Welsh local authorities are widely engaged in partnership with counterparts in Europe and futher afield. Interregional working not only brings opportunities for local economic development, but also to share good practice and develop strong alliances between local authorities and the communities they represent.
The benefits that result from participation in a transnational working arrangement can be considerable. For example, transnational and interregional co-operation can be considered as a strategic tool, used to profile local authorities within the relevant European institutions, as well as regions in member states and candidate countries; it can develop new ways of working and structures as well as building relationships with regions and sectors across Europe; it can also assist in accessing and participating in European funding programmes, networks and associations, and building up contacts in other regions, therefore opening up possibilities for future co-operation.
In addition, local authorities are able to gain access to new ideas by learning from others, thereby improving work methods and enhancing skills, including developing language and communication skills. At a project level it can speed up the process of innovation and creative thinking also takes place. However, it is important to define the reasons for pursuing transnational relationships, in order to fully appreciate the benefits that transnational co-operation might bring to your organisation.
UK National and Regional Interreg Contacts Directory (2nd Edition)
General Overview of Main Programmes
• Wales qualifies for eligibility in the case of four main European Cooperation Programmes:
Ireland Wales Cross Border Programme
- Authorities in North West and South West Wales are eligible (Anglesey, Gwynedd, Denbighshire, Conwy, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire).
- 2007-2013 Programme – total value €70m - €53m in ERDF grant.
- The Managing Authority is based in Waterford, Ireland.
- WEFO jointly chairs the Programme Monitoring Committee (PMC) and Programme Steering Committees (PSC).
North West Europe Transnational Programme
- All of Wales is eligible.
- Total value €697m - €355m in ERDF grant.
- The Managing Authority is based in Lille, France.
- The UK Department for Communities and Local Government is the UK lead on this programme.
- In 2010, the UK will hold the rotating Presidency of this programme.
Atlantic Area Transnational Programme
- All of Wales is eligible.
- Total value €159m - €104m in ERDF grant.
- The Managing Authority is based in Porto, Portugal.
- WEFO has the lead coordinating role in the UK on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG).
- WEFO is the National Correspondent for the Programme in the UK and attends all National Correspondent meetings on behalf of UK partners.
INTERREG IVC Inter-Regional Programme
- All EU Member States can participate in this programme, thus all of Wales is eligible.
- Total value €405m- €321m in ERDF grant.
- The Managing Authority is based in Lille, France.
- The UK Department for Communities and Local Government is the UK lead on this programme.
Networking Programmes
URBACT II
• URBACT aims to foster the exchange of experience between European cities and to capitalise on and disseminate knowledge of all issues related to sustainable urban development.
• URBACT II is an exchange platform used to set up Thematic Networks and Working Groups. It provides an exchange and learning tool for policy-makers, practitioners, and other actors involved in developing urban policies.
• The URBACT activities must have an actual impact on local urban sustainable development practices and policies.
• The 2nd call for proposals for the creation of Thematic Networks and Working Groups closed on 25 September 2009.
• For further information on the URBACT programmes, please visit the URBACT website.
INTERACT II
• The INTERACT Programme promotes and supports good governance of European Territorial Cooperation Programmes.
• It focuses on management techniques and provides assistance to programmes throughout the programme life-cycle.
• For further information on the INTERACT programme and upcoming events, please visit the INTERACT website.
ESPON
• ESPON aims to support policy development and to build a European scientific community in the field of territorial development. Its aim is to increase the knowledge of territorial structures and policy impacts in an enlarged EU.
• The last Call for proposals and Expressions of Interest was launched on 16 September 2009.
• For further information on the ESPON Programme and the next call for proposals, please visit the ESPON website.
• Information on the ESPON UK Network can be found on the ESPON UK Network website.
Wales Representation on Committees and other Networks
Programme Monitoring Committees and Programme Steering Committees
Ireland Wales (WLGA Representatives)
PMC
• Councillor Goronwy Edwards (Conwy County Borough Council)
• Councillor Tom Richards (Pembrokeshire County Council)
PSC
Priority 1 PSC: Knowledge, Innovation and Skills for Growth
• Current vacancy for a representative from a North West Wales Local Authority (WLGA will seek nominations for this Committee soon).
Priority 2 PSC: Climate Change and Sustainable Regeneration
• Gwyn Evans (Pembrokeshire County Council).
North West Europe
PMC
• WLGA held the UK regional rotational seat for the 2-year period of 2007–2009.
• The UK took over the chair of the NWE PMC in 2010. As the chair holders, the UK is responsible for hosting committee meetings and running the annual event.
