Multiannual plan for Baltic fisheries

On 15 March 2016, the European Parliament and the Council reached a political agreement on a multiannual plan for the most important fish stocks in the Baltic Sea. This is the first of a new generation of fisheries management plans that implement the EU’s reformed Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) that aim to make the management of fish stocks more flexible and more sea-basin specific.

In keeping with the CFP’s emphasis on regionalisation, the agreed plan empowers regional decision-making on technical issues that are best decided at the level of the Baltic Sea basin. Member States will also be able to decide on how best to implement the landing obligation – a key part of the CFP’s drive for greater sustainability.

For more information about the Baltic Sea plan for fisheries, please follow this link.

Source: Maritime Affairs and Fisheries DG

On 1st March 2016 the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme launched its second call for proposals allowing stakeholders to apply for funding within all specific objectives and priorities of the Programme. With results of the 1st call already available, applicants preparing proposals for the 2nd call are encouraged to get acquainted with the current project portfolio of the Programme to enable synergistic effects and to avoid potential overlaps.

Similarly to the previous call, there once more be a two-step application process. The timeline for submissions is as follows:

Step 1: Concept notes

• Call open, step 1: 1st March – 1st June 2016

• Selection of concept notes: September 2016

Step 2: Application

• Call open, step 2: September 2016 – January 2017

• Selection of projects for funding: May 2017

Within step 1 each lead applicant is asked to submit a concept note describing project’s strategic relevance, main outcomes, core activities and planned partnership. The concept note has to be submitted in electronic (pdf) version no later than 1st June 2016 to application@interreg-baltic.eu.  More information about this procedure is available here and in the attached Announcement note for Step 1.

Applicants whose concept notes are selected by the Monitoring Committee in September 2016 need to prepare complete project applications by January 2017. The content of the application form has to be based on the earlier developed concept note. More detailed information will be available at a later stage.

On 2nd March 2016 the South Baltic Programme will be invited to take part in a seminar on how to make ‘Interreg’ instrument an even better tool for cooperation. Organised by the MEPs from the European People’s Party the seminar will start a discussion about the place of Interreg within the framework of post-2020 Cohesion Policy. The seminar will comprise an number of representatives from the European Commission, Committee of the Regions and cross-border cooperation platforms. The South Baltic Programme will be represented by Mr Thorsten Kohlisch, Head of Joint Secretariat.

Please follow this link for the agenda of the seminar.

The 2007-2013 South Baltic Cross-border Cooperation Programme (SBP) was one of the most important cooperation tools for Euroregion Baltic as it  included most of the territories of ERB located in Lithuania, Denmark, Poland and Sweden. Being one of the European Territorial Cooperation programmes however, it did not include areas located outside EU thereby preventing partners from the Kaliningrad Region from participating in SBP projects on equal basis and with direct financial support from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Nevertheless, organisations located in Kaliningrad could still take part in the SBP projects as Associated Partners thereby participating in project activities and develop cross-border cooperation links with relevant partners from other regions of the South Baltic area. (more…)

With the second call for proposals under the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2014-2020 to be open between 9 May and 17 June 2016, the Programme is organising a first round of individual project consultations scheduled on 15, 16 and 17 March 2016 at the premises of the Joint Secretariat in Gdańsk. In addition, the Programme offers online consultations on these days as well. Interested applicants can register their project idea via a dedicated online form available here.

The deadline for registration is 9 March 2016.

Source: http://southbaltic.eu

The Interreg South Baltic Programme 2014-2020 Joint Secretariat is looking for candidates for a position of Project Officer to complete the team of employees working at the office in Gdańsk, Poland.

The Secretariat is responsible for the day-to-day management of the South Baltic Programme. The team of the Secretariat provides advice to applicants, organises calls for project proposals, assesses submitted funding applications, monitors the progress of running operations and assists the decision-making bodies of the Programme. Aimed at spreading the word about the benefits of cross-border cooperation, the JS furthermore coordinates the work of the Regional Contact Points and ensures the implementation of Programme-wide promotion, communication, dissemination and capitalisation activities.

The ideal candidate would be  reliable, committed and open-minded Project Officer, enthusiastic to join a small dynamic team in an international environment.  Within the team of Project Officers, the chosen candidate will be responsible for the Programme’s 1st Priority Axis and thus for the assessment and monitoring of projects designed to strengthen the internationalisation and innovation capacity of SMEs through cross-border cooperation. Consequently, good understanding and professional experience in the policy area of SME development are considered as valuable assets.

Details about the vacancy are available in the official vacancy announcement.

For more information about the Programme, please visit the official website.

Interreg Baltic Sea Region invites all stakeholders to the Information Seminar for the second call for applications on 16-17 March 2016 in Riga, Latvia. On the first day of the seminar will see more general features of Interreg Baltic Sea Region, introduce the themes for cooperation and topics particularly encouraged in the second call for applications. Also information will be presented about project budgeting and communication, highlight lessons learned from the first call and explain how and when to apply and where to get help. On the second day individual project consultations upon prior request and answer questions at the financial help desk will be carried out. The number of participants is limited to 300 which is why the registration closes when the maximum number is reached or latest on 29 February 2016.

Please follow this link to register for the event.

Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme has published detailed information about all 35 projects approved in the first call for proposals.

The information covers name and acronym, Lead Partner and the country it represents, as well as the topline of what the project is about.
Altogether, EUR 90 million out of EUR 264 million from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) have now been allocated to these projects. Authorities from local, regional and national levels, research and training institutions, sectoral agencies and associations, NGOs and enterprises from around the Baltic Sea will work together for the next three years in an attempt to make the Baltic Sea Region more innovative, more sustainable and better connected.

More about the approved project can be found here on the Programme’s official website.

On 21st December 2015 the South Baltic Joint Secretariat published the list of project applications submitted to the 1st call for proposals in the South Baltic Programme.

In total 27 applications were submitted totalling more than 35 MEUR. As predicted, the most popular measure was the objective 2.1 Sustainable tourism which gathered 9 proposals for almost 12 MEUR. The objective 4.1 Skills development came second with 4 project applications requesting more than 6 MEUR. Other objectives, except for 5.1. attracted 3 applications each which indicates fairly equal interest from stakeholders in most of Programme’s objectives.

As to the objective 5.1 Capacity building, it got only two proposals with total requested funding of 0,75 MEUR. One of the partnerships is ERB’s CaSYPoT project (former SYPERB), which is promising news as only two project applications will be competing for funding.

The assessment process of the application is expected to take place within the first quarter of the year and will be followed by the South Baltic Monitoring Committee decision. This is expected to take place on 26-27th April 2016 in Sweden.

 The list of submitted application is available here.

Euroregion Baltic has taken part in public consultation on overcoming obstacles in border regions organised by the European Commission. The consultations were a part of the 25th Anniversary of INTERREG.

The main purpose of this consultation was to collect experiences and opinions from citizens, key stakeholders and experts, in order to get a comprehensive overview of what obstacles persist and of their impact on the daily lives of people and businesses in border regions.

In its contribution, ERB pointed to three main obstacles still influencing the cross-border cooperation in the region – difficult physical access, legal and administrative barriers as well as economic disparities. It also argued that proposed certain measures that could alleviate some of the most immediate problems and therefore contribute to a better cooperation in the future, and underlined the importance of EU financial and support facilities such as Interreg or ENP for solving the problems on the ground.

The full text of ERB’s contribution to the consultations can be read here. As an attachment ERB also provided previously published report on the subject prepared within the Seagull II project – ERB Border Crossing Report.

The results will be published online early in 2016 on the DG Regio’s website. They will also feed into a study aiming to produce conclusions and practical suggestions on how the EU and its partners can ease remaining obstacles.