INTERREG South Baltic - 6th call for proposals

Deadline: Dec 18, 2018  
CALL EXPIRED

The 6th call for proposals of the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2014-2020 is open between 01 October and 18 December 2018, 4 p.m. CET. 

The call is open only for the following specific objectives: 

• Specific objective 2.2: “Increased use of green technologies in order to decrease the pollution discharges in the South Baltic area”
• Specific objective 3.1: “Improve the quality and environmental sustainability of transport services in the South Baltic area”  
• Specific objective 4.1 “Increase the share of skilled labour force working in blue and green economy sectors of the South Baltic area through joint cross-border actions”
• Specific objective 5.1: "Improve the cooperation capacity of local South Baltic area actors through participation in cross-border networks"

Please download a profiled announcement of the call for the specific objective you are interested in to access the information on the current situation and requirements:

1. State of play in specific objective 2.2

The Interreg South Baltic Programme in its second generation is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and becomes a well recognized financial instrument for cooperation across the southern shores of the Baltic Sea. The main objective of the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2014-2020 is ‘to increase the blue and green growth potential of the South Baltic area through cross-border cooperation’.

In the framework of the specific objective 2.2 ‘Increased use of green technologies in order to decrease the pollution discharges in the South Baltic area’ the Programme calls for projects related to green technologies. A comprehensive description of the Programme specific objective 2.2 can be found in the Programme Manual (Chapter II, Detailed description of Priority Axes) and the Cooperation Programme Document. Nonetheless, it can be concluded that the projects funded under specific objective 2.2 enable their participants to:

• investigate best practices and exchange knowledge and experience related to the green technologies;
• cooperate with partners and jointly develop tailored solutions for the environmental challenges of their regions based on green technologies;
• test innovative green technologies;
• form international networks with organisations pursuing the same mission;
• experience the cross-sector cooperation possibilities in an international setting

The total ERDF funding allocated to the specific objective 2.2 for the period 2014-2020 is EUR 19 886 852,00, however due to decision of the Monitoring Committee the funding was decreased to EUR 18 167 040,57 that constitutes 22% of the overall Programme budget. As a result of the five finalised calls, 10 regular projects and 6 seed money projects have been selected for the implementation under specific objective 2.2.

Until now approximately 71% of the available funding for the specific objective 2.2 has been committed to the approved projects.

Before the 6th call for proposals the amount available to be committed is 5 264 064,88 EUR ERDF.

The projects approved under the five finalised calls for proposals have committed to full achievement of the Programme output indicator targets in the specific objective 2.2, namely “Number of delivered green technology services, products, standards and tools” and “Size of pilot investments co-financed by the Programme in the uptake of green technologies”.

The 6th call for proposals is open for projects contributing to any of the output indicators under specific

objective 2.2. However the Programme would like to highlight following areas and subjects of interest: - Integrated energy sources / smart grids
- Increased share of renewable energy sources
- Stormwater management

State of play in specific objective 2.2

The Interreg South Baltic Programme in its second generation is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and becomes a well recognized financial instrument for cooperation across the southern shores of the Baltic Sea. The main objective of the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2014-2020 is ‘to increase the blue and green growth potential of the South Baltic area through cross-border cooperation’.

In the framework of the specific objective 2.2 ‘Increased use of green technologies in order to decrease the pollution discharges in the South Baltic area’ the Programme calls for projects related to green technologies. A comprehensive description of the Programme specific objective 2.2 can be found in the Programme Manual (Chapter II, Detailed description of Priority Axes) and the Cooperation Programme Document. Nonetheless, it can be concluded that the projects funded under specific objective 2.2 enable their participants to:

• investigate best practices and exchange knowledge and experience related to the green technologies;
• cooperate with partners and jointly develop tailored solutions for the environmental challenges of their regions based on green technologies;
• test innovative green technologies;
• form international networks with organisations pursuing the same mission;
• experience the cross-sector cooperation possibilities in an international setting

The total ERDF funding allocated to the specific objective 2.2 for the period 2014-2020 is EUR 19 886 852,00, however due to decision of the Monitoring Committee the funding was decreased to EUR 18 167 040,57 that constitutes 22% of the overall Programme budget. As a result of the five finalised calls, 10 regular projects and 6 seed money projects have been selected for the implementation under specific objective 2.2.

