Programming the Interreg VI-A Estonia-Latvia programme 2021-2027
In January 2019, the national responsible authorities of Estonia (Ministry of Finance) and Latvia (the Ministry of the Environmental Protection and Regional Development) agreed to initiate the programming process of the Interreg VI-A Estonia-Latvia Programme 2021-2027. Throughout 2019 the task force - representatives of the national responsible authorities, the managing authority and the joint secretariat - carried out preparatory activities and discussions for launching the programming early in 2020.
Joint Programming Committee (JPC)
It is the main engine for the programming - a body, established in the beginning of 2020, that includes the representatives of the ministries and regions of both countries, responsible for the programming and related decisions.
The JPC gathered five times in 2020-2022 to discuss and agree on the procedures and thematic focus of the new programme. Much work on the drafts happen via written communication and procedures. In addition to the JPC meetings, the smaller group in a form of task force had 27 virtual meetings on different matters. The JPC has decided that the State Shared Service Centre (SSSC, Riigi Tugiteenuste Keskus) will continue as managing authority for the new programme 2021-2027 and the joint secretariat remains in Tartu, also in SSSC.
The first complete draft Interreg programme was approved by the JPC on 29 October 2021 and the draft document was published for the public hearing. Comments and proposals were expected until 8 December. The document was supplemented after public hearings and the JPC approved the draft Interreg Programme on 6 January 2022. The national approval procedures in Estonia and Latvia were finalised on 15 March when the relevant ministers of both countries signed the approval letters. The programme was submitted to the European Commission (EC) on 28 March 2022. After the improvement of the programme based on the official observations by the EC in June, the programme was submitted for official adoption on 21 October 2022. The programme was adopted by the EC on 30 November 2022. The first call for proposals is open from 7 November 2022 until 15 February 2023 (Jems closes at 14.00).
Consultations with stakeholders
The member states involved the regions and municipalities very early on in the programming process to identify the cooperation areas and ideas. Since the first discussion the JPC has reached out and consulted the stakeholders in the programme area. We have conducted 2 web surveys over the spring and summer 2020 to gather the proposals for the programme focus, challenges, solutions and cross-border project ideas. As we could not get together in a form of meetings and seminars, we sent the questionnaires to the vast amount of public, private and non-profit organisations, state and municipal institutions, businesses and sectoral umbrellas. Here is the overview of the organisations by their experience, type and location:
Stakeholder statistics 2020 {0.9MB}
As the JPC discussions proceeded in parallel, and the programme focus become clearer, there were held several targeted discussions from August to November 2020 with sectoral experts on tourism (PO4), business development (PO1), environment (PO2), governance (ISO1) and connectivity (PO3).
Preliminary estimate of the strategic environmental assessment
The programme commissioned the contract with Hendrikson & Ko (EE) and Baltic Environmental Forum-Latvia (LV) as the sub-contractor to carry out the Preliminary estimate of the strategic environmental assessment of the Programme 2021-2027.
The overall goal of the Preliminary Estimate was to give an initial assessment (screening) whether the implementation of the Programme has potentially significant environmental impact and to enable to make a decision to initiate or to refuse to initiate the strategic environmental assessment in accordance with the 27 June 2001 European Parliament and Council Directive 2001/42/EC on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment (SEA Directive) as well as of the requirements of Latvian and Estonian statutory regulations relative to Strategic Environmental Assessment.
The report was approved by the JPC in December 2020 and updated according to the observations by the relevant EE and LV national authorities in January 2021. According to the report: based on the features (the strategic level, type of activities included and available resources) of the Estonia-Latvia programme, it will not have adverse effects on the integrity of Natura 2000 areas and it is unlikely to cause significant impacts to the environment.
SEA Prelimiary estimate 18012021_ENG {2 MB}
On 10 March 2021 the SSSC took the decision not to initiate the strategic environmental assessment.
KHS algatmata jätmise otsus 10. märts 2021 {290kb}
KHS algatamata jätmise teade Ametlikes teadaannetes
For further information on the programming and Interreg programme, please contact the consultants or the head of the joint secretariat.