• WEFO will hold the UK national rotational seat from 2012-2013.
PSC
• WLGA will hold the UK regional rotational seat from 2011–2012.
• WEFO held the UK national rotational seat in 2010.
Atlantic Area
PMC
• WLGA will hold the UK regional rotational seat from 2012–2013.
• As WEFO is the National Correspondent for the Programme in the UK it attends the PMC on a permanent basis throughout the lifetime of the programme (2007-2013).
INTERREG IVC
PMC
• WLGA holds the UK regional rotational seat from 2010–2011.
• WEFO held the UK national rotational seat for 2007–2009.
UK INTERREG Group
• The UK Interreg Group is chaired and facilitated by the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG). It brings together key Regional and Devolved Administration representatives to manage high level and strategic risks for the UK's participation under the Territorial Cooperation Programmes.
• WEFO attends this Group on behalf of Wales.
• The WLGA European Office receives feedback on these meetings from the RESP Group (see below) and directly from WEFO.
RESP Group
• The WLGA European Office attends the Regions’ European Spatial Planning (RESP) Group, which meets quarterly in London to discuss regional involvement in EU cooperation programmes, to share experiences, and to stay informed of developments of programmes. The RESP Group also does some lobbying of Whitehall Departments, in particular CLG and BIS (formally BERR).
Role of the WLGA
• The WLGA manages local government’s formal involvement in the programmes, which includes representation on the various committees and networks.
• The WLGA also liaises with the WEFO Territorial Cooperation Programmes Unit in relation to Welsh involvement in the programmes.
• The work of the WLGA on the Territorial Cooperation Programmes is led by the WLGA European Office with support from Lowri Gwilym in the WLGA Cardiff Office.
• The European Office' role involves raising awareness among local authorities of the opportunities presented by these programmes, and to monitor progress of the programmes and Welsh involvement in them.
• The European Office will provide regular updates on the programmes to all local authorities and will provide feedback from programme meetings and events.
• All local authorities with an interest in getting involved in these programmes, or those that are already involved, are encouraged to liaise with the WLGA European Office so that the office is aware of the levels of engagement, as well as any issues that should be taken forward on behalf of Welsh local government at the various meetings and events.
• In addition, all members and officers who represent the WLGA on the various committees are encouraged to liaise with the WLGA European Office in order to seek the views of local government before meetings, and to provide feedback from the meetings.
Programme Updates
Ireland Wales Cross Border Programme
Summary
• The third call for proposals closed on 25 September 2009. The call was targeted at two thematic areas:
„X Priority 1 Theme 2 – Skills for Competitiveness and Employment Integration
„X Priority 2 Theme 2 – Sustainable Regeneration of Communities
• A list of Approved Round 1 Projects is now available. Round 2 projects will be posted shortly.
• Potential applicants should contact their local Development Officer as soon as possible:
- North West Wales
roger.seddon@wales.gsi.gov.uk
Tel: 01492 542594
- South West Wales
patrick.lilly@wales.gsi.gov.uk
Tel: 01267 225471
PSC
• The Steering Committees met on the 22 & 23 April 2009 to consider the second bidding round projects. 12 Projects were provisionally supported with an indicative grant requirement of circa €16.5m.
PMC
• The last meeting of the Programme Monitoring Committee was in Dublin on 18 June 2009, where it was decided that the 3rd round would focus on P1T2 and P2T2 only, with no other targeting within those themes.
• The PMC considered the use of podcasts of people talking about projects as a way to make the website more interesting.
• Despite concerns expressed by the Commission regarding evaluation, and specifically that 2010 was too late to start, the JTS did not give any indication that they might bring forward any evaluation work.
• Acknowledgement was made regarding the importance of avoiding an N+2 decommitment.
• The Commission emphasised the importance of sponsors and Managing Authorities providing a full audit trail.
AOB
• A seminar was held in Brussels on 29 June 2009 for Managing Authorities on the modification of the ERDF Regulation.
• For further information on the current call for proposals, please visit the programme website.
North-West Europe Transnational Programme
Summary
• The 5th call for proposals under the North-West Europe Programme closed on 7 October 2009. A decision on approved projects should be made by Christmas.
• The next application call opened in September with PMC/PSC scheduled for 7-9 December 2009.
• Programme closure of IIIB is currently underway with a target date for full programme closure of 31 March 2010.
• From the IIIB Programme there is an average spend of about 97% and decommitment risk is very low at forecast 3m€ ERDF.
• DG Regio is carrying out an audit on sample projects and has identified issues with public procurement, poor audit trails, and failure to adhere to EU publicity requirements.
