..:: Programme Interreg III B ::..

The community initiative INTERREG III is one of the Community Regional Policy tools. This third phase follows the successful ones of INTERREG I (1989-1993) and INTERREG II (1994-1999). It is one of the four Community Initiatives realized by the European Commission in order to define common solutions to specific problems. Mainly destined to favour a harmonious, balanced and sustainable development of the European territory for the 2000-2006 period, INTERREG III recommends the constitutions of partnerships of beyond national borders to allow a balanced set up of multi regional territories.

With a budget of 4.875 billions Euros for the 2000-2006 period (exclusively backed by the ERDF), and based on previous INTERREG Programmes, this community initiative is structured in 3 fundamental Strands:

> Strand A: Cross-border cooperation: between contiguous territories and also with the external borders of the European Union and some maritime areas, in order to put into action common development strategies.

> Strand B: Transnational cooperation: between national, regional and local authorities within main geographic areas determined by the European Commission and the Member States.

The Commission defined thirteen areas such as the Atlantic Area, the North Western European Area, the South Western European Area, the Western Mediterranean Area and the Caribbean Area, just to name a few.

> Strand C: Interregional cooperation: between actors gathered in sets of multiple not adjacent regions of the European Union that involve the presence of regions located in Third countries, in particular the 10 new Member States. Hence, have been defined four areas: North, South, East and West.

The cooperation led in the framework of INTERREG III is defined by the following principles:

Programming: The regions or the territories that wish to cooperate present to the EU Commission a "Community Initiative Programme" (CIP) that defines the common strategy of development and highlights the added value of cross-border and transnational cooperation of the foreseen interventions.
The Programme takes into account the general guidelines of structural funds and community policies: production of workplaces, competitiveness improvement, sustainable develoment, respect of the environment, equal opportunities between men and women, respect of community competition standards.
Partnership: is created among national, regional and local authorities and socio-economic partners; it allows "bottom up" development models. Moreover a transparent information concurs to achieve maximum levels of participation of the population and of pubic and private actors.
Concertation: The performance of Interreg III must be realized in a coherent and coordinated way with the other relevant financial instruments. The ERDF is in charge of all the operations conducted within the framework of the European Union (other financial instruments of external policy of the Community can finance participations outside the EU territory).

The main challenge for the new phase of INTERREG is therefore to take advantage of the positive experiences of cooperation made within the current Programmes and to gradually develop structures destined to extend this type of cooperation to the whole E.U. and its neighbouring countries.