East of England Europe and International Panel

East of England Europe and International Panel Date: 10 March 2017 Item: 5 Subject: Interreg Programmes post-brexit Report by: Jennifer Carson Contact: +32 2289 1200 jennifer.carson@east-of-england.eu Purpose To inform members of the value of Interreg Programmes to the East of England and the impact of Brexit could have on our access to these programmes Recommendations 1. That members mandate the Head of the Brussels Office to work with the UK government and other stakeholders to negotiate the fullest possible access to all relevant Interreg Programmes for the East of England after the UK has left the EU. 1. Introduction 1.1 Interreg is the brand name given to a set of EU funding programmes which promote cooperation between regions across the EU. The EU calls this European Territorial Cooperation. 1.2 The programmes are categorised into three strands: cross border cooperation (across a border, land or maritime), transnational cooperation (across a geographical zone) and interregional cooperation (across the EU as a whole). 1.3 Interreg is part of the EU s regional (cohesion) policy. Funding for the programmes comes from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). By allowing regions to work together, Interreg programmes aim to contribute to the economic, social and territorial development of the Union as a whole. 2. Interreg and the East of England 2.1 Available data shows that organisations in the East of England have been involved with Interreg since at least the Interreg II programmes which ran from 1994-1999. 2.2 Today, the East of England is eligible to take part in a total of seven different Interreg programmes. Together these programmes have a budget of over 1.5 billion (2014-2020). The programmes are: Interreg VA Cross border France/Channel England Programme (managed by Norfolk County Council) Two Seas Programme 1

Interreg VB Transnational North West Europe Programme North Sea Programme Interreg VC Interregional Interreg Europe Urbact III ESPON 2020 2.3 Participation in the Interreg Programmes by organisations in the East of England has been consistent since the early days of the initiative. Data is patchy for the early operations of the programmes but we know that during Interreg II from 1997-1999, in the North Sea Region, organisations in the East of England took part in 11 projects which received a total of 3,076,527 in EU funding. 2.4 Between 2000 and 2013 (Interreg III and Interreg IV all programmes), organisations in the East of England led a total of 30 Interreg projects which received a total EU contribution of 65,499,549.88 and participated as partners in a further 150 which received contributions from the EU of 301,251,976.86. 3. Added Value of Interreg 3.1 Whilst the financial contributions of participating in Interreg are clear, organisations that participate in Interreg often highlight additional added value from participating, beyond the financial benefit. 3.2 Below are some of the most common added value reasons given for participating in Interreg: 4. Case Studies Socio-economic Projects initiate additional development processes across larger contiguous economic zones. Sustainable development Joint approaches across (maritime and land) borders to address shared environmental and climate change related problems. Socio-cultural and educational Cooperation between cultural and educational institutions to develop new working relationships, mutual learning, enhanced cultural understanding and exchanges. Political and Institutional Improved administrative cooperation between different levels of public administration across borders, sharing best practice, joint procurement and new public policy making processes. ANSWER - A North Sea Way to Energy-efficient Regions Suffolk Partners: Suffolk County Council, Ipswich Borough Council, Environment Agency, Suffolk Chamber of Commerce Other Partners: Norfolk County Council, West Flanders POM, East Flanders POM, Bremer Energie-Konsens, 2

RKW Bremen GmbH, SUBVE Bremen, Stavanger Kommune, Rogaland Fylkeskommune, Vaxjo Kommun Total Value of Project: 755,887 Funds into Suffolk: 377,944 Programme: North Sea Date awarded: 2008 ANSWER brought together experts with experience in renewables, energy management and working with business and community groups from across the North Sea. The project shared experience and developed new approaches to reduce carbon emissions. Project outcomes and impact: Nearly 2,000 Ipswich families pledged to become greener, saving a potential 250,000 in energy bills and 123 tonnes of carbon as part of the Ipswich ANSWER Green Behaviours Project. The Suffolk Carbon Charter, an award to encourage business to reduce their energy consumption, was developed drawing on experience from German and Flemish partners. The launch of a Climometer - a device to measure and display energy use from a community of any size, whether a school or a whole town. Carbon displays within schools as part of an engagement package, including teacher training. Establishing a Carbon loan available at 0% interest for capital projects aimed at energy reduction. Development of an environmental network for SMEs to allow business-to-business learning and support. Legacy Domestic ERDF funding supports key activities first developed through ANSWER. The Carbon Charter accreditation and network, grant funding for businesses to realise energy efficiency measures and energy reviews for businesses have been developed and scaled to meet demand based on what was learnt from project partners. The project led to a successor scheme BEE (Business Energy Efficiency) Anglia, funded by ERDF from the 2014-2020 Growth Programme which built on the work of ANSWER. The project offers a range of services to SMEs in the New Anglia LEP area, including independent expert advice, grants towards new energy efficiency measures, independent accreditation through the Carbon Charter and online training. The BEE project was also replicated in the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough LEP area, after discussions with SCC personnel Build with CaRe - Mainstreaming Energy efficiency in the built environment Programme: Interreg North Sea Programme East of England Partners: Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, University of East Anglia, West Suffolk College 3

