Programming Process Archive

We are happy to announce that the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2021-2027 has been approved by the European Commission!

Here you can download the approved document of the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2021-2027

We would like to express our gratitude to all stakeholders involved in the programming process, in particular to our EC Programme Manager Dr. Egle Spudulyte, members of the Joint Programming Committee and its Working Groups, as well as to all those who participated in the consultation process.

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The revised draft Programme document of the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2021-2027 with the proposed increased allocation has been officially resubmitted to the European Commission on 31 August 2022.

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The revised draft Programme document of the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2021-2027 has been officially resubmitted to the European Commission on 11th July 2022. 

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The Managing Authority after receiving consent from National Goverments of the South Baltic Countries, submitted draft of the Interreg South Baltic 2021-2027 Cooperation Programme to the European Commission on 3rd February, 2022.

The European Commission issued official comments and observations to the Programme document on 11th March, 2022. From that moment, Working Group 1, together with the Joint Secretariat and the Managing Authority, started intensive work on the preparation of amendments and recommendations for the Joint Programming Committee. 

At the same time, Working Group 2 was working on implementation documents with the Programme Manual at the top of the list. In particular, issues related to the intervention logic, eligibility of expenditure, types and sizes of projects, types of partners, simplified costs options and other necessary issues are discussed to smoothly start upcoming calls for proposals.

During the 11th meeting of the Joint Programming Committee of the Interreg South Baltic Programme for the 2021-2027, the JPC took the decision to approve the final draft of the Programme document with the amendments introduced during the meeting and developed after receiving comments from the European Commission. Most pending issues that required changes were descriptions of measures, activity types, intervention fields and indicators as well as information on conformity of planned actions with DNSH principle.

Currently, the last issues are being discussed with the Programme Desk Officer before the Managing Authority officially submits the Programme for approval of the European Commission.

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Public consulations of the first draft of the Interreg South Baltic Cross-Border Cooperation Programme 2021-2027 and first draft report of the Programme Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) were held between 9 September and 15 October 2021. During online consultations, numerous individual meetings conducted by Contact Points and consultations with the programme partners more than 90 substantive and technical comments were submitted.

Managing Authority and Joint Secretariat together with the Working Group 1 (WG1) prepared recommendations for the Joint Programming Committee (JPC) on comments and the level of changes that should be implemented.

During the Joint Programming Committee meeting held on 16 November 2021, JPC assessed comments submitted during the public consultations and recommendations for implementation prepared by the WG1. After discussion and Programme amendments, the Joint Programming Committee took a decision to approve  draft Programme document of the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2021-2027 (pdf) 526.0 KB as well as  Strategic Environmental Assessment (pdf) 6.82 MB of the draft Programme (and it's  Summary (pdf) 804.0 KB).

The final text of the draft Programme after technical check-up of proper introduction of JPC amendments, was delivered on 29th November 2021 to the National Coordinators which were able to launch the process of the approval by the National Governments of all five South Baltic countries involved in the Programme.

Currently, draft Programme is in the process of the approval of National Governments.

It is planned that after the Governmental approval, the draft Programme document of the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2021-2027 will be submitted to the European Commission by the end of January 2022.

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The Joint Programming Committee (JPC) have been held 5 times so far in 2021, during which the following steps were implemented:

• During the 5th meeting of the Joint Programming Committee held 12 January 2021 the final proposal of the Programme Strategy as well as Programme Priorities and Specific Objectives were presented by PwC Advisory and discussed by the Committee. During the presentation, some comments were provided, with focus on intervention logic, cohesion with selected EU documents and, mainly, on proposed priority axes and measures. The Strategy is the result of several workshops, broad consultations with the programme partners and hours of discussions, which were part of the preparation of the  socio-economic analysis (pdf) 12.14 MB delivered by the PwC Advisory in October 2020.

• The Joint Programming Committee of the Interreg South Baltic Programme during the 6th meeting held on 17 February 2021 accepted the  Strategy for the future Programme 2021-2027 (pdf) 2.77 MB prepared by the PwC Advisory. The document is going to serve as an advice and tool for the next works on programming. During the meeting JPC appointed acting Managing Authority and acting Joint Secretariat for the next financial perspective. Decision on approach to communication and visibility for the future programme was also taken. Final point of the meeting was the presentation of the scope of Terms of Reference for Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Interreg South Baltic Programme.

