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  1. An institution, body, office or agency established by or based on the Treaty on European Union and the Treaties establishing the European Communities.

    All education and training facilities for people of different age groups.

    An intergovernmental organization having legal personality under public international law or a specialized agency established by such an international organization. An international organization, the majority of whose members are Member States or Associated Countries and whose main objective is to promote scientific and technological cooperation in Europe, is an International Organization of European Interest.

    A person with legal rights and obligations. Unlike a legal entity, a natural person does not have a legal act (e.g. association, limited liability company, etc.).

    An NPO is an institution or organization which, by virtue of its legal form, is not profit-oriented or which is required by law not to distribute profits to its shareholders or individual members. An NGO is a non-governmental, non-profit organization that does not represent business interests. Pursues a common purpose for the benefit of society.

    A partnership, corporation, person, or agency that is for-profit and not operated by the government.

    Any government or other public administration, including public advisory bodies, at the national, regional or local level.

    A research institution is a legal entity established as a non-profit organization whose main objective is to conduct research or technological development. A college/university is a legal entity recognized by its national education system as a university or college or secondary school. It may be a public or private institution.

    A microenterprise, a small or medium-sized enterprise (business) as defined in EU Recommendation 2003/361. To qualify as an SME for EU funding, an enterprise must meet certain conditions, including (a) fewer than 250 employees and (b) an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 50 million and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 43 million. These ceilings apply only to the figures for individual companies.

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  1. Administration & Governance, Institutional Capacity & Cooperation 

    This topic focuses on strengthening governance, fostering institutional capacity, and enhancing cross-border cooperation. It includes promoting multilevel, transnational, and cross-border governance by designing and testing effective structures and mechanisms, as well as encouraging collaboration between public institutions on various themes. 

    Innovation capacity and awareness are also key, with actions aimed at increasing the ability of individuals and organizations to adopt and apply innovative practices. This involves empowering innovation networks and stimulating innovation across different sectors. 

    Institutional cooperation and network-building play a crucial role, supporting long-term partnerships to improve administrative processes, share regional knowledge, and promote intercultural understanding. This also includes cooperation between universities, healthcare facilities, schools, sports organizations, and efforts in management and capacity building. 

    This topic focuses on strengthening the agricultural, forestry, and fisheries sectors while ensuring sustainable development and environmental protection. It covers agricultural products (e.g., fruits, meat, olives), organic farming, horticulture, and innovative approaches to sustainable agriculture. It also addresses forest management, wood products, and the promotion of biodiversity and climate resilience in forestry practices.

    In the food sector, the focus lies on developing sustainable and resilient food chains, promoting organic food production, enhancing seafood products, and ensuring food security and safety. Projects also target the development of the agro-food industry, including innovative methods for production, processing, and distribution.

    Fisheries and animal management are essential aspects, with an emphasis on sustainable fishery practices, aquaculture, and animal health and welfare. This also includes efforts to promote responsible fishing, marine conservation, and the development of efficient resource management systems.

    Soil and air quality initiatives play a crucial role in environmental protection and public health. This includes projects aimed at combating soil and air pollution, implementing pollution management systems, and preventing soil erosion. Additionally, innovative approaches to improving air quality—both outdoors and indoors—are supported, alongside advancing knowledge and best practices in soil and air management.

    This topic focuses on protecting the environment, promoting biodiversity, and addressing the challenges of climate change and resource management. It includes efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change, develop low-carbon technologies, and reduce GHG emissions. Biodiversity promotion and natural protection are key aspects. 

    It also covers improving soil and air quality by reducing pollution, managing contamination, preventing soil erosion, and enhancing air quality both outdoors and indoors. Water management plays an essential role, including sustainable water distribution, monitoring systems, innovative wastewater treatment technologies, and water reuse policies. Additionally, it addresses the protection and development of waterways, lakes, and rivers, as well as sustainable wetland management. 

    This topic focuses on preserving, promoting, and enhancing cultural and natural heritage in a sustainable way. It includes efforts to increase the attractiveness of cultural and natural sites through preservation, valorisation, and the development of heritage objects, services, and products. Cultural heritage management, arts, and culture play a key role, including maritime heritage routes, access to cultural sites, and cultural services like festivals, concerts, and art workshops. 

