The regional and local challenges associated with immigration, both at the point of origin and destination, can only be overcome by regions/countries working together. The possibility of addressing specific external cooperation issues such as security, border crossing management and migration is a novelty in Interreg.

The regional and local challenges associated with immigration, both at the point of origin and destination, can only be overcome by regions/countries working together.

The mobility of people within the cooperation area is a necessity and a priority for promoting exchanges and consolidating ties and mutual trust. However, this organized mobility coexists with the growing mobility of undocumented migrants moving from the African continent to the EU, with the Canary Islands being a key arrival point. This creates difficulties for countries of origin and transit as well as for destination countries.

The possibility of addressing specific external cooperation issues such as security, border crossing management and migration is a new feature of the Interreg Specific Objectives for the period 2021-2027.

Projects under this objective do not in principle contribute specifically to the pillars of the Atlantic Action Plan.

Actions under this specific objective will in any case be complementary to those carried out under other European instruments, in particular the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) and the ESF, avoiding any overlapping. Priority will be given to actions related to immigrant unaccompanied minors.

This objective could also include a pilot project under the Communication “Attracting skills and talent to the EU” encouraging youth mobility and the creation of talent partnerships.

The target groups include both the beneficiaries themselves, as well as the productive sectors and society as a whole that may benefit from the development of projects.