• The seventh JPC meeting held on 17 March 2021 was dedicated to present and discuss the first parts of the fulfilled template of the Operational Programme document. First descriptions were prepared for this meeting of Chapter 1. Programme strategy: main development challenges and policy responses and Chapter 2. Priorities as two major points for discussion. JPC also acquainted actions taken to involve the relevant programme partners in the preparation of the programme in the Chapter 4. and Indication of support to small-scale projects in the Chapter 6.

• During the 8th JPC meeting held on 11th May 2021 discussion on individual chapters of the Programme was continued. Attention was drawn to complementarity of the South Baltic with other Interreg programmes, justifications of selection of Specific Objectives with more concrete formulations on cross-border challenges and value, information on social inclusion and social innovation in the programme’s Measures, possibility of carrying out small scale pilot actions and to review the exemplary actions. A Chapter 7.3 about apportionment of liabilities among participating Member States was also presented. After a detailed review of the clarifications provided by the European Commission (EC) regarding the support under ISO1 the weight of the discussion was directed to how best fit into the needs of future beneficiaries and the ambitions of the programme. It was decided to select specific objective 6.1 to the programme, instead of 6.6. and to return to the previous title of the Measure 4.1: Strengthen the cooperation capacity of actors based within the South Baltic Area (incl. civil society).

• The Joint Programming Committee during 9th meeting held on 25th August 2021 approved for public consultations a draft of the Interreg South Baltic Cross-Border Cooperation Programme 2021-2027 as well as draft Programme Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) prepared and presented by external contractor the Ekovert company. The JPC took also a decision to accept launching the public consultations of the draft Programme from 8th September till 15th October 2021. The approved draft of the Operational Programme included all the changes proposed in the course of discussions during previous JPC and dedicated Working Groups. The document also included first indication of the Programme financial arrangements.

• In the next stage after the public consultation (15th October) of the draft Programme and SEA, all justified remarks submitted during consultations will be clarified. Support in this process will be the meeting of the Working Group 1 that will meet on 27th October 2021 to discuss potential comments or amendments regarding indicators. Joint Programming Committee will gather on 16th November 2021 and conclude the process of consultations and approve recommended amendments.

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As a part of ongoing public consultation process of the Interreg South Baltic Programme for 2021-2027 and its Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), we would like to invite you to an on-line consultation meeting on 5 October at 1.00 PM (Warsaw time, CET). Consultations will be accompanied by the speeches and presentations of the representatives of the European Commission, Managing Authority, Joint Secretariat and external contractor the Ekovert company responsible for SEA.

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The meeting is open to Programme partners from all 5 Member States included in the supported area and representing institutions from these groups of interest:

• regional, local, urban and other public authorities;
• economic and social partners;
• relevant bodies representing civil society: such as environmental partners, non-governmental organisations, and bodies responsible for promoting social inclusion, fundamental rights, rights of persons with disabilities, gender equality and non-discrimination;
• research organisations and universities.

 

THE MEETING HAS ENDED

 

Therefore, if you want to take part in shaping the South Baltic Programme we encourage you to join the discussion!

Here you can find the registration link and the  agenda (pdf) 148.0 KB of the meeting.

The GDPR rules for the meeting are  here (pdf) 52.0 KB, by registering to the consulation meeting, you declare that you have read the GDPR rules.

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PUBLIC CONSULTATIONS ARE CLOSED

 

The Joint Programming Committee approved a draft of the Interreg South Baltic Cross-Border Cooperation Programme 2021-2027, at the same time external contractor the Ekovert company prepared a draft report of the Programme Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA).

Therefore, the process of public consultations of both documents has been started. Now, you can share your opinion and contribute to the future of the South Baltic Programme. Please use the opportunity and add your comments until 15th October 2021.

