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INTERREG IVC Frequently Asked Questions
Assistance to applicants
The INTERREG IVC Programme was approved by the European Commission on 11 September 2007 and was officially launched on 21 September 2007 in Lisbon. The second Call for Project Proposals was opened on 27 October 2008 and closed on 30 January 2009.
Information Points have been set up in Rostock (Germany), Katowice (Poland), Valencia (Spain) and Lille (France) to provide information to applicants. Please consult regularly the Programme website for further information. Updated information will always be communicated through this channel.
In the meantime, potential applicants will be able to find below answers to some of the questions frequently addressed to the Secretariat.
Management structure
Is INTERREG IVC organised into 4 zones as under the previous INTERREG IIIC programme?
No. There will be one single programme for the whole European territory, including 27 Member States, Norway and Switzerland.
Who is the Managing Authority of INTERREG IVC?
The Managing Authority of INTERREG IVC is the Conseil Régional Nord-Pas de Calais, Lille, France.
Where will the Joint Technical Secretariat of INTERREG IVC be based?
The Joint Technical Secretariat will be based in Lille, France. In addition, four Information Points will support the JTS and will deliver information and technical advice to applicants. They are based in Katowice (Poland), Lille (France), Rostock (Germany) and Valencia (Spain). However, all project proposals will have to be submitted to the JTS in Lille.
Programme area
Which regions are eligible under INTERREG IVC?
The eligible INTERREG IVC cooperation area covers the entire territory of the European Union – including all new Member States and insular and outermost areas.
Can partners from non-EU Member States be eligible under INTERREG IVC?
The general rule is that partners coming from non-EU Member States can participate in INTERREG IVC but at their own cost. However, partners from Norway and Switzerland can make use of the respective allocations of Norwegian/Swiss funding in the programme. There is currently no agreement on the harmonised use of EU funds between INTERREG IVC and IPA / ENPI (Instrument for Pre-Accession / European Neighbourhood Policy Instrument).
Programme documents
Are the Programme documents available in languages other than English?
The official programme documents are only available in English, the working language of the programme. Some Member States might provide informal translations in their national language, for informational purposes only. You should contact your National Contact Point to see if this is the case. However please be aware that only the English version as approved by the Monitoring Committee is authentic and should be used as reference. The Application Form and all annexes have to be submitted in English.
Timeframe and calls for proposals
When was the programme approved?
The programme was submitted to the European Commission on 19 April 2007. It was approved on 11 September 2007.
When was the programme officially launched?
A launch conference took place in Lisbon, Portugal, on 20 and 21 September 2007. This Interregional Cooperation Forum was the closing event of INTERREG IIIC and officially launched the new INTERREG IVC programme.
More information on the event here
The first call for proposal was open from 21 September 2007 until 15 January 2008. About 500 applications were received during the 1st call. 41 projects (35 Regional Initiative Projects and 6 Capitalisation Projects) were approved by the Monitoring Committee.
What is the timeframe for the second call for proposals?
The second call for proposal was launched on 27 October 2008 at the EU Interregional Cooperation Forum. The deadline for project submission was 30 January 2009.
When will the projects submitted in the second call be approved?
The Monitoring Committee is expected to be held within eight months after the end of the call, i.e. September/October 2009. Projects should be ready to start from November 2009.
Are there any changes between the first and the second calls for proposals?
The main new features of the second call are outlined in point 6 of the call’s terms of reference which is available on here.
Will there be a third call for proposals?
It is very likely that a third call for proposals will be organised. The final decision remains in the hands of the Monitoring Committee and would in any case depend on the overall quality of the submitted applications in the second call.
Themes of cooperation
What is the rationale of the INTERREG IVC programme?
The INTERREG IVC Programme is an exchange and capitalisation programme which aims to improve, through the exchange of experience and good practices, the effectiveness of regional development policies. Indeed, it focuses on the identification, the analysis, and, under certain conditions, the transfer of good practices. Therefore:
- The “natural” target group of the Programme are regional and local public authorities, as these bodies are responsible for regional and local policies;
- INTERREG IVC is fundamentally different from cross-border and transnational cooperation programmes. In particular, it is not primarily dedicated to ‘implementation’ or to ‘experimentation’. Core activities of INTERREG IVC projects should always be related to the exchange of experiences
What themes of cooperation are eligible?
