Status of the programme:
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1st Call for proposals
1st Call for project applications was open from 7 November 2022 and closed on 15 February 2023 at 14:00. All priorities were open for project proposals. The total financing available from ERDF was 24.3 MEUR.
The minimum grant size was not fixed. Co-financing from the Programme could be up to 80% of the total eligible costs for all types of partners.
The statistics below show an overview of how many projects were submitted, to which priorities and how many funds of the allocated ERDF budget were requested within the 1st call.
Programming process of the Interreg VI-A Estonia-Latvia Programme 2021-2027
In January 2019, the national responsible authorities of Estonia (Ministry of Finance) and Latvia (the Ministry of the Environmental Protection and Regional Development) agreed to initiate the programming process of the Interreg VI-A Estonia-Latvia Programme 2021-2027. Throughout 2019 the task force - representatives of the national responsible authorities, the managing authority and the joint secretariat - carried out preparatory activities and discussions for launching the programming early in 2020.
For further information on the programme, please contact the consultants or the head of the Joint secretariat.
Joint Programming Committee (JPC)
Was is the main engine for the programming - a body, established in the beginning of 2020, that includes the representatives of the ministries and regions of both countries, responsible for the programming and related decisions.
The JPC gathered five times in 2020-2022 to discuss and agree on the procedures and thematic focus of the new programme. Much work on the drafts happen via written communication and procedures. In addition to the JPC meetings, the smaller group in a form of task force had 27 virtual meetings on different matters. The JPC has decided that the State Shared Service Centre (SSSC, Riigi Tugiteenuste Keskus) will continue as managing authority for the new programme 2021-2027 and the joint secretariat remains in Tartu, also in SSSC.
The first complete draft Interreg programme was approved by the JPC on 29 October 2021 and the draft document was published for the public hearing. Comments and proposals were expected until 8 December. The document was supplemented after public hearings and the JPC approved the draft Interreg Programme on 6 January 2022. The national approval procedures in Estonia and Latvia were finalised on 15 March when the relevant ministers of both countries signed the approval letters. The programme was submitted to the European Commission on 28 March 2022 and the opening of the programme is planned in autumn.
Consultations with stakeholders
The member states involved the regions and municipalities very early on in the programming process to identify the cooperation areas and ideas. Since the first discussion the JPC has reached out and consulted the stakeholders in the programme area. We have conducted 2 web surveys over the spring and summer 2020 to gather the proposals for the programme focus, challenges, solutions and cross-border project ideas. As we could not get together in a form of meetings and seminars, we sent the questionnaires to the vast amount of public, private and non-profit organisations, state and municipal institutions, businesses and sectoral umbrellas. Here is the overview of the organisations by their experience, type and location:
As the JPC discussions proceeded in parallel, and the programme focus become clearer, there were held several targeted discussions from August to November 2020 with sectoral experts on tourism (PO4), business development (PO1), environment (PO2), governance (ISO1) and connectivity (PO3).
Preliminary estimate of the strategic environmental assessment
The programme commissioned the contract with Hendrikson & Ko (EE) and Baltic Environmental Forum-Latvia (LV) as the sub-contractor to carry out the Preliminary estimate of the strategic environmental assessment of the Programme 2021-2027.
The overall goal of the Preliminary Estimate was to give an initial assessment (screening) whether the implementation of the Programme has potentially significant environmental impact and to enable to make a decision to initiate or to refuse to initiate the strategic environmental assessment in accordance with the 27 June 2001 European Parliament and Council Directive 2001/42/EC on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment (SEA Directive) as well as of the requirements of Latvian and Estonian statutory regulations relative to Strategic Environmental Assessment.
The report was approved by the JPC in December 2020 and updated according to the observations by the relevant EE and LV national authorities in January 2021. According to the report: based on the features (the strategic level, type of activities included and available resources) of the Estonia-Latvia programme, it will not have adverse effects on the integrity of Natura 2000 areas and it is unlikely to cause significant impacts to the environment.
On 10 March 2021 the SSSC took the decision not to initiate the strategic environmental assessment.
Programme statistics and list of financed projects
Programme status
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30.11.2022
The programme was adopted by the European Commission on 30 November 2022
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08.12.2022
The programme Manual was approved by the Monitoring Committee
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07.11.2023
The 1st call for project applications open
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15.02.2023
The 1st call for project applications closed
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04.09.2023
The 2nd call for project applications open
Viimati uuendatud 27.02.2024