    Tourism development is also central, with actions aimed at promoting natural assets, protecting and developing natural heritage, and increasing touristic appeal through the better use of cultural, natural, and historical heritage. It also covers the improvement of tourist services and products, the creation of ecotourism models, and the development of sustainable tourism strategies. 

    This topic focuses on the sustainable management, protection, and valorisation of natural resources and areas, such as habitats, geo parks, and protected zones. It also includes preserving and enhancing cultural and natural heritage, landscapes, and protecting marine environments. 

    Circular economy initiatives play a key role, with actions aimed at innovative waste management, ecological treatment techniques, and advanced recycling systems. Projects may focus on improving recycling technologies, organic waste recovery, and establishing repair and re-use networks. Additionally, pollution prevention and control efforts address ecological economy practices, marine litter reduction, and sustainable resource use. 

    This topic covers labour market development and employment, focusing on creating job opportunities, optimizing existing jobs, and addressing academic (un)employment and job mobility. It also includes attracting a skilled workforce and improving working conditions for various groups. 

    Strengthening small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and boosting entrepreneurship are key priorities. This includes enhancing SME capacities, supporting social entrepreneurship, and promoting innovative business models. Activities may focus on creating advisory systems for start-ups, spin-offs, and incubators, fostering business networks, and improving the competitiveness of SMEs through knowledge and technology transfer, digital transformation, and sustainable business practices. 

    This topic focuses on fostering community integration and strengthening a common identity by promoting social cohesion, positive relations, and the development of shared spaces and services. It supports initiatives that enhance intercultural understanding and cooperation between different societal groups. 

    Demographic change and migration address key societal challenges, such as an aging population, active aging, and silver economy strategies. It also includes adapting public services and infrastructure to demographic shifts, tackling social and spatial segregation, and addressing brain drain. Migration-related actions cover policy development, strategic planning, and the integration of migrants to create inclusive and resilient communities. 

    All projects where ICT has a significant role, including tailor-made ICT solutions in different fields, as well as digital innovation hubs, open data, Internet of Things; ICT access and connecting (remote) areas with digital infrastructure and services; services and applications for citizens (e-health, e-government, e-learning, e-inclusion, etc.); services and applications for companies (e-commerce, networking, digital transformation, etc.).

    This is about the mitigation and management of risks and disasters, and the anticipation and response capacity towards the actors regarding specific risks and management of natural disasters, for example, prevention of flood and drought hazards, forest fire, strong weather conditions, etc.. It is also about risk assessment and safety.

    This topic focuses on enhancing education, training, and opportunities for children, youth, and adults. It covers the expansion of educational access, reduction of barriers to education, and improvement of higher education and lifelong learning. It also includes vocational education, common learning programs, and initiatives supporting labour mobility and educational networks. Additionally, it addresses the promotion of media literacy, digital learning tools, and the development of innovative educational approaches to strengthen knowledge, skills, and societal participation. 

    This topic emphasizes the role of culture and media in education and social development. It supports initiatives that foster creativity, cultural awareness, and artistic expression among children and youth. Activities include promoting cross-border cooperation in the audiovisual sector, enhancing digital content creation skills, and boosting the distribution of educational and cultural media products. Furthermore, it encourages the development of media literacy initiatives, helping young audiences critically engage with digital and media content. By connecting education, creativity, and media, this topic strengthens cultural identity and supports inclusive, knowledge-based societies. 

    This topic covers actions aimed at improving energy efficiency and promoting the use of renewable energy sources. It includes energy management, energy-saving methods, and evaluating energy efficiency measures. Projects may focus on the energy rehabilitation and efficiency of buildings and public infrastructure, as well as promoting energy efficiency through cooperation among experienced firms, institutions, and local administrations. 

    In the field of renewable energy, this encompasses the development and expansion of wind, solar, biomass, hydroelectric, geothermal, and other sustainable energy sources. Activities include increasing renewable energy production, enhancing research capacities, and developing innovative technologies for energy storage and management. Projects may also address sustainable regional bioenergy policies, financial instruments for renewable energy investments, and the establishment of cooperative frameworks for advancing renewable energy initiatives. 

