Interreg VI-A Romania-Bulgaria Programme

Interreg VI-A Romania-Bulgaria Programme is financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under the European Territorial Cooperation goal of EU Cohesion Policy 2021-2027.

Interreg VI-A Romania-Bulgaria Programme area stretches over seven counties in the Southern part of Romania (Mehedinți, Dolj, Olt, Teleorman, Giurgiu, Călărași and Constanţa) and eight districts in the Northern part of Bulgaria (Vidin, Vratsa, Montana, Veliko Tarnovo, Pleven, Ruse, Dobrich and Silistra). All 15 NUTS3 regions are situated along the 630 km of Romanian-Bulgarian border.

Programme Priorities and Specific Objectives

• The Programme is organized along 4 priorities, which are broken down into 5 specific objectives (SOs).
  • Priority 1 A well connected
    • SO 3.2 Developing and enhancing sustainable, climate resilient, intelligent and intermodal national, regional and local mobility,
  • Priority 2 A greener region (PO 2)
    • SO 2.4. Promoting climate change adaptation and disaster risk prevention, resilience, taking
    • SO 2.7. Enhancing protection and preservation of nature, biodiversity and green infrastructure, including in urban
  • Priority 3 An educated region (PO4)
    • SO 4.2. Improving equal access to inclusive and quality services in education, training and lifelong learning through developing accessible infrastructure,
  • Priority 4 An integrated region (PO5)
    • SO 5.2 Fostering the integrated and inclusive social, economic and environmental local development, culture, natural heritage, sustainable tourism

Objectives of the call

• The Interreg VI-A Romania-Bulgaria Programme is implemented through projects with strategic importance, standard/regular projects and small scale projects.
• To this end, the objective of this call is to identify and to select high quality regular and small scale projects relevant for the Programme, under Priority 3, SO 4.2.
• Within this call the project proposals can be submitted under Priority 3 An Educated Region and its specific objective:
  • Specific Objective 4.2. – Improving equal access to inclusive and quality services in education, training and lifelong learning through developing accessible infrastructure, including by fostering resilience for distance and on-line education and training.

Funding Information

• The financial allocation to each Specific Objective is presented below:
• Specific objective 4.2
  • Indicative total allocation – Euro: 15,000,000
  • Indicative ERDF allocation – Euro: 12,000,000

Eligibility Criteria

• The following type of applicants are eligible for funding under this call:
  • National, regional and local public bodies, institutions, administrations, agencies, including the bodies governed by public law (which fall under the definition of Article 2(1) of Directive 2014/24/EU on public procurement), county/district councils, local councils/ municipalities, educational and research institutions etc.
  • Chambers of Commerce and Regional Development Agencies functioning in the eligible area and registered in accordance to national law
  • Non-governmental organizations (associations or foundations) in the sense of art. 192, of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046)
  • Offices/branches of public national/regional authorities and other public bodies active on the themes of the priority in the programme area (registered and functioning in the programme area). If those offices/branches which are functioning in the programme area are not legal bodies, the Application should be submitted by their Headquarters indicating the office/branch responsible for implementing the activities.
• In order to be eligible these applicants must fulfil the following criteria:
  • Be a Romanian or Bulgarian entity, legally established according to the national legislation of the state on whose territory they are located
  • Prove their competence in the field and the activities envisaged under the project through ownership acts, legal acts/strategies/action plans references, etc.
  • Not be in any of the situations mentioned under Art. 136 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046
  • Have their headquarters in the Programme area
  • Are Romanian or Bulgarian national public authorities, agencies, or other types of organizations whose area of competence, established by legal acts, extends to the Programme area.
  • In case of infrastructure envisaged, the applicants should be the owners of the given territory/building subject of that investment activities. For Bulgarian partners, in case of infrastructure, the investment activities should be carried out on public property (both public and private domain of the state/municipality).
  • For both types of projects: small scale and regular projects (soft and hard type of operations), the partnership should include project partners or associated project partners legally responsible for the field of interventions/policy domain addressed by the project and who will be the user of the project outputs.
• The applicants that are in any of the situations mentioned under Art. 136 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 shall be excluded from participation in call for proposals.
• Applicants, outside the Programme area, but from Romania and Bulgaria, can also participate in projects, but only in exceptional cases, namely if they:
  • Are competent in their scope of action for certain parts of the eligible area (e.g. ministries, national agencies, research institutes, organizations etc.);
  • Carry out activities that are beneficial for the Programme area;
  • Their participation must bring clear added value and expertise to the implementation of a project and has to be beneficial for the Programme area.
  • They cannot take the Lead Partner role.

For more information, visit Interreg.