The programme is organised around two thematic priorities related to the Lisbon and Gothenburg agendas. A certain number of sub-themes are defined for each of the priorities:
Priority 1: Innovation and the knowledge economy
-innovation, research and technology development;
-entrepreneurship and SMEs;
-the information society;
-employment, human capital and education.
Priority 2: Environment and risk prevention
-natural and technological risks including climate change;
-water management;
-waste prevention and management;
-biodiversity and preservation of natural heritage including air quality;
-energy and sustainable transport;
-cultural heritage and landscape.
Are there any restrictions on certain sub-themes?
All the programme’s sub-themes are still open for the second call for proposals.
What is meant by ‘integrated’ approach to sub-themes?
The INTERREG IVC programme supports projects that aim, through the exchange of experience and good practices, to improve regional policies addressing the above sub-themes. It is evident that these sub-themes are interlinked in many ways, within and even between the two priorities. Therefore projects can propose a cross-sectoral and integrated approach where appropriate. However, each project has still to select only one sub-theme and have a clear focus on a specific regional policy issue. The integrated approach does not mean that one project can address several sub-themes at the same level. It should instead be reflected in the manner in which the project addresses the specific sub-theme. This would for instance be the case of a project focusing on cluster policies in the sector of renewable energy. Such a project would have a clear single focus on Priority 1 (‘entrepreneurship and SMEs’ sub-theme) but it would still have a link with Priority 2 (‘energy and sustainable transport’ sub-theme).
Types of interventions
What types of interventions are possible under INTERREG IVC?
Two types of interventions are possible: Regional Initiative Projects and Capitalisation Projects.
What are Regional Initiative Projects?
Regional Initiative Projects are “classic” interregional cooperation projects focusing on the exchange of experiences and the identification, analysis, dissemination and possible transfer of good practices. They have to focus on one of the sub-themes identified in the Programme Manual which are closely related to the Lisbon and Gothenburg strategies. In addition, activities can go from traditional networking activities to transfer of experience and/or implementation of pilot projects, and even light ‘mini-programmes’. Regardless of the intensity of cooperation, all Regional Initiative Projects (including mini-programmes) must have a particular focus on the exchange of experience at policy level.
What are Capitalisation Projects?
Capitalisation Projects (including Fast Track Projects) are interregional cooperation projects focusing specifically on the transfer of regional development good practices into Structural Funds mainstream programmes. One of the expected outputs is a concrete action plan which should ideally be signed by the respective Managing Authority and relevant stakeholders in each of the participating regions. An action plan is understood as a strategic document which defines precisely how the good practices will be implemented in each participating region.
Are mini-programmes (such as RFOs under INTERREG IIIC) still eligible under INTERREG IVC?
Under the first type of intervention (Regional Initiative Projects), the support of so called ‘mini-programmes’ is possible. These ambitious cooperation projects require a high level of intensity of cooperation as they for instance imply the building up of joint elaborated decision making procedures to decide on the sub-projects. However, these mini-programmes have to be more focused than the RFOs supported under INTERREG IIIC as they have to be in line with the two thematic priorities of the future programme. A mini-programme is a project with a limited number of partners (maximum 8) developing a joint framework for interregional cooperation that will be implemented through a limited number of sub-projects (maximum 12) developed via calls for proposals in the participating regions.
What are Fast Track projects?
Fast Track projects are Capitalisation projects which benefit from additional expertise from the European Commission in order to contribute to the Regions for Economic Change initiative. Based on its “assessment questions”, the European Commission will identify the possible Fast Track projects from the submitted Capitalisation projects. The Monitoring Committee will take the final decision. Therefore, there is no specific application to Fast Track Projects.
Activities
What is meant exactly by pilot actions?
There is no official definition of ‘pilot action’ as this notion may vary a lot depending on the project. However, in all cases, it means an implementation carried out by one of the partners in order to test a new approach on its territory. It can be related to a completely new experimentation for the concerned partnership. For instance, a project under the sub-theme ‘information society’ may be dealing with broadband infrastructure in rural areas. All the local authorities involved have different experiences in that field (e.g. fibre optic, wi-fi) but none of them of tried the broadband connection via satellite solution. One of these local authorities may therefore take the lead to test this new solution through the connection of a local rural administration through satellite connection (as long as the costs remain reasonable for the IVC programme and in particular the equipment costs). It has to be clear that this experimentation will be useful not only for this specific authority but also for the other partners of the project (e.g. through sharing among the partnership the preparation, implementation and evaluation of this pilot action).
