On 20th Dec 2021 the final ERB Executive Board meeting in 2021 took place. It was chaired by the ERB President Ms Elin Petersson from Region Blekinge.

ERB Executive Board Members approved the election of Ms Elin Petersson to the function of ERB President and welcomed the new Chair. Ms Petersson addressed the ERB Board Members underlying the importance of continuation of good cooperation in the spirit of mutual trust and goodwill.

ERB Board members discussed the status of current IPS work and activities, results of the meetings of the Conference on the Future of Europe Working Group meetings and agreed on the next steps taken individually by the ERB Member regions related to the CoFoE.

ERB VicePresident, Mr Gustaw Marek Brzezin invited the Board members to the next meeting in March 2022 in Olsztyn, Poland. In 2022 Warmia i Mazury Region will lead the ERB cooperation.

We have a pleasure to announce that Blekinge Region, which currently holds the Presidency in Euroregion Baltic has appointed Ms Elin Petersson, Chair of Regional Development Board in Blekinge Region, as the new president of Euroregion Baltic.

Elin has a long experience in political engagement within local and regional development. She has also a long history of participating in the ERB cooperation, being elected as a Euroregion Baltic Youth Board member already in 2013. Elin is looking forward to using the Blekinge presidency to reinforce the member regions capacity in using EU funds for common regional challenges and opportunities in the work with the South Baltic water management, mobility between our regions as well as youth issues.

Following the decision made by our Euroregion Baltic Board Members on 25th May new ERB Working Group for the Conference on the Future of Europe has been established.

The plan for this WG is to follow the COFE debate, events and discussion over the upcoming months and let us all know once there is some significant event or input related to ERB members and stakeholders or anything we may find necessary to the South Baltic area.

In the group, we have the representatives of Euroregion Baltic Secretariats from ERB member states, Europe Direct representatives, and the Brussels Offices representatives from our regions. We are pleased to welcome you onboard and thank you for agreeing to work with us regarding COFE. The list is not finalised; we still keep it open for other actors to confirm their interest

The plan for this WG work is as follows:

• We will keep track of all COFE events and seminars relevant and essential to the Euroregion Baltic/South Baltic area citizens and stakeholders;
• we will share information on important events and meetings organised
• we will promote the ERB/South Baltic area COFE events – please let us know what & when you organise and we will share information on our website and social media;
• In September 2021, we will organise an online meeting of the WG representatives to exchange knowledge, and discuss the potential directions where we could engage more.
• In the late autumn of 2021 current ERB presidency, Blekinge Region will start working on the draft of the ERB position paper regarding the COFE – a document that we hope the WG can discuss later. The upcoming presidency of Warmia and Masuria Region will also be closely working on the final draft. Finally, we would like to see the document ready for Fen 2022  and adopted by Euroregion Baltic Board Members during the Board meeting.

We hope that this WG will help us promote the most important events and inputs from the COFE, share them with ERB and South Baltic Stakeholders and finally, in the fall, these inputs will allow us to prepare the ERB position paper to be adopted in Feb 2022.

Please see below the final agenda for the online seminar planned for 9th April 2021. We welcome all ERB Stakeholders to join us and learn how:

• ERB contributes to the Interreg South BalticProgramme (SBP);
• what are the perspectives and planned policy objectives for Interreg SBP 2021-27;
• how we can align the planned SBP objectives with the work in
  ERB Water Core Group, ERB MobilityCore Group and ERB Youth Board;
• what are the possibilities for ERB Stakeholderscooperation in the area of tourism
  
• 
  
  

On 25th February 2021, Euroregion Baltic Executive Board met for the 1st time in 2021. Over 35 ERB Boad Members, Youth Board Members, ERB Secretariat representatives and guests from Water Core Group and Mobility Core Group met to summarize ERB activities in 2020, change the ERB presidency from Poland to Sweden and hear about the ERB priorities and Action Plan for 2021.

The meeting started with the approval of the ERB Annual Report 2020 and the Annual Budget for 2020. A report detailing the activities implemented within ERB cooperation in 2020 was delivered by Ms Leszczyna-Rzucidło, Head of ERB International Secretariat in cooperation with the Presidency held in 2020 by the Association of Polish Communes Euroregion Baltic.

This was followed by the transfer of the ERB Presidency from Poland to Sweden. With the decision of the ERB Executive Board of 21st Feb 2011 and later in September 2019, approving the sequence of ERB Presidency transfers, the ERB Presidency will be transferred from Poland – Association of Polish Communes Euroregion Baltic to Region Blekinge, Sweden.
By the ERB Board decision, Mr Johan Sandberg, Member of ERB Executive Board, Chair of the Regional Development Board assumed the position of ERB President in 2021.

