The Interreg IPA CBC programme covers 2 border regions in Bulgaria and 3 regions from Republic of Macedonia. It is worth more than €19 million with a contribution of nearly €17 million from the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA).

The Programme aims to improve the cross-border cooperation between the two countries.

The overall objective of the Programme is to intensify cross-border cooperation between the people and institutions of the region in order to jointly address common challenges and exploit untapped potentials for development of the border region through effective use of resources.

The programme will focus on the following three priorities:

    Environment;

    Sustainable tourism;

    Competitiveness.

 

Total Budget of the cooperation programme: €19 461 690. Total EU contribution (IPA – Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance): €16 542 434.

The Programme gives the opportunity to the partners from both countries (municipalities, business support organizations, educational, scientific, and cultural institutions, NGO’s, etc.) to apply with joint projects.

 

Project proposals would have to target one of the following Priority Axes and specific objectives under the Programme:

    Priority Axis 1: ENVIRONMENT

        Specific objective 1.1: Environmental protection and sustainable use of the common natural resources of the CBC area;

        Specific objective 1.2: Prevention and mitigation of consequences of natural and man-caused disasters of cross-border dimension and impact.

    Priority Axis 2: TOURISM

        Specific objective 2.1: Enhancing the tourism potential of the region through cooperation initiatives in better preservation and sustainable utilization of natural and cultural heritage;

        Specific objective 2.2: Raising the competitiveness of the CBC region’s tourist offer;

        Specific objective 2.3: Promoting cooperation among regional actors in the area of sustainable tourism.

    Priority Axis 3: COMPETITIVENESS

        Specific objective 3.1: Improving the competitiveness of regional businesses.

 

The key objective of the Programme is to raise the capacity of the local and regional authorities in the development and implementation of joint projects in the eligible cross-border region, defined in the Programme as follows: 

    For Republic of Bulgaria (administrative level NUTS III) – districts of Kyustendil and Blagoevgrad;

    For Republic of Macedonia (administrative level, NUTS III equivalent) – North-East planning region, East planning region and South-East planning region.

 

The set of programme documents and rules can be found here:

http://www.ipa-cbc-007.eu/legal-basis

 

Examples of eligible actions supported under the thematic priorities are described in the Programme document available on the following link:http://07-13.ipa-cbc-007.eu/upload/docs/2015-08/Interreg_IPA_CBC_CCI2014TC16I5CB006.pdf

 

Annual implementation reports are regularly published on the joint programme website: http://www.ipa-cbc-007.eu/annual-reports

 

First Call for proposals of the Interreg-IPA Cross-border Cooperation Bulgaria- Macedonia Programme was launched on 23.09.2015. More details can be found here: http://www.ipa-cbc-007.eu/application-stage-news/first-call-proposals-interreg-ipa-cross-border-cooperation-bulgaria-former

Updated ranking of the project proposals under the First Call for proposals No 2014TC16I5CB006 – 2015 – 1 after complaint, pre-contracting and contracting procedures according to JMC Decisions from 14 April 2016, 23 June 2016, 28 September 2016 28 December 2016 and 22 March 2017 can be found on the joint Programme website: http://www.ipa-cbc-007.eu/selection-results-implementation-stage-news/updated-ranking-project-proposals-under-first-call-1.