Brussels, 06/01/2003 (Agence Europe) - On 19 December, the European Commission approved the trans-European cooperation programme, "Interact", jointly funded by the Community initiative, Interreg III. The Community contribution to the programme is by way of EUR 25 million until 2006. Further funding of EUR 10 million on the part of the Member States will be in addition to this. Implementation of the programme is based on the following priorities: 1) Supporting the administration of Interreg programmes. Interact will encourage exchanges of experience and best practice (Community contribution: EUR 12.1 million). 2) Developing the Interreg initiative. The implementation of Interreg III is divided into three strands (A, B and C). Interact will contribute to the general internal coherence of this Community initiative and increase synergy. (Community contribution): EUR 6.25 million). 3) Cooperation with and support for the frontier regions of candidate countries. Interact will encourage and facilitate coordination at external frontiers and develop instruments and options to manage the transition phase. (Community contribution: EUR 5 million). The Community will also contribute EUR 1.65 million to technical assistance.
On the basis of the result of consultation between the Commission and Member States, the Interact programme was presented by Austria on behalf of all Member States. The Austrian federal government was designated as the managing and paying authority for the programme.