    This topic focuses on promoting equal rights and strengthening social inclusion, particularly for marginalized and vulnerable groups. It covers activities enhancing the capacity and participation of children, young people, women, elderly people, and socially excluded groups. Activities can address the creation of inclusive infrastructure, improving access and opportunities for people with disabilities, and fostering social cohesion through innovative care services. It also includes initiatives supporting victims of gender-based violence, promoting human rights, and developing policies and tools for social integration and equal participation in society. 

    This area focuses on improving health and social services, enhancing accessibility and efficiency for diverse groups such as the elderly, children, and people with disabilities. It includes the development of new healthcare models, innovative medical diagnostics and treatments (e.g., dementia, cancer, diabetes), and the management of hospitals and care facilities. Additionally, activities addressing rare diseases, promoting overall wellbeing, and fostering preventive health measures fall under this theme. It also covers sports promotion, encouraging physical activity as a means to improve public health and social inclusion. 

    This area focuses on strengthening justice, safety, and security through cross-border cooperation and institutional capacity-building. It includes initiatives aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of police, fire, and rescue services, enhancing civil protection systems, and rapid response capabilities for emergencies like chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear incidents. Activities also target the prevention and combatting of organized crime, drug-related crimes, and human trafficking, as well as ensuring secure and efficient border management. Furthermore, it covers initiatives promoting the protection of citizens, community safety, and the development of innovative security services and technologies. 

    This area focuses on the development and improvement of transport and mobility systems, covering all modes of transport, including urban mobility and public transportation. Actions aiming at improving transport connections through traffic and transport planning, rehabilitation and modernisation of infrastructure, better connectivity, and enhanced accessibility. Projects promoting multimodal transport and logistics, optimising intermodal transport chains, offering sustainable and efficient logistics solutions, and developing multimodal mobility strategies. Also, initiatives establishing cooperation among logistic centres and providing access to clean, efficient, and multimodal transport corridors and hubs. 

    Activities focusing on the sustainable development and strategic planning of urban, regional, and rural areas. This includes urban development such as city planning, urban renewal, and strengthening urban-rural links through climate adaptation, sustainable mobility, water efficiency, participatory processes, smart cities, and the regeneration of public urban spaces. Regional planning and development cover the implementation of regional policies and programmes, sustainable land use management plans, integrated regional action plans, spatial planning, and the efficient management of marine protected areas. Rural and peripheral development addresses the challenges of remote and sparsely populated areas by fostering rural community development, enhancing rural economies, improving access to remote regions, and promoting tailored policies for rural sustainability and growth. 

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Program key data

Interreg Greece-Bulgaria

Parent programEuropean Regional Development Fund
Link to the programwww.greece-bulgaria.eu

Content of program

short description

The Interreg Cooperation Programme Greece – Bulgaria  is a cross-border cooperation programme aims at promoting cross border cooperation by bringing together the different actors of the cross border area, in order to strengthen the development of the region and its transformation into a centre for sustainable development.

program objectives

The following priorities and specific objectives have been developed within the programme:

  • P1: A more resilient and greener Greece-Bulgaria Cross Border Territory
    • SO 1.1: Promoting climate change adaptation and disaster risk prevention, resilience taking into account eco-system based approaches
    • SO 1.2: Promoting the transition to a circular and resource efficient economy
    • SO 1.3: Enhancing protection and preservation of nature, biodiversity and green infrastructure, including in urban areas, and reducing all forms of pollution
  • P2: A more accessible Greece-Bulgaria Cross Border Territory
    • SO 2.1: Developing and enhancing sustainable, climate resilient, intelligent and intermodal national, regional and local mobility, including improved access to TEN-T and cross-border mobility
  • P3: A more inclusive Greece-Bulgaria Cross Border Territory
    • SO 3.1: 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
    • SO 3.2: Enhancing the role of culture and sustainable tourism in economic development, social inclusion, and social innovation

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Expected results

The programme proposes the following (non exhaustive) types of measures:

