
The projects were presented by representatives of the organisations responsible (main partners from the Canary Islands) together with their Mauritanian partners (universities, tourist offices, chambers of commerce, national and training institutes, etc.). The strong commitment to joint work at both the institutional and technical levels for the implementation of the projects was evident, as was the importance of the previous experience in most of the partnerships.
Nine of the ten approved projects were presented with Mauritanian partners, mainly within Priority 1 of the programme (Smart MAC) in areas such as the green and blue economy (desalination, algae, aquaculture, food security) and business competitiveness and innovation (tourism, ports, adapted training) with 2 projects also in Priority 2 (Green MAC) on renewable energies, biodiversity and green and blue infrastructures and finally a project within the framework of Priority 4 (Mobility MAC) to address the phenomenon of migration in a global manner (Observatory of mobility between the Canary Islands and Africa). The importance of the training component foreseen in most of the projects was emphasized.
RESULTS OF THE PUBLIC CONSULTATION ON THE FUTURE OF INTERREG AFTER 2027
The European Commission has called on all Interreg programmes to consult their partners, beneficiaries and citizens on how to make European territorial cooperation work better in the future period 2028-2034.
During the months of September and October 2024, the Interreg MAC programme opened a public consultation process to gather stakeholders’ views on our programme and to identify proposals for improvements to be implemented in the next programming period.
You can consult the results of the Public Consultation on the following link:
Consultation Results