State of play in specific objective 4.1

The Interreg South Baltic Programme in its second generation is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and becomes a well recognized financial instrument for cooperation across the southern shores of the Baltic Sea. The main objective of the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2014-2020 is ‘to increase the blue and green growth potential of the South Baltic area through cross-border cooperation’.

In the framework of the specific objective 4.1 ‘Increase the share of skilled labour force working in blue and green economy sectors of the South Baltic area through joint cross-border actions’ the Programme calls for projects related to skilled labour forces development. A comprehensive description of the Programme specific objective 4.1 can be found in the Programme Manual (Chapter II, Detailed description of Priority Axes) and the Cooperation Programme Document. Nonetheless, it can be concluded that the projects funded under specific objective 4.1 enable their participants to:

• investigate best practices and exchange knowledge and experience related to human resource capacities for the area’s blue and green economy;
• cooperate with partners and jointly develop tailored solutions for boosting human resource capacities for the area’s blue and green economy;
• test innovative methods and tools;
• form international networks with organisations pursuing the same mission;
• experience the cross-sector cooperation possibilities in an international setting

The total ERDF funding allocated to the specific objective 4.1 for the period 2014-2020 is EUR 8 310 000, that constitutes 10% of the overall Programme budget. As a result of the five finalised calls, 6 regular projects and 4 seed money projects have been selected for the implementation under specific objective 4.1.

Until now approx. 85% of the available funding for the specific objective 4.1 has been committed to the approved projects.

Before the 6th call for proposals the amount available to be committed is 1 236 563,89 EUR ERDF.

State of play in specific objective 5.1

The Interreg South Baltic Programme in its second generation is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and becomes a well recognized financial instrument for cooperation across the southern shores of the Baltic Sea. The main objective of the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2014-2020 is ‘to increase the blue and green growth potential of the South Baltic area through cross-border cooperation’.

In the framework of the specific objective 5.1 ‘Improve the cooperation capacity of local South Baltic area actors through participation in cross-border networks’ the Programme calls for projects related to cooperation capacity building. A comprehensive description of the Programme specific objective 5.1 can be found in the Programme Manual (Chapter II, Detailed description of Priority Axes) and the Cooperation Programme Document. Nonetheless, it can be concluded that the projects funded under specific objective 5.1 enable their participants to:

• exchange knowledge and experience related to cross-border cooperation between local community organisations;

• develop cooperation platforms of local self-government bodies and the non-governmental sector that increase their capacity to influence regional, national or EU policies affecting local development;

• strengthen the networking, participation and cooperation capacity of local organisations as well as their ability to engage in an intercultural dialogue;

• form international networks with organisations pursuing the same mission;

• experience the cross-sector cooperation possibilities in an international setting

The total ERDF funding allocated to the specific objective 5.1 for the period 2014-2020 is EUR 4 155 354,00 that constitutes 5% of the overall Programme budget. As a result of the three finalised calls, 9 regular projects and 2 seed money projects have been selected for the implementation under specific objective 5.1.

Until now approx. 90% of the available funding for the specific objective 5.1 has been committed to the approved projects.

Before the 6th call for proposals the amount available to be committed is 422 421,85 EUR ERDF.

