Brussels, 29/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission gave approval on Wednesday 29 July to the cross-border cooperation programme Interreg V between Greece and Cyprus which is worth €54 million, with €45 million coming from the European regional development fund (ERDF).
Some ten Greek regions with populations of between 150,000 and 800,000 (NUTS 3 level) and all of the Republic of Cyprus will participate in the programme which seeks to increase competitiveness and entrepreneurship, improve energy efficiency and promote sustainable transport, provide better protection for the environment, and put in place risk prevention systems.
In terms of the economic chapter, the programme will look to encourage both the private and public sectors to make use of digital technologies, increase cross-border trade, make transport safer and develop common strategies in the tourism sector, for example, offering new destinations. In the environmental chapter, the programme will focus on improving air quality in urban areas, planning in the ADRIPLAN maritime area (cooperation programme in the shared Adriatic-Ionian waters) and integrated management of coastal areas. The programme will also seek to optimise the management of water resources and waste water.
Greece is involved in three cross-border programmes (Interreg V-A), three other transnational programmes (Interreg V-B) and a further two on the external borders of the EU.
No cooperation with Turkey. The Commission is expected to receive the Interreg programmes between Greece and Albania, between Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and between Greece and Bulgaria in the next few months. Strangely, no cross-border cooperation programme is envisaged between Greece and Turkey, even though one was in place for the period from 2007 to 2013 and a programme between Bulgaria and Turkey was adopted last week. “It's all the more strange in that it would be a far more important programme than other Interreg programmes, for example”, according to a somewhat bemused Commission source. Such a programme, the source opines, could provide a much need boost to the battered Greek economy and would also help stabilise relations between Athens and Ankara. According to another source close to the matter, the fact that no programme has been announced does not mean that none exists. If, indeed, there is a programme, it is likely to be adopted in November or December, the source suggests. (Pascal Hansens)