EU contribution to the project: 3,709,876.00 The aim of the Build with Care project was to mainstream energy efficient building design by raising awareness and increasing knowledge of the potential of energy savings. This helped develop Southend on Sea Borough s own low carbon strategy including revisions of planning documents. It also part funded the refurbishment of the Prittlewell Chapel and provided technical support for Prittlewell Priory, which was built as a medieval monastery and will now become the host of the UK s first green museum. 5. Future of Interreg post-brexit 5.1 The East of England has been involved in Interreg programmes for a long time and received significant sums of money. Involvement in Interreg Programmes has also allowed organisations in the East of England to learn different ways of working from continental colleagues and trial new approaches that are subsequently developed into successful domestic programmes and/or mainstreamed. It is fair to say that should these programmes stop on the day the UK leaves the EU, the result will be both a funding gap and the loss of a reliable mechanism for collaborating with our European partners. 5.2 East of England participation in the Interreg programme is guaranteed today only because we are an EU Member State. In her speech on 17 th January, the Prime Minister said, There may be some specific European programmes in which we might want to participate. If so, and this will be for us to decide, it is reasonable that we should make an appropriate contribution. 5.3 In Brussels, Commissioner Cretu, responsible for regional policy, has said, My hope is that the UK will remain a participate in cross-border programmes and that the UK will also meet all of its cohesion policy commitments until 2023. 5.4 Once we leave the EU and should we wish to continue to access Interreg programmes, we will have to negotiate a bespoke arrangement, bilaterally with the EU. Some examples of how this is done today by Norway, Switzerland and neighbouring countries can be found in Annex I. *** ANNEX I 4

Participation in Interreg when you are not a Member State of the EU Examples: Norway, Switzerland and neighbouring countries Norway Norway s participation in the Interreg Programmes (European Territorial Cooperation) is not part of the EEA agreement (unlike for other EU funding programmes which are). Norway s participation in the Interreg Programmes is due to a Bilateral Agreement (seemingly an informal letter which states their willingness to participate). Norway currently participates in the following programmes (2014-2020): Cross Border Interreg V-A - Sweden-Finland-Norway (Botnia-Atlantica), Interreg V-A - Sweden-Finland-Norway (Nord), Interreg V-A - Sweden-Denmark-Norway (Öresund-Kattegat-Skagerrak) Transnational North Sea Programme, Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme, Baltic Sea Programme Interregional Interreg Europe, URBACT, ESPON, INTERACT Financing Norway agrees the Norwegian contribution with the Commission. In the case of cross border programmes the money is sent from the Norwegian ministry to the Norwegian regions concerned to spend. In the case of transnational programmes, the programme secretariat opens a special bank account for the Norwegian funds so that the money from Norway is only given to Norwegian partners. There are some exceptions to this, for example when a Norwegian partner is the lead partner in a project. Norway does not guarantee funding to the project during the whole life of the programme in order to accommodate for changes in government thinking. 5

Switzerland Participation by Swiss organisations in Interreg is secured on the Swiss side by its inclusion in a federal law on regional policy. An external evaluation of Switzerland s involvement in Interreg which was carried out in 2013, found that Interreg projects were important to Switzerland and constituted a significant part of Swiss regional policy. Swiss organisations are therefore encouraged to take part in Interreg projects and the Swiss Confederation has made between 50 and 60 million francs ( 40m and 50m) available to ERDF. During the 2014-2020 programming period, Switzerland participates in the following Interreg Programmes. Cross border programmes Interreg V-A - Germany-Austria-Switzerland-Liechtenstein (Alpenrhein-Bodensee-Hochrhein) Interreg V-A - France-Germany-Switzerland (Rhin supérieur/oberrhein) Interreg V-A - France-Switzerland Interreg V-A - Italy-Switzerland Transnational programmes Alpine Space and North West Europe Interregional Programmes Interreg Europe, URBACT, ESPON and INTERACT. Financing Swiss involvement in Interreg projects is co-financed (normally around 60%). Organisations involved in Interreg projects receive their contributions from the Confederation and the Cantons via the Interreg contact points. Most of the money for Swiss participation in Interreg comes from the Confederal government. However, Cantons (regions) also contribute. It depends on the Interreg programme whether Cantons put money into a whole programme or into individual projects. That also has an effect on who s selecting the projects the Cantons on the national contact points. 6

Countries neighbouring the EU The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) governs the EU's relations with 16 of the EU's closest Eastern and Southern Neighbours. To the South: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia and to the East: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Russia takes part in Cross-Border Cooperation activities under the ENP but is not a part of the ENP as such. The European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) ( 15.4 billion for the period 2014-2020) is the main funding programme for implementing the ENP. Cross-border cooperation (CBC) is an integral component of the EU s European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), and of EU-Russia co-operation. Since 2014, Cross Border Cooperation is included in the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) regulation. 634 million is earmarked for cross-border cooperation and the funding is delivered through 17 European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) cross-border collaboration programmes: Land border programmes Kolarctic/Russia Karelia/Russia SE Finland/Russia Estonia/Russia Latvia/Russia Lithuania/Russia Poland/Russia Latvia/Lithuania/Belarus Poland/Belarus/Ukraine Hungary/Slovakia/Romania/Ukraine Romania/Moldova Romania/Ukraine Sea-crossing programme Italy/Tunisia Sea-basin programmes Baltic Sea Region Black Sea Mediterranean Mid-Atlantic These programmes focus on: Business and SME development Support to education, research, technological development and innovation Promotion of local culture and preservation of historical heritage 7

Promotion of social inclusion and fight against poverty Support to local and regional good governance Environmental protection, and climate change mitigation and adaptation Improvement of accessibility to the regions, development of sustainable and climate-proof transport and communication networks and systems Common challenges in the field of safety and security Promotion of and cooperation on sustainable energy and energy security Promotion of border management border security and mobility Other areas not listed above likely to have a substantial cross-border impact (case by case justification required) The funding for the ENI-CBC programmes comes from two sources: from the financial allocations for the ENI itself, which are limited to a maximum of 5% of the ENI financial envelope as set out in the ENI Regulation, and from the European Regional Development Fund. 8