PSC
• The last NWE PSC was held in the Netherlands on 25-26 June 2009.
• 7 of 32 applications were deemed ineligible due to fairly avoidable issues, such as no signature, late submission, or incomplete application form, etc.
• The PSC expressed concerns at the continuing low level of overall quality in the applications submitted under the programme.
• The PSC recommended to the PMC that the planned first call in 2010 should be open to all priorities and that for the second half of the year it should be a targeted call focussed on Priority 1 (Innovation).
PMC
• The last NWE PMC was held in the Netherlands on 24 June 2009. The next meeting of the PMC will be in December 2009.
• 33 projects have been approved for approximately 145 million ERDF (43% of Programme). Priority 2 (Environment) is the most committed at around 70%, while more effort is needed for quality project development in Priorities 1 (Innovation & Knowledge Transfer) and 4 (Strong & Prosperous Communities).
• On current project forecasts there is a low risk of N+2 decommitment in 2009, but this will increase in 2010 unless more projects are approved, and approved projects start to increase their level of claims. The JTS were concerned about delays in projects getting their first level controls in place and certified by the respective MS, without which claims cannot be submitted.
• The PMC agreed to investigate further a possible application for a Block Exemption for as many NWE activities as possible, as a test case for applying the GBER to the European cooperation programmes. The attractiveness of this, especially for helping private sector involvement, must be balanced against the time and trouble to secure an exemption, and the prospect of complex monitoring and reporting procedures.
• A three-pronged approach to the development of strategic projects was agreed. Firstly, projects could continue to apply at their own discretion to be considered as strategic initiatives as part of each application call, selected projects would be invited to consider forming a cluster (and so receive some additional ERDF), and finally a number of ‘top down’ project ideas would be actively developed into strategic projects.
AOB
• If you would like further information on the North-West Europe Programme, please visit the programme website.
Atlantic Area Transnational Programme
• The 2nd call for proposals under the Atlantic Area Programme closed on 5 June 2009 with 78 applications received in total.
• Under round one, Wales is involved in six successful project bids, one of which Wales (Denbighshire CC) is the lead partner.
• So far, from a total ERDF budget of 104m€, 40m€ has been committed.
• First level controls seem to be the major sticking points from round one, with the European Commission asking for detailed itemisation of all payments.
• The Atlantic Area Programme recently appointed a new UK Contact Point, Heather Silcox.
• For further information, please visit the Atlantic Area Programme website.
INTERREG IVC Inter-Regional Programme
• The second call for proposals for the INTERREG IVC Programme closed on 30 January 2009.
• The results of this call have been delayed due to the large volume of applications. 491 in the first round and 482 in the second round.
• The next PSC will be 9-10 November. A decision on approved projects can be expected from the PMC in the autumn.
• A third call should be announced in December. The Programme will close after this call.
• A practical brochure has been produced under the INTERREG IVC programme, which summarises the 41 projects approved in the first round of this programmes, and which details by theme the initiatives undertaken by regional and local authorities to improve their regional development policies. Click on the link to view the brochure.
• If you would like further information on the INTERREG IVC Programme, please visit the official website.
Future of European Territorial Cooperation
• The current debate on the future of European Cooperation Programmes is gathering pace, with a number of wider issues weighing in on the debate, including the future of Cohesion Policy more broadly and the level and architecture of the Structural Funds post-2013, which in turn will be heavily influenced by the forthcoming EU Budget negotiations.
• The three elements of territorial cooperation (cross-border, transnational, and interregional) are widely recognised as being key for a successful territorial cohesion policy. Thus, the future challenges for cooperation are linked to the overall demands on cohesion policy.
• The results of the European Commission’s recent consultation on territorial cohesion yielded a strong demand for reinforcing territorial cooperation by making it simpler, more strategic and more flexible.
• A key point underlined by contributors was the importance of coordinating national and regional strategies and regulations. At the same time, the Commission can provide added value by facilitating exchanges of experience and best practice across regions, particularly through networking and benchmarking to solve problems regardless of administrative borders.
• In its response to the Commission consultation, the WLGA advocated a strengthening of the territorial cooperation objective by moving away from the notion of geographic zones, and by creating one single cooperation fund that allows greater flexibility for regions to choose.
• The WLGA European Office has also joined an influential group of some thirty regions from across Europe called the Round Table of Practitioners in Implementation (ROTOPI), which is focusing significant attention on questions of future cooperation and interregional working, and which has considerable support from DG REGIO.
Other relevant documents:
- Lessons learned from the Interreg III programme and opportunities for the future
- European Cooperation Programmes - Lessons learned 2007-2009
For more information contact: Iwan Williams