The first meeting of the Monitoring Committee of the Cross-border Programme INTERREG VI-A Greece-Bulgaria 2021-2027 was held

The first meeting of the Monitoring Committee of the Cross-border Programme INTERREG VI-A Greece-Bulgaria 2021-2027 and the ninth meeting of the Monitoring Committee of the Cross-border Programme INTERREG V-A Greece-Bulgaria 2014-2020 took place in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Through a video link, the Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Desislava Georgieva welcomed the participants and called for mobilization of efforts for successful completion of all projects funded in the 2014-2020 programming period. She expressed hope that the strategic project for the construction of the border checkpoint “Rudozem - Xanthi” will be completed and put into operation in a reasonable time.

The first meeting of the Monitoring Committee of the INTERREG VI-A Greece-Bulgaria 2021-2027 programme provides the opportunity to activate the financial support of 83.95 million euros for the implementation of joint projects aimed at improving connectivity, preventing risks arising from climate change, protecting the environment, promoting equal access to education and fostering the integrated development of the cross-border region.

The distribution of financial resources by priority is 35.4 million euro for Priority 1 - A more sustainable and greener cross-border region, 31 million euro for Priority 2 - A more accessible cross-border region and 17.5 million euro for Priority 3 - A more inclusive cross-border region.

The programme will support four strategic projects: the completion of the main road communication (ring road) of Smolyan, the reconstruction of the remaining sections of the Xanthi-Echinos Road axis, the preparation of a technical project for the modernisation of the Radomir-Kulata railway line and the installation of an intelligent dynamic system for incident detection and real-time monitoring of the railway network.

Targeted direct support for small and medium enterprises is also foreseen through the implementation of the Small Project Fund instrument under Priority 1 (Transition to a circular and resource efficient economy) and Priority 3 (Tourism).

The INTERREG VI-A Greece-Bulgaria 2021-2027 programme was approved by the European Commission on 13 September 2022.