The eligible South-East Europe Programme Area includes 16 countries. Among these, 14 countries are included in the programme with the entire territory, namely Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Greece, Hungary, Serbia, Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Republic of Moldova, while in Italy and Ukraine only certain regions participate in the programme.
The South-East Europe Transnational Cooperation Programme continues the former INTERREG IIIB CADSES Programme. In the new Structural Funds Period (2007-2013), the CADSES transnational cooperation programme has been divided into two areas: South-East Europe and Central Europe, each of them having a specific eligible area: the South-East Europe Programme and the Central Europe programme.
The South-East Europe Programme area is the most diverse, heterogeneous and complex transnational cooperation area in Europe. The emergence of new countries and with it the establishment of new frontiers have changed the patterns of political, economic and transport relationships. In the European transport network, South-East Europe is acting as a link between North, South, East and West Europe. The existing networks cannot keep pace with the increasingly demanding standards specifications. A large number of instruments and concepts, such as the Trans-European Networks (TENs) and the pan-European Transport Corridors, cross the eligible area of the programme, but need to be further developed. The main financing source of the programme is the European Regional Development Fund. The ERDF budget of the programme for the period 2007-2013 amounts to EUR 206.7 Million. This amount is additional to the national co-financing of partners and partner states, reaching approximately EUR 245.1 Million.
“The South East Europe Programme, supported by the European Union, aims at implementing some common projects by groups of partners, namely at least three groups from three different states. The application fields for the executed projects concern four directions, whose common denominator is the consolidation of cooperation and the reduction of disparities between regions. Among them, three projects are dedicated to improving railway access, more precisely the projects SEETAC, Rail4SEE and SETA”, declared Roberta Calcina, Programme Manager, South-East Europe, on the occasion of the participation in the Railway Days 2012 Summit.
Among the priorities of the South-East Europe programme, there should be mentioned the improvement of transport connections and the accessibility facilitation by supporting the coordination in promoting, planning and operating for primary and secondary transport networks and the improvement of framework conditions for multimodal platforms. The Programme also aimed at approaching problems that affect metropolitan areas and regional systems of settlements, as well as at promoting a balanced pattern of attractive and accessible growth areas.
The South-East Europe Programme also supports the execution of projects within the Danube Strategy.
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