North-West Europe Task Force reaches agreement on the advanced draft of the new Interreg NWE Programme

Interreg North-West Europe formally started the process aimed at designing a new programme (2021-2027) at the end of 2019. An Interreg NWE task force (NTF) made of delegations from each country involved in the future NWE Programme was launched and has, since then, worked on developing the Interreg Programme (IP) for North-West Europe to be submitted to the European Commission for feedback and approval.

At the last NTF meeting on 10 February 2022, Member state representatives agreed on a final draft Interreg Programme (10 Feb 2022 version), including five priorities and nine specific objectives for the future NWE Programme to focus on. This final draft will be officially submitted to the European Commission for approval in the coming days. The EC will then assess the document and is expected to formally approve the Interreg North-West Europe Programme (2021-2027) by Summer 2022.

The draft Interreg Programme is the outcome of discussions within the NTF and its dedicated working groups, which have based themselves on the Interreg Regulation for the 2021-2027 period and the SWOT analysis for the future programme carried out by a consortium of external consultants. It includes input from the NWE Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and the feedback submitted to the NWE Programme via its stakeholder consultation.

Please note that the information provided in this document may still change following feedback and further discussions that may take place with the concerned parties, namely the North-West Europe Task Force and the European Commission.

Thematic orientation

The NTF has reached a preliminary agreement on five priorities and nine specific objectives for the future NWE Programme to focus on.

Priority 1: Climate and environment

  • Promoting climate change adaptation and disaster risk prevention, resilience taking into account ecosystem-based approaches (SO 2.4).
  • Enhancing protection and preservation of nature, biodiversity and green infrastructure, including in urban areas, and reducing all forms of pollution (SO 2.7).

Priority 2: Energy transition

  • Promoting energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions (SO 2.1).
  • Promoting renewable energy in accordance with Directive 2018/2019, including the sustainability criteria set out therein (SO 2.2).

Priority 3: Circular economy

  • Promoting the transition to a circular and resource efficient economy (SO 2.6).

Priority 4: Innovation and resilience

  • Developing and enhancing research and innovation capacities and the uptake of advanced technologies (SO 1.1).

Priority 5: Inclusive society

  • Enhancing the effectiveness and inclusiveness of labour markets and access to quality employment through developing social infrastructure and promoting social economy (SO 4.1).
  • Ensuring equal access to health care and fostering resilience of health systems, including primary care, and promoting the transition from institutional to family-and-community-based care (SO 4.5).
  • Enhancing the role of culture and sustainable tourism in economic development, social inclusion and social innovation (SO 4.6).

The Specific Objectives numbering refers to the one that appears in the NWE IP document. It follows the numbering of Specific Objectives as defined by the European Commission.

Access here the draft Interreg Programme and related documents

Draft Interreg NWE IP version 10 Feb 22
Annex I - Table 8 - total financial appropriations by fund and national co-financing

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