South Baltic Programme 2014-2020 approves date of first call for proposals

On 1 and 2 October 2015 in Gdańsk, the Members of the Monitoring Committee for the South Baltic Programme 2014-2020 during their first meeting approved the timeframe for the first call for proposals. Applicants can submit their applications under all the specific objectives of the Programme between 2 November and 18 December 2015.

The five national delegations from Denmark, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden and the joint delegation of Euroregions Baltic and Pomerania approved also the new Programme Manual as well as the application pack for the first call. A mock-up application form together with a working version of the Programme Manual will be made available on the Programme’s website in the course of October. Project consultations are planned by the Joint Secretariat and the Contact Points in all Member States between 3 and 20 November 2015. Applicants will be requested to register their project ideas via a dedicated online form prior to the consultations. Further information on the dates for the meetings will follow shortly.

The second call for proposals is planned between 9 May and 17 June 2016.

Source: http://2014-2020.southbaltic.eu/

The 8th Baltic Sea Tourism Forum was held in Gdańsk between 22-23rd September 2015. The event was organized by the Polish Ministry of Sport and Tourism and the Pomorskie Voivodeship in close cooperation with the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Tourist Board and the Ministry of Economics, Construction and Tourism; Mecklenburg-Vorpommern – in its role as the coordinator of Priority Area Tourism (EUSBSR).
The annual convention brought professionals from economics, politics and academics together to examine the development of tourism in the Baltic Sea region. In 2015 the Forum focused on four thematic priority areas such as:

1. Maritime Policy as a fundation for tourism development in coastal areas,
2. Demands on improved and sustainable transnational cooperation in BSR tourism,
3. Impact of meetings and events industry for developing the BSR as a common tourism destination
4. Challenges of future trends in the XXI century and their effects on tourism.

In addition, organizations, ongoing projects and new project initiatives had possibility to present themselves with a stand during the two conference days at the Tourism Networking Village to encourage creativity, ideas and cooperation.

The presentation from the event are available under this link

Full text of Forum’s declaration is can viewed here.

EU Commissioner Corina Cretu for Regional and Urban Policy launched a public consultation on overcoming obstacles in border regions.

For the last 25 years, the European Union has been investing in cross-border cooperation through Interreg, a financing instrument for regional development across borders. Despite all the progress made, many obstacles persist, and many of these cannot be solved with Interreg financing alone.

The main purpose of this consultation is therefore 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.

The consultation covers both internal EU border regions, as well as border regions encompassing regions in EU countries and EFTA/EEA countries. It will run from 21 September to 21 December 2015.

The results will be published online. 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.

More about the consultations here.

On 23rd September 2015 the European Commission adopted the new Interreg South Baltic Programme 2014-2020  between the coastal regions of Denmark, Germany, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden. The programme is worth €102 million, with €83 million coming from the European Regional Development Fund.

Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Crețu said:

“Our Interreg programmes are tangible examples of how the EU is working to help citizens address common challenges and tap into shared potential in key growth areas, like here in sustainable tourism and innovation. The programme adopted today means that the coastal regions of Denmark, Germany, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden can now step up a gear in their integration.”

The programme focuses on environmental measures, with investments to reduce pollutions discharges into the Baltic Sea. It will also support the protection of natural and cultural heritage in order to develop a sustainable tourism activity in the region.

Furthermore, the programme will support the development and internationalization of SMEs and cross border labour mobility. Finally, it will contribute to making transport services in the South Baltic region more environment-friendly, while improving connectivity in the region. Actions in these areas will be complemented by efforts to foster the cooperation capacity of local actors through participation in cross border networks.

Background

The area covered by this programme “Interreg V-A South Baltic” comprises the following territories on the Baltic Sea coast: in Denmark the coastal regions of Sjælland and the island of Bornholm, in Germany the coastal regions of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the coastal regions of Poland and Lithuania, and coastal regions of Southern Sweden.

Funding breakdown of the five priorities of the programme:

1. Strengthening the international dimension and innovation capacity of the South Baltic blue and green economy – EU-funding: €10 million.
2. Exploiting the environmental and cultural potential of the South Baltic area for the blue and green growth – EU-funding: €39.8 million.
3. Improving cross border connectivity – EU-funding: €15.8 million.
4. Boosting human resource capacities for the area’s blue and green economy – EU-funding: €8.3 million. This priority will support, for example, cross border training programmes and internships and increased transfer of knowledge and of experiences.
5. Improving the cooperation capacity of local South Baltic area actors through participation in cross border networks – EU-funding: €4.1 million.

