Brussels, 15/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 15 December, the European Commission announced the adoption of seven cross-border programmes worth a total of €740 million from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the pre-accession instrument (IPA). The programmes in question are one between Italy and Switzerland (€100 million), Greece (€105 million), Slovenia (€78 million), Croatia (€201 million), between Hungary and Serbia (€65 million from the IPA), along with the planned 'grand region' between France, Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg.
The adopted projects focus as a priority on: - boosting SME innovation; - protecting cultural and environmental heritage by developing sustainable tourism; - improving cross-border connectivity and worker mobility; - cooperation between institutions and civil society; and - improving risk management.
The grand region has the greatest budget of the various projects, with around €140 million from the ERDF and€223 million with national co-financing. This cross-border project covers nearly 11 million Europeans and will focus above all on worker mobility by improving cross-border connectivity, along with teaching and professional training. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)