Eligible area:

Denmark: Bornholm, Østsjælland, Vest-og Sydsjælland
Sweden: Skåne län, Blekinge län; Kalmar län, Kronobergs län
Germany: districts (Landkreise) Nordwestmecklenburg, Rostock, Vorpommern-Rügen, Vorpommern-

Greifswald and district-free city (kreisfreie Stadt) of Rostock;

Poland: Chojnicki, Miasto Szczecin, Szczeciński, Stargardzki, Koszaliński, Słupski, Szczecinecko-Pyrzycki, Gdański, Trójmiejski and Elbląski 1

Lithuania: Klaipėdos apskritis, Tauragės apskritis, Telšių apskritis

In comparison to the period 2007-2013 there are two significant changes to the Programme eligible area. Firstly, there is no division between the core and adjacent territories of the Programme. This means that all included territories are now governed by the same Programme rules. Secondly, due to an administrative reorganisation of districts and district free cities introduced in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (DE) in 2011, the total area covered by the Programme has been enlarged, with the former district (Landkreis) Güstrow now being a part of the district (Landkreis) Rostock for the programming period 2014-2020.

As a general rule, activities within the South Baltic Programme should be implemented in the Programme eligible area. In exceptional cases, if for the benefit of the Programme eligible area and the Programme’s objectives, some activities may be implemented outside the Programme eligible area or even on the territories of other EU Member States.

For those exceptional cases the EU created a possibility and legal framework under the Art. 20 item 2(b) of regulation No. 1299/2013. This rule, the so called 20% eligibility rule, allows accepting that some project activities are being implemented outside the Programme eligible area. The 20% eligibility rule is monitored at the Programme level.

With reference to the 20% eligibility rule, the following funding is still available in the 6th call for proposals:

The ERDF funding available for carrying out activities outside the eligible area (20% eligibility rule)

12 976 924 EUR

3. Who can apply?

In the South Baltic Programme the project partnership can consist of three types of partners:

•   lead partner (LP);

•   project partner (PP);

•   associated partner (AP).

While all types of partners are expected to commit themselves to the delivery of the project, only the first two types of partners can benefit directly from ERDF funding and have to provide their own contribution as a counterpart to the Programme co-financing.

3.1 Lead partner

Definition of the lead partner

In order to act as a lead partner in the South Baltic Programme project an organisation must have a legal personality and fall into one of the categories:

1. national, regional and local authorities;
2. bodies governed by public law (as defined in Art 2(1) of Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on public procurement and repealing Directive 2004/18/EC (OJ L 94, 28.3.2014). This means body fulfilling all three conditions:
   • □  established under public or private law for the specific purpose of meeting needs in the general interest, not having an industrial or commercial character, and
   • □  having legal personality, and
   • □  financed, for the most part, by the State, regional or local authorities, or other bodies governed by public law; or subject to management supervision by those bodies; or having an administrative, managerial or supervisory board, more than half of whose members are appointed by the State, regional or local authorities, or by other bodies governed by public law.

• associations of one or several regional or local authorities;

• associations of one or several bodies governed by public law;

• European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) (as defined in the Regulation (EC) No 1082/2006 as amended by Regulation (EU) No 1302/2013).

Regardless of the category, an organisation has to make the results of the project available to the general public.

Bodies listed above can act as lead partner only if their financial and organisational capacities allow that. These will be assessed on a case by case basis during the quality assessment of applications. Therefore, such organisations, especially NGOs, should be able, on short notice, to present and provide the JS with three year’s balance sheets and employment records in order to prove their ability to cover for potential irregularities during project implementation.

In principle, to become a lead partner, an organisation has to be located (what is decisive is the legal address of the organisation) in the South Baltic Programme eligible area. In exceptional cases, where explicitly justified by the project’s character, organisations of national or regional level that are located outside the eligible area, but have a branch office in the eligible area (e.g. Marshal Office of Warmia-Mazury), may also become lead  partners. In such cases it is strongly recommended that the JS is contacted in advance to confirm eligibility. The national/regional authorities, which have territorial jurisdiction over a Programme region (independent from the existence of a branch office) also can become lead partners. In such case, the general requirement for the organisations outside the eligible area shall be applied, i.e. their participation has to be explicitly justified by the project’s character and the relevant Programme Member State (Programme region) will take over the financial responsibilities related to the participation in the project.

For full information please check the Programme Manual, Chapter III Specific features of the South Baltic projects, point 2.1.