Here you can download the draft documents: 

• Template of the Interreg South Baltic Cross-Border Cooperation Programme 2021-2027

• Accessible version of the Interreg South Baltic Cross-Border Cooperation Programme 2021-2027 template

• Presentation of the Interreg South Baltic Cross-Border Cooperation Programme 2021-2027

• Reader's friendly version of the Interreg South Baltic Cross-Border Cooperation Programme 2021-2027

• Accessible version of the Reader's friendly version of the Interreg South Baltic Cross-Border Cooperation Programme 2021-2027

• Strategic Environmental Assessment report

• Strategic Environmental Assessment non-technical summary 

 

and give your feedback by filling in two separate online questionnaires:

• Interreg South Baltic Cross-Border Cooperation Programme 2021-2027 template

• Strategic Environmental Assessment report

 

PUBLIC CONSULTATIONS ARE CLOSED

 

We also encourage you to take a direct and active part in the seminars organised by the Regional Contact Points of the South Baltic Programme. Relevant information will be announced on our website in the "Events" section as well as on the Programme's social media platforms Facebook, Linkedin and directly by the Contact Points.  

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The Joint Programming Committee of the Interreg South Baltic Programme during the sixth meeting accepted the Strategy for the future Programme 2021-2027 prepared by the PwC Advisory. The document is going to serve as an advice and tool for the next works on programming. If you are interested to check the proposal for the future of South Baltic area look into the Strategy  Click here (pdf) 2.77 MB.

The Strategy is the result of several workshops, broad consultations with the programme partners and hours of discussions, which were part of the preparation of the  socio-economic analysis (pdf) 12.14 MB delivered by the PwC Advisory in October 2020.

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The Joint Programming Committee (JPC) was established and the 1st meeting took place on 4th February 2020, during the meeting, the JPC Rules of Procedure as well as Terms of Reference for the socio-economic analisys were adopted. In the following months the public procurement procedure was carried out and the best offer was selected. Contract with the PWC Advisory was signed on 18th June 2020.

During the second meeting of the JPC held on 22nd of June 2020, PWC Advisory presented methodological report and the first results of the study. The cooperation with the Contractor was divided into two stages:

• In the first stage Contractor was obliged to conduct socio-economic analysis, SWOT/TOWS analysis and Problems and Objectives Tree (POT). The socio-economic analysis, SWOT and POT stage ended on 8 October 2020 and it was a starting point for further discussions and decisions on Programme Strategy, Priorities and Specific Objectives;

• In the second stage on the basis of the conducted research, surveys and workshops with JPC, MA, JS, public stakeholders etc. (held in the Summer) as well as requirements and requests submitted during the 3rd JPC meeting (10th September 2020), Contractor prepared proposal of the Programme Strategy, Priority Axes and Specific Objectives, covering:

In the Programme Strategy

- characteristics of the eligible area; 

- most important common challenges;

- characteristics of the basic social, economic and territorial differences occurring in the CP area.

In the Programme Priorities and Specific Objectives

- justification of the choice;

- related types of actions and their expected contribution;

- indicative percentage breakdown of funds by category of intervention;

- first proposal of the output indicators and result indicators selected from the common list;

- main target groups.

First proposal of the Strategy and Programme Priorities was delivered on 20 October 2020 by the PWC Advisory. Working Group 1 was established by the JPC (20 October 2020) and started work jointly with the Contractor on Programme Strategy and Priorities. During the 4th JPC meeting organised on 3-4 November 2020 first draft of the Strategy was presented.

The next step was the establishment (19 November 2020) of the Working Group 2 for the implementation arrangements of the future Programme. Afterwards the second draft of the Strategy and Programme Priorities incorporating the results of the WG1 discussions was developed on 30 November 2020.

Currently, work is focused on joint elaboration of contribution to Programme Document according to the template for Interreg Programmes as stated in the draft of Interreg regulation:

• Programme strategy: main development challenges and policy responses etc.;
• Priorities, covering: specific objectives, types of actions, indicators, main target groups etc.; 
• Financing plan (incl. ERDF and national co-financing);
• Implementing provisions (Programme Authorities, liabilities of Member States );
• Use of simplified costs options.

During the 5th JPC meeting planned for 12th January 2021, the final draft of the Strategy, Priorities and Specific Objectives should be presented. In the next steps planned for I – II Quarter of 2021, the process of drafting of the Cooperation Programme document as well as Strategic Environmental Assessment will begin.