South-East Europe programme (SEE) aims at developing strategic importance partnerships, supporting territorial, economic and social integration and helping increase the cohesion, stability and competitiveness of the regions. The programme seeks to develop quality, outcome-oriented projects with strategic character and relevant for the programme area.
This year, Bucharest hosted the event “SEE achievements in view of the new programmes in the area”, held on 19 June 2013. The event focused on analysing the connections between the current and the future programming period in the South-East Europe, while trying to turn into account the outcome of the projects approved in 2007-2013.
Under the EC proposal for 2014-2020, two programmes will be formed (the “Danube” and the “South East Gateway” programmes). The programmes are actually established following the restructuring of the SEE programme. Therefore, the achievements of the SEE programmes and projects have to be known and approached by the decision makers while preparing the two projects in the region: the Danube and the South East Gateway (SEG). “Creating a new programme for the Danube requires the establishment of a new trans-national programme in the south-east of Europe to ensure seamless cooperation and to guarantee the implementation of future strategies. Therefore, there are several problems: on the one hand, the proposal of the South East Gateway cannot fulfil the macro-regional Adriatic-Ionian strategy, while carrying on the present SEE programme (for 2007-2013). Also, the other parties of the SEE programme will not have the capa-
city to continue and to turn into account the long-term achievements regarding the cooperation between Central Europe and the Balkans if an equivalent or compensated policy is not proposed”, declared Constantinos Christodoulou, Head of Unit B of the Managing Authority of ETC Programmes, Ministry of Economy and Finance (Greece).
Another problem of this division consists in the fact that the combined implementation of the transnational programme South East Gateway and of the oriented macro-regional programme for the Danube Region could disrupt a functional Development Multi-Centre Network between the metropolitan regions in Athens, Thessaloniki, Sofia, Bucharest, Budapest and Vienna, as well as the Trans-European and energy transport networks which are essential with the Europe 2020 Strategy.
To this end, in order to avoid problems, “Greece has proposed two measures aimed at creating transnational Adriatic-Ionian programme to cover the same geographical area as the macro-regional strategy and the transnational programme “South East Europe” that would involve the SEE countries and regions in Austria and Hungary, to Greece, Cyprus and Malta”, said Christodoulou.
Nevertheless, in mid June, the call for application on hosting the future SEG programme by the Management Authority was announced, the deadline being the end of July. In October 2011, EC adopted the legislative project on the Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 and under the regulations, the European Territorial Cooperation will be continued and will be consolidated as separate cohesion objective – cross-border, transnational and inter-regional frontiers being kept. Under the EU proposal, the SEG programme will be formed of 12 countries (EU and non-EU). In addition, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania have also expressed interest in participating in the South East Gateway. At present, setting the objectives, the priorities and the value of the financing granted for 2014-2020 are still in negotiation.
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