The SUDOE Transnational Cooperation Programme allows co-financing cooperation projects in the SUDOE territory on the subjects viewed as primary, which are identified in the Operational Programme (OP).
The SUDOE Programme is part of the INTERREG Initiative created by the European Union in 1991. The new programming period of the European Union (2007-2013) celebrates the importance of the INTERREG, becoming in its own right a Goal of the cohesion policy of the European Union:
- Convergence;
- Regional Competitiveness and Employment;
- European Territorial Cooperation.
The European Territorial Cooperation Goal is divided into three strands:
- A - Cross-border Cooperation;
- B - Transnational Cooperation;
- C - Interregional Cooperation.
The 2007-2013 SUDOE Programme is a part of the transnational cooperation strand and it gathers regions of 4 countries:
- Spain: the whole territory except for the Canary Islands
- France: Aquitaine, Auvergne, Languedoc-Roussillon, Limousin, Midi-Pyrénées, Poitou-Charentes
- Portugal: the whole continental territory
- UK: Gibraltar
The Programme’s budget for the 2007-2013 period reaches 132 million euros, 99 millions of which are a contribution of the European Union via the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund)
The priorities for the 2007-2013 Programme are linked around 4 axis:
- AXIS 1 – Promoting innovation and the creation of strong technological cooperation networks;
- AXIS 2 – Reinforcement of the protection and the sustainable conservation of the environment and the SUDOE wildlife;
- AXIS 3 – Harmonious integration of the SUDOE Space and the improvement of the accessibility to the information networks;
- AXIS 4 – To encourage the sustainable urban development by taking advantage of the positive effects of transnational cooperation.
All the news on the 2000-2006 INTERREG III B SUDOE Programme and on the 2007-2013 SUDOE Programme at the site of the programme: www.interreg-sudoe.org