The new Euro-MED programme kicked-off in Lisbon (Portugal) in a hybrid fashion, heading towards a Greener Mediterranean. “The Mediterranean is the sea basin the most affected by climate change, after the arctic”, that’s why the new programme is 100% inspired by the EU Green Deal. It was the occasion the present a new architecture. The first calls are expected in the Spring 2022.

The programme area is welcoming new members from Spain (Castilla-la-Mancha, Comunidad de Madrid and Extremadura), North Macedonia and Bulgaria. In total, the Euro-MED programme is now involving 14 countries and 69 regions. The former Interreg MED accounted 142 projects between 2014 and 2020, including our horizontal project on Sustainable Tourism.

New architecture for the Euro-MED Programme

We hope to have the video recording and the presentations very soon for more details and many graphics. The programme is now separated in 3 Thematic priorities and 4 specific objectives.

• Smarter Med
  • Research and innovation
• Greener Med
  • Circular Economy
  • Climate change & risk prevention
  • Nature and biodiversity
• Med Governance

The difference with other programmes is the 4 missions adapting the objectives for a comprehensive approach:

• Strengthening an innovative Sustainable Economy
• Protecting, restoring, and valorising the natural environment and heritage
• Promoting Green living areas
• Enhancing Sustainable Tourism (the only mission covering all 4 specific objectives)

The priorities, the missions and the objectives are interconnected and complementary. Adapting to this new programme, the projects and calls will have different categories, evolving from the previous programme.

4 typologies for thematic (modular) projects focused on Studying, Testing, Transferring and Strategic Territorial

2 types of strategic projects:

• 4 Thematic communities, following the missions on the 7 years
• Governance projects: liaising activities and mainstreaming processes to promote institutional dialogues, within and beyond the programme area.

Two calls are coming in 2022

The programme submission is pending in 2022 with a final approval from the European Commission expected in April, when they will be able to give the final budget.

A new website is expected with new tools like Jems, the common monitoring system to most Interreg programmes, a new forum and a new common database.

But calls are already being planned:

• Governance strategic projects in February with a deadline in May
• Thematic Modular Projects from June to September

Thematic projects, previously known as modular: study projects, test projects, transfer projects and strategic territorial. Each thematic project implements actions tackling one mission.

• Study projects will produce essential studies to better understand an issue and open the door to the development of common solutions for the Mediterranean.
• Test projects will test these solutions, strategies and action plans developed jointly.
• Transfer projects will organise the sharing, optimisation and adoption of these solutions to other actors.
• Strategic territorial projects will focus on joint challenges of a specific, identified typology of territory and propose to carry out

The evolution of the Capitalisation strategy

Following the integrated activity of the current capitalisation strategy with horizontal projects and strategic projects, the Euro-MED strategy is evolving into a results amplification strategy to impact sustainability and positively the Mediterranean area.

This new amplification strategy is supporting the process of an evidence-based improving territorial governance, as “a collective state of mind”, with a complex distribution of roles at different levels among the actions of the programme.

NECSTouR project hub on Interreg programmes

Alpine members are invited to contact NECSTouR secretariat if they are interested in creating a project for the programme or to join existing consortiums. Other Interreg programmes covered include Interreg Europe, Interreg Alpine Space and Interreg North-West Europe.