P1: A more resilient and greener Greece-Bulgaria Cross Border Territory

  • SO 1.1: Promoting climate change adaptation and disaster risk prevention, resilience taking into account eco-system based approaches
    • Risk prevention, monitoring, planning and installation of early warning systems
    • Climate-proof landscape planning and eco-DRR (ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction) measures
    • Cooperation plans, protocols, infrastructures, and equipment for effective risk treatment, including digital solutions
  • SO 1.2: Promoting the transition to a circular and resource efficient economy
    • Implementation of Joint or coordinated action plans for the promotion and application of circular economy and resource efficiency 
    • Creation and support of cross-border and cross-sectoral networks and secondary / used material and product markets
    • Development and application of Circular transformation models solutions and products 
    • Awareness raising and know-how exchange
  • SO 1.3: Enhancing protection and preservation of nature, biodiversity and green infrastructure, including in urban areas, and reducing all forms of pollution
    • Development of Green infrastructure, including developing and implementing new tools, transferring solutions between stakeholders and promotion of environmentally friendly practices 
    • Installation of monitoring systems regarding the prevention and control of air pollution at multiple territorial levels

P2: A more accessible Greece-Bulgaria Cross Border Territory

  • SO 2.1: Developing and enhancing sustainable, climate resilient, intelligent and intermodal national, regional and local mobility, including improved access to TEN-T and cross-border mobility
    • will be applied by exclusively a targeted call for the following Action: improvement of multimodal, smart and secure mobility in Greece - Bulgaria CBC area

P3: A more inclusive Greece-Bulgaria Cross Border Territory

  • SO 3.1: 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
    • Training activities to workers, self-employed, unemployed, and would-be Entrepreneurs on priority topics, including staff exchange 
    • Information and technical exchange on educational and training practices
    • Training and support of special target groups (women, youths, disabled), focusing on cooperation and entrepreneurship
    • Growth of digital competences of enterprises and self-employed aiming to support cross-border value chains 
    • Corporate Infrastructure and equipment serving the above activities
  • SO 3.2: Enhancing the role of culture and sustainable tourism in economic development, social inclusion, and social innovation
    • Support of tourism destination and attractions networking across borders, including the creation of thematic networks and routes with the aim of seasonal and geographical expansions of sustainable tourism
    • Adaptation of tourism sector to cl. change and inclusiveness
    • Promotion of digitization of tourism resources and processes and adoption of digital and innovative tools in local tourism industry 
    • Upgrade of human resources and entrepreneur skills in tourism 
    • Link tourism with local supply chain in the context “farm to fork” EU strategy

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Eligibility criteria

Regions / countries for fundingBulgaria (България ), Greece (Ελλάδα )
eligible entities
Partners
Education and training institution,  Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO),  Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME),  Public Body (national, regional and local; incl. EGTCs),  Research Institution incl. University,  International organization
Mandatory partnershipYes
Project Partnership

The minimum requirement is that at least one project partner from Greece and one from Bulgaria must be involved.

In order to be eligible, projects must contribute to at least three out of the following four cooperation criteria. 

  • Joint development (mandatory) 
  • Joint implementation (mandatory) 
  • Joint financing (mandatory) 
  • Joint staffing
other eligibility criteria

The Interreg Programme Greece-Bulgaria covers the following units/regions: 

  • 7 Greek Regional Units: Evros, Xanthi, Rodopi, Drama, Kavala of the Eastern Macedonia -Thrace Region, Serres and Thessaloniki of Central Macedonia Region
  • 4 Bulgarian Regions: Blagoevgrad of South West Region, Haskovo, Smolyan, Kardzhali of South Central Region

Additional information

Topics Administration & Governance, Institutional Capacity & Cooperation,  Agriculture & Forestry, Fishery, Food, Soil quality,  Air Quality, Biodiversity & Environment, Climate & Climate Change, Water quality & management,  Arts & Culture, Cultural Heritage, Tourism,  Circular Economy, Natural Resources,  Competitiveness of Enterprises, Employment/Labour Market, SME & entrepreneurship,  Digitalisation, Digital Society, ICT,  Disaster Prevention, Resilience, Risk Management,  Education & Training, Children & Youth, Media,  Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy ,  Equal Rights, Human Rights, People with Disabilities, Social Inclusion,  Health, Social Services, Sports,  Mobility & Transport,  Rural & Urban Development/Planning
Relevance for EU Macro-RegionEUSAIR - EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EUSDR - EU Strategy for the Danube Region
UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs)
Program documents Interreg Greece-Bulgaria 2021-2027 programme (337kB)
ContactInterreg EL-BG Joint Secretariat
+30 2310 469695
jts_grbg@mou.gr
Website