A pilot action can also be related to a transfer of practice from one authority to another authority. In the same above example, it would mean that one of the partners is already experienced in satellite broadband connection and will transfer its know-how to another partner who for the first time will try this technology on its territory.
In any case, the notion of ‘pilot action’ has to be tackled with a lot of care within INTERREG IVC for the three following reasons:
- INTERREG IVC is primarily dedicated to the exchange of experience at policy level. Pilot actions have therefore to be limited in IVC projects and are possible only if they are closely related to this exchange of experience. In particular, they should contribute to enrich this exchange of experience among the partners.
- As indicated in section 2.2.3 of the programme manual, all activities supported in IVC have to respect the three core conditions: relevance, interregionality and additionality. Experience shows that applicants have often difficulties to demonstrate how the pilot actions will respect these conditions.
- Pilot actions have to be defined as precisely as possible in the application form. They cannot be decided in the course of the project’s implementation in particular since this would prevent the applicants from proposing a clear budget for these activities at the application stage.
Partnership
What is the minimum number of countries that should be represented in the partnership?
INTERREG IVC projects have to involve partners who represent at least three countries, from which at least two partners must be from EU Member States and financed under the INTERREG IVC programme.
As the INTERREG IVC programme is the only cooperation programme covering the whole Europe, it is recommended that partnerships cover a wide EU area. In particular, the geographical coverage should in principle go much beyond cross-border or transnational cooperation programmes.
What is the adequate number of partners within a Regional Initiative Project?
It is up to each partnership to define the adequate number of partners with a view to facilitating efficient implementation and reflecting the project’s objectives. In fact, the higher the intensity of cooperation is, the more complex the management becomes, and the lower the number of partners should be. Therefore, it is recommended that: - for basic intensity cooperation projects, the partnership can involve between 8 and 20 partners; - for medium intensity cooperation projects, the partnership should not exceed 10 to 15 partners. However, for high intensity cooperation projects (i.e. mini-programmes), the partnership must lie within a range from a minimum of 3 to a maximum of 8 partners.
Can private bodies be eligible as partners in INTERREG IVC?
INTERREG IVC is a programme dedicated to public authorities (in particular regional and local authorities) and to bodies governed by public law. Due to the strategic approach of the INTERREG IVC programme, regional and local public authorities represent the main target group of the Programme.
Private bodies are ineligible for ERDF funding but can participate in projects at their own costs. Furthermore, and subject to public procurement rules, the private sector can be subcontracted by partners to provide services or to assist in the implementation of certain activities.
What is meant by “body governed by public law”?
Body governed by public law means any organisation:
1/ established for the specific purpose of meeting needs in the general interest, not having an industrial or commercial character;
2/ having legal personality; and
3/ - financed, for the most part, by the State, regional or local authorities, or other bodies governed by public law;
- or subject to management supervision by those bodies;
- or having an administrative, managerial or supervisory board, more than half of whose members are appointed by the State, regional or local authorities, or by other bodies governed by public law.
As indicated in the Programme Manual, each Member State is responsible for confirming the legal status of partners located on its territory. Therefore, in case of doubt about the status, interested bodies should contact its Member State representative. The contact list is available on the Contacts page.
What are the criteria for Norwegian Lead Partners?
The Lead Partner takes the full administrative and financial responsibility for the project. Transferring ERDF to the partners through a non-EU Partner presents additional risks. Therefore, only in well justified cases should the Lead Partner come from Norway. Even though there are no specific criteria to assess it, possible justifications could be that the Norwegian partner:
- has a particular and outstanding experience in the policy field tackled by the project;
- is the major financial contributor to the project.
Budget
What is the total ERDF funding for INTERREG IVC?
The total ERDF budget available for commitments to operations during the period 2007 to 2013 amounts to 302 million EUR, which will be matched with national co-financing. In addition, 2.7 million EUR are available for the participation of Norwegian partners.
How much ERDF has already been allocated?
A total amount of 71.3 million EUR was allocated to the 41 approved projects.
What is the ERDF co-financing rate for the partners of an approved project?
Under the INTERREG IVC, project activities are co-financed by the ERDF at either 75% or 85% depending on the Member State in which the partner is physically located:
- 75% for partners coming from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK;
- 85% for partners coming from Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
The co-financing rate for partners coming from Norway is 50%