The fourth meeting of the Joint Programming Committee – body responsible for the preparation of the Interreg NEXT (Neighbourhood External) Black Sea Basin Programme 2021-2027 – was held online on the 27th of May 2021.
The representatives of the nine participating countries (Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Turkey and Ukraine) and the European Commission discussed the outcome of the second round of consultations carried out during March – April 2021 of the stakeholders from the participating countries regarding the types of actions under the selected Policy Objectives relevant to receive support in the future Programme.
In addition, there were discussions about the opportunity to support projects within small project fund, projects of limited financial volume and strategic importance projects, the continuation of the activity of the Joint Secretariat for the next Programme in the same organizational framework and also aspects regarding the Strategic Environmental Assessment process.
Following the discussions during the meeting there were agreed the types of actions under the selected Policy Objectives relevant to receive support in the future Programme, the support of projects of limited financial volume and that the South-East Regional Development Agency from Romania to continue to play the role of Joint Secretariat for the Interreg Next Black Sea Basin Programme 2021-2027. As regards strategic importance projects, the conclusion of the meeting was that in order to ensure a transparent process by involving as many relevant entities as possible in all participant countries, but also to prevent possible risks that could affect a selection process in a limited period of time, until the transmission of the cooperation program to the European Commission, it is appropriate that the discussion to be resumed after its approval, for the financing of flagship projects.
The Managing Authority, with the support of TESIM ENI CBC – technical assistance project funded by the EU – will continue to hold consultations with key actors during 2021 over the eligible area of the Programme. The documents of public interest regarding the Interreg NEXT Black Sea Basin Programme 2021-2027 will be published regularly on this website at www.blacksea-cbc.net/interreg-next-bsb-2021-2027/.