INTERREG V-A ROMANIA-HUNGARY PROGRAMME

Interreg V-A Romania-Hungary Programme

The Interreg V-A Romania-Hungary Programme of the 2014-2020 programming period aims at financing Romanian - Hungarian projects that address cross-border challenges and needs with joint and innovative initiatives, thus contributing to the sustainable development of the eligible area. 

The Programme disposes of a total budget of approx. 232 million EUR, out of which 189 million EUR represent non-refundable support from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The funding can be provided to applicants from the Romanian-Hungarian cross-border region, i.e. the Programme eligible area, including Arad, Bihor, Satu Mare and Timiş counties on the Romanian side and Békés, Csongrád-Csanád, Hajdú-Bihar and Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg counties on the Hungarian side.

In terms of the eligibility of the applicants, the Programme only financed projects where the partnership consists of legal entities, namely the following institutions:

•    Local and county governments / administrations and their institutions
•    National ministries and their specialized institutions, regional offices
•    National/Natural Parks administrations
•    Environmental protection institutions
•    Higher education institutions, research institutions
•    Non-governmental organisation
•    Microregional associations
•    Management organisations of Euroregions
•    Museums, libraries, theatres
•    Churches
•    Offices of Cultural Heritage
•    Chambers of commerce
•    European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC)
•    National organizations responsible for transport infrastructure development

The Calls for Proposals targeted the six priority axes of the Programme, focusing on the following topics:

 
1.    Joint protection and efficient use of common values and resources
The priority axis aims at cooperating on common values and resources by supporting two investment priorities: improved quality management of cross-border rivers and ground waters, and sustainable use of natural, historic and cultural heritage within eligible area.

2.    Improve sustainable cross-border mobility and remove bottlenecks
The priority axis aims at cooperating on cross-border accessibility through two investment priorities: connecting secondary and tertiary nodes to TEN-T infrastructure, and increasing the proportion of passengers using sustainable – low carbon, low noise – forms of cross-border transport.

3.    Improve employment and promote cross-border labour mobility
The priority axis aims at cooperating on employment in order to increase employment within the eligible area through developing the endogenous potential.

4.    Improving health-care services
The priority axis aims at cooperating on health-care and prevention with the objective of providing improved preventive and curative health-care services across the eligible area.

5.    Improve risk prevention and disaster management
The priority axis aims at cooperating on risk prevention and disaster management by promoting investment to address specific risks, ensuring disaster resilience and developing disaster management systems.

6.    Promoting cross-border cooperation between institutions and citizens
The priority axis aims at encouraging cooperation between institutions and communities by intensifying sustainable cross-border cooperation of institutions and communities and promoting their legal and administrative collaboration.

The list of financed projects can be found on this link, and you can access a detailed introduction of the projects under implementation via Projects/Our Projects/Project Library on the Programme’s website. Furthermore, feel free to watch this video showcasing the financed projects of the 1st Open Call. 

As the current programming period is approaching its end, more and more projects come to a successful closure, thus bringing valuable results to the eligible area, as summarised here. In parallel with monitoring the projects however, preparations of the future financing period have started as well: in 2019 the Programming Committee was set up, discussing and deciding about the details of the new programme in four official and several technical meetings so far. The final draft programme was adopted at the last meeting of the Programming Committee and submitted to the European Commission on 1 April 2022. The relevant news can be followed on this link.