At the same time, the ERB Vice President’s position was assumed by Mr Gustaw Marek Brzezin, Marshal of Warmia and Masuria Region. Warmia and Masuria region will Lead the ERB in 2022. Since its foundation, Euroregion Baltic understood the importance of making use of EU opportunities to ensure the implementation of projects that could help the objectives of economic growth in the region: industry, agriculture, transport, communication, spatial planning, environmental protection, cooperation in the fields of science, education, tourism, health care, etc. The Euroregion’s mission is to undertake joint initiatives aiming at strengthening and promoting cooperation among the local and regional authorities of the Parties of the Agreement, as well as contributing to the sustainable development of the Baltic Sea Region, with particular focus on the South Baltic area.

The ERB 2030 Agenda builds on the achievements of the first 20 years of successful cooperation and provides an updated strategic framework by defining Euroregion Baltic’s vision:

– South Baltic Agenda
– Baltic Sea Region Agenda
– European Agenda
– Youth and People-to-People Agenda
– Blue and Green Growth Agenda.

Ms Johanna Ronn from Blekinge Region presented the priorities of the Swedish presidency. These are:

1. EU-funds for the South Baltic area. To continue the role with Euroregion Baltic as an active part in the programming process representing its member regions and initiating joint discussions regarding possibilities for project preparations financed by the same programme.
2. Sustainable Mobility. Establishment of the Mobility Core Group with a focus on joint actions for improved sustainable mobility within the Euroregion Baltic and South Baltic regions
3. Sustainable and Innovative Tourism cooperation. To investigate the potential for Euroregion Baltic regions to participate in current tourism networks and project initiatives and explore the potential for new and/or deepened cooperation.
4. Capacity Building and people to people activities. Concerning the up-coming new program period for EU-funds Euroregion Baltic, it has a vital role to be a facilitator and act as an intermediator for local organisations (especially newcomers), NGOs and youth organisations’ possibilities to establish contacts for cross-border cooperation in our regions.

The next point in the agenda was information about the transfer of ERB Youth Board Presidency. Ms Julia Orluk, ERB Youth Board Chairwoman in 2019-2020, presented information about the elections in the Euroregion Baltic Youth Board and introduced the new Chairwoman of the ERB YB. On 19th Feb 2021 Johanna Wyckman from Kalmar Region, Sweden, was elected the new ERB YB Chairwoman. At the same time, Ms Małgorzata Lewandowska from the Pomorskie region became the ERB YB Vice-Chairwoman. This information was followed by a presentation by Johanna Wyckamn on the ERB YB activities in 2021 and plans for ERB YB engagement in 2021.

ERB Youth Board main goals are to provide the opportunity for the youth to
be involved in the ERB activities, act as a voice of youth in the ERB, increase interaction between regional authorities and the youth, encourage closer cooperation between the youth and local government, eliminate culturally prejudice and facilitate youth mobility.

Head of the IPS, together with Johanna Ronn from the Blekinge region presented the Action Plan for 2021 and a set of activities foreseen for the ERB in the upcoming months. After the discussion among the ERB Board Members, the Action Plan 2021 and Budget for 2021 were both adopted by the Board. This information was followed by the summary of international projects with ERB engagement and reports from the Water Core Group and the newly established Mobility Core Group (Mr Mattias Andersson).

The next ERB Executive Board meeting are planned for: 25-26 May 2021 (Blekinge Region) and 6th Oct 2021 (Kaliningrad Region).

On 3rd December 2020, during the final ERB Executive Board meeting in 2020 and the last one under the Presidency of the Association of Polish Communes Euroregion baltic (PL), the Board members all agreed to establish another task force in the Euroregion Baltic – Mobility Core Group.

The decision was made after the Blekinge Region Board Member – Mr Johan Sandberg, ERB Vice President presented the idea to the ERB Board Members. Blekinge Region will host a secretariat for the newly established group.

The ERB Mobility Core Group consists of partners from the previous Interreg South Baltic project Interconnect, as well as contact persons and experts from the ERB member organisations.

The group will be working on behalf of the ERB Board with concrete actions and the work is supposed to contribute to project development and common activities improving mobility between the ERB member regions.

The Mobility Core Group will report to a steering group consisting of ERB board members (appointed by the ERB Board). Lobbying activities in order to represent and promote common interests;

Implementation of strategic initiatives and projects complementing the local and regional agendas of the member organisations; and

Exchange activities, to seek a collaborative approach to common challenges and to progress in innovation and in operational efficiency of the cooperation. The Mobility Core Group will focus on activities from the below perspectives.

Exchange of experience:

• Trends affecting public transport and sustainability change directions of the local and regional transport systems in the South Baltic area.
• Public transport planning vs. strategies by private operators (e.g. ferry companies).

Shared challenges

• Access to cross-border PT services for rural and more remote areas.
• Low knowledge/awareness of leisure time attractions on ‘the other shore’.
• Fighting climate change

Joint solutions

• ‘Low-hanging fruits’ (new or enhanced methods, services or products developed and/or applied in the Interconnect project and demonstrating a high replication potential)
• Cross-border perspective of public transport in the local and regional strategic documents

Impact on other sectors

• Tourism routes – adapted to different target groups
• Cross-border commuting / labour market travel patterns
• Student and youth travel patterns

 Method

The Mobility Core Group will apply a Multi-level governance perspective on its activities. The link between TEN-T development and contribution to the EU cohesion policies is considered a week. The focus will be to apply a holistic view on regional mobility and transport planning as a driving force for boosting potentials within other sectors such as tourism, education and business. This approach will strengthen the relationship between public transport, regional development and the citizens.