An additional €5 million will be provided for technical assistance. The EU-funding of €82.98 million will be complemented by €19.95 million co-financing from national sources. The total volume of the programme is €102.93 million.

Source: http://ec.europa.eu/commission/2014-2019/cretu/announcements/more-eu100-million-boost-cooperation-across-maritime-borders-denmark-germany-lithuania-poland-and_en

The year 2015 marks the 25th anniversary of Interreg, the European Union a instrument to promote cross-border,transnational and interregional cooperation. Introduced in 1990 it was primarily tasked to compensate for the introduction of the Single Market and soften the blow for border regions, which, everyone thought, would suffer most from the abolition of economic borders. By 2015 it has been seen as one of the main and indispensable tools fostering development a creating cohesion across borders thereby giving a completely new meaning to cooperation among authorities and communities living in the border areas.

For more information about the history of Interreg in a special publication that seeks to provide a key to understanding the complexity, richness and diversity of the examples of territorial cooperation in Europe and illustrating their role in the process of European integration.

The closing event of the 2nd Baltic Sea Youth Dialogue took place in Olsztyn on 8th September 2015. Organised by the Council of the Baltic Sea States and the Körber Foundation in cooperation with the Warmia Mazury Region and implemented by the Borussia Foundation the event continued the cooperation successfully started in Estonia and Russia in 2014. (more…)

The EUSBSR Newsletter September 2015 issue is now available. A featured article addresses the new changes in the recently revised Action Plan including the new structure of thematic areas, the role of regional bodies within EUSBSR and the new terminology used. In addition, success stories from Policy Area ‘Education’ and the impending EUSBSR communication strategy are also part of this publication. The digital edition of the Newsletter is available here.

The Energy Agency for South East Sweden ( Energikontor Sydost AB) is currently conducting a partner search for relevant actors and organizations in Poland and Lithuania for a South Baltic Programme project tacking the issue of low carbon logistics.

The project will focus on low carbon logistics and the idea is to improve last mile transportation of goods for example through consolidation at a distribution central. It could be public and/or private goods in a municipality or in a city. The main objective is to reduce the number of transport kilometers through less deliveries to recipients and thereby reduce CO2-emissions, congestion and enhance traffic safety in the area of delivery. Taking control over the last part of the supply chain and put demands on vehicles, route planning, renewable fuels etc. can lead to a low-carbon freight transport system. Similar Swedish projects have shown CO2-savings around 60%

The project will apply for funding from the South Baltic Programme.

Current international partners are:

• Sweden: Energikontor Sydost AB – Energy Agency for Southeast Sweden
• Poland: NN
• Lithuania: NN
• Germany: Competence Centre of Rural Mobility

The project could for example include:

• Planning, construction and operation of a goods handling terminal
• Community Building strategy inside municipality, transport companies of all kinds and companies in the city that depend on logistic services
• a profound operation strategy.
• Legal safe holistic solutions for single companies in situ
• Traffic solutions that indeed result into reduced traffic flows and reduced emissions
• An ICT traffic optimization concept based on real time information for significant avoidance of rides and emission reductions

The project is interested in partners that can deal with these kind of issues:

• Legal issues: IKEM,University of Greifswald (confirmed)
• Community Building: Research team Communication, University of Rostock (confirmed)
• IT and Traffic Solutions: Fast information technologies (asked)
• Vehicle and load solutions: Voith GmbH (asked)
• Most important partners: City administrations (asked), shipping companies and local entrepreneurs

If you have any questions regarding the application or if you would like to be part of the project please contact Ms. Anna Månsson at  anna.mansson@energikontorsydost.se

For more information about this project idea please read the attached project idea description.

Polish cultural web portal Culture.pl, the Pomeranian Film Foundation in Gdynia and the Gdynia Film School are organising a short-film competition about the Baltic Sea countries – their cultural identity, their history, their society, their transformation. (more…)

The second meeting of the ERB Executive Board in 2015 took place in Brussels on 16th June. (more…)