CITIZEN'S SUMMARY (Article 50(9) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013) Annex 1 to the Annual Implementation Report 2015

The inception On 11 September 2012, delegates from Denmark, Germany, Lithuania, , as well as the Euroregions Baltic and Pomerania have gathered in Warsaw in an inaugural meeting of the Joint Programming Committee. Accepting the rules of procedure marked the beginning of the programming process. 1st Milestone

By agreeing on the content of the draft Cooperation Programme, the Joint Programming Committee has reached an important milestone of the preparatory works for the South Baltic Programme 2014-2020. As decided by the Programme partners on 18 March 2014 in Palanga, Lithuania, the strategic objective of blue and green growth shall guide cooperation initiatives across the shores of the South Baltic. Under the umbrella of the area’s blue and green economy, sectors which are of key importance for the prosperity of the participating regions, e.g. sustainable tourism, renewable energies and the maritime industries, have been identified as the essence of the Programme. The Member States agreed that by giving emphasis to the joint development, testing and transfer of innovative solutions, the Programme shall aim at unlocking the untapped potential for the benefit of these sectors, accompanied by measures strengthening the cooperation capacity of local institutions. Another step closer

At their 8th meeting on 14-15 October 2014 in Gdańsk, the Joint Programming Committee approved the final draft of the Cooperation Programme. This milestone paved the way for the national governmental approval process. In December 2014, the draft programme was officially submitted to the European Commission.

The Programme kicks off on sea and land

The two-days Interreg South Baltic Programme conference took the occasion to celebrate the official closure of the South Baltic Programme 2007-2013 and inauguration of the next Programme generation 2014-2020. Being simultaneously a closure and inaugural event, the conference gathered more than 160 participants in total. Organised onboard the ferry MF Skania (Unity Line) between (SE) and Świnoujście (PL), the first day was officially opened by Ms Anita Ryng from the Polish Ministry for Infrastructure and Development. Looking back upon the efforts done between 2007 and 2013, Thorsten Kohlisch and Dominika Butkiewicz (Joint Secretariat) shared results of the Programme and experiences gained by the Programme staff. The South Baltic Storyville – a narrative session dedicated to personal stories – gathered end-users from Germany, Denmark, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden who shared how South Baltic projects affected their life and business. Ms Regina Huber (Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy), outlined the priorities and expectations of the European Commission towards the 5th generation of INTERREG programmes, emphasising the main changes envisaged for the new programming period (as compared to 2007-2013) and highlighting the headwords of ‘thematic concentration’, ‘result orientation’ and ‘partnership’. Representing the Managing Authority of the Programme, Ms Inga Kramarz introduced the overall Programme objective (to increase the blue and green growth potential of the South Baltic area through cross-border cooperation) together with the five priority axes and specific objectives of the new Programme. In a panel discussion with members of the Joint Programming Committee, Anita Ryng (MA), Krzysztof Żarna (PL), Cecilia Lagerdahl (SE), Steffen Schubert (DE), Niels Chresten Andersen (DK) and Sebastian Magier (Euroregions) shared their views on the new Programme. Attended by more than 130 guests, the second day of the conference took place in and was dedicated to practical sessions providing insights for future applicants. The conference was opened by Vice Marshal Jarosław Rzepa of Zachodniopomorskie. The Joint Secretariat introduced the general Programme’s concepts of blue and green growth and soft cooperation as well as priority axes, project categories, the Programme’s timeframe and available tools for a successful start. The event continued with a guided partner matching exercise designed for exchange of contacts and ideas. In the afternoon, two strands of parallel workshops on SME internationalisation and innovation, green technologies, cooperation capacity and cross-border networks, tourism, transport as well as labour and skills development allowed for a more detailed introduction of the respective priority axis, presentations of project ideas and subsequent discussions. Actively contributing to the workshops, the Priority Area Coordinators and Horizontal Action Leaders for the areas of Climate Change, Innovation, Tourism and Transport outlined possible synergies with the EU Strategy for the Region. The conference was closed with informal networking possibilities including a cross-border band performance.

The Programme officially adopted Signed by the European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Ms. Corina Creţu, in the evening of 23 September 2015, the South Baltic Programme 2014-2020 has been officially adopted by the European Commission.

Getting closer to the applicants

On 1 and 2 October 2015 in Gdańsk, the Members of the Monitoring Committee used the occasion of their first meeting to approve the timeframe for the first call for proposals. As agreed, all the specific objectives of the Programme were to be open for applicants between 2 November and 18 December 2015. The delegations approved also the new Programme Manual as well as the application pack for the first call. A mock-up application form together with a working version of the Programme Manual was then made available on the Programme’s website in the course of October. The first round of project consultations with the Joint Secretariat and the Contact Points in all Member States has followed between 3 and 20 November 2015. The Programme provided individual consultations on ca. 60 project ideas.

The 1st call The 1st call for proposals of the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2014-2020 was open between 2 November and 18 December 2015. 27 applications were submitted by lead partners from all Member States covered by the Programme (Denmark, Germany, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden). The requested support from the European Regional Development Fund amounts to EUR 35 255 783, 07.