 Actors from each region

The ERB Mobility Core Group should aim to include members from all nine regions, in six countries. The basis will be the partnership from the previous Interreg South Baltic project Interconnect with the possibility to extend the network with relevant representatives from each of the ERB member organisations. The group will also invite relevant participants from regions outside the ERB geographical area ie former Interconnect partners.

Actions

The Core Group aims to have physical meetings back to back with the ERB Board meetings. Those meetings will be complemented by online meetings.

The meetings should aim to identify “hot topics” and “bottlenecks” for further joint development and discussion.  

The Euroregion Baltic Executive Board members, ERB Youth Board members and ERB SEcretariats & Water Core Group representatives met on 8th September 2020, again in the digital format, due to the COVID19 situation. The meeting was chaired by Mr Witold Wróblewski, ERB President and started with the informative round on COVID19 situation in all five ERB countries, presented by the ERB Board members from Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Russia and Lithuania.

Among discussion points there were:

• information from the South Baltic Programme Monitoring Committee and Joint Programming Committee meetings with the special attention out to the programming for South Baltic 2021-2027 presented by Mr Niels Chresten-Andersen from Regional Municipality of Bornholm and Mr Sławomir Demkowicz – Dobrzanski from Region Kronoberg;
• newest capacity building initiatives based on the UMbrella Interreg South Baltic project presented by Ms Magda Leszczyna-Rzucidło, Head of the ERB IPS and MS Valentina Scandola, Umbrella Project Leader;
• proposal of the establishment of “Sustainable transport Working Group in ERB” by the Blekinge Region and Mr Mattias Andersson, Interconnect Interreg South Baltic Project Leader;
• presentation of the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Seed Money Facility “WaterMan” project, selected for funding in June 2020 and starting in October 2020. This part was presented by the Water Core Group representative from Kalmar region Mr Tobias Facchini.

The ERB Board members agreed to continue working in on-line format until the possibilities to travel and meet in person becomes safe again. The next Board meeting was scheduled for 3rd Dec 2020, back-to-back with the Umbrella project final conference (digital format).

On 19th May the ERB Executive Board met on-line and unanimously adopted the ERB Policy Paper titled “Arguments supporting the early introduction of a capacity building initiative”.

With reference to:

• the Position Paper of Euroregion Baltic on the Future of Cohesion Policy after 2020, adopted on 18th September 2017

• the Position Paper of Euroregion Baltic on the Future of the Interreg South Baltic Programme after 2020, adopted on 26th September 2018

• The Position Paper of Euroregion Baltic on the Future of the Interreg South Baltic Programme – arguments supporting, adopted 16th October 2019,

Euroregion Baltic (ERB) takes the following position:

➢ To attract newcomers and smaller actors, and to ensure people-to-people and smallscale projects in the future South Baltic Programme, ERB wishes to advocate the continuation of programme’s capacity building measures at the earliest possible stage in the programme lifetime.

Arguments

➢ ERB believes it is still crucial to enhance involvement of smaller organisations – local communities, non-governmental organisations, civil organisations, associations and clubs from the South Baltic Sea area in active international cooperation through projects supported under future South Baltic Programme.

➢ The challenge of reaching newcomers and smaller actors in the programme area has been recognised (also) in the South Baltic Programme, leading to the South Baltic Capacity Building project (2010-2011) and the UMBRELLA project (2018- 2020), UMBRELLA led by the Euroregion Baltic.

➢ Competencies and experiences of targeting, involving and supporting newcomers and smaller actors are thus available within the programme area (detailed and up-to date knowledge on the local level).

➢ By offering tailormade support such as mentorship, training, rent-an-expert, training of trainers and targeted microactivities, capacity building initiatives can help newcomers and smaller actors, including NGO’s, overcome barriers related to language, capacity and competencies, bureaucracy, networking and knowledge exchange, as well as help them better understand benefits and the added value of cross-border cooperation.

➢ Reaching newcomers and smaller project beneficiaries would bring the added value of yet more intensive cooperation and new networks and clusters, bringing Europe closer to its citizens.

➢ Involvement of small, local actors would build up trust between citizens and institutions, thereby helping to diminish cross-border obstacles we still face in the Region.

➢ ERB considers capacity building initiatives, like the example “Umbrella” project, success and believes that they should be replicated at the early stage of the programme period 2021 – 2027 so that their results could be of use in the same programme period.

➢ Capacity building initiatives will be complementary to the work of the regional Programme Contact Points. They will be able to support and strengthen the Contact Points’ role, as they will involve the beneficiaries in concrete projects and trustbased partnerships.

Download the document signed by the ERB President, Mr Witold Wróblewski, Mator of Elbląg, here: