A few words about our Programme
The Cooperation Programme “Greece-Bulgaria 2014-2020” was approved by
the European Commission on 13/12/2016 by Decision C(2016)8708.
Budget
The total budget (ERDF and national contribution) for the European
Territorial Programme “Greece-Bulgaria 2007-2013” is €130,262,835.00
.The total financing consists of €110.723.409,75 (85%) ERDF funding and
€19.539.425,25 (15%) national contribution.
Eligible area
The eligible area of the Programme consists of the Region of Eastern
Macedonia and Thrace (Prefectures of Evros, Kavala, Xanthi, Rodopi and
Drama) and the Region of Central Macedonia (Prefectures of Thessaloniki
and Serres) in Greece and the South-Central Planning Region and
South-West Planning Region (Districts of Blagoevgrad, Smolyan, Kardjali
and Haskovo) in Bulgaria.
he Greece-Bulgaria cross-border cooperation area for the programming
period 2014-2020 is identical to the current ETC programme. It extends
to 40.202 km2 and has a total population of 2.7 million inhabitants. It
covers four territorial units at NUTS II level (Regions), and 11
territorial units at NUTS III level (Districts). The eligible area
extends across the entire Greek-Bulgarian border and is neighbouring
with Turkey (east) and FYROM (west), both countries aspiring to access
to the EU. It is part of the most south-eastern non-insular area of EU,
and it is situated between three seas: the Black Sea, the Mediterranean
Sea and the Ionian-Adriatic Sea. Finally, it sits at the crossroad of
strategic fossil fuel pipelines supplying the EU market and TEN
transport axes.
The settlement structure of the area is characterized by the presence of
10 medium-large cities (>50.000 inhabitants) which accumulate 38,2%
of total population, and 25 small cities (10.000-50.000 inhabitants).
Despite the historically relatively small amounts of funds allocated,
there is a long history of cooperation in the eligible area, which
started with Community initiative INTERREG I (1989-1993).
The priority axes are:
PA 1: A Competitive and Entrepreneurship Promoting Cross-Border Area
PA 2: A Sustainable and climate adaptable Cross-Border area
PA 3: A better interconnected Cross-Border Area
PA 4: A socially inclusive Cross-Border area
PA 5: Technical Assistance
