The European Commission took a decision to transfer additional EUR 48.5m for the Interreg NEXT Poland-Ukraine 2021-2027 programme. The funds have been sourced from the allocations for the cancelled European Territorial Cooperation programmes involving Russia and Belarus.
According to the decision of the programme’s Monitoring Committee, additional funds will be earmarked for the financing of out-of-competition strategic projects as part of the new ACCESSIBILITY priority and the BORDERS priority.
As part of the Accessibility priority, projects related to road and rail transport are due to be financed, becoming a part of an initiative involving solidarity lanes that connect the European Union and Ukraine. The programme is currently being updated in this respect.
The European Commission is due to approve the amended programme by the end of 2023.
The Interreg NEXT Poland-Ukraine 2021-2027 programme is implemented as part of the “European Territorial Cooperation” (Interreg) objective and the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI). The overriding goal of the programme is to support cross-border cooperation processes in the Polish and Ukrainian borderland. The Programme is addressed to Polish and Ukrainian border regions and all non-profit institutions based there. The European Union has secured EUR 187.4m for the Programme (including EUR 170.3m for projects).
The programme was originally focused on five priorities: Environment, Health, Tourism, Cooperation and Borders. It has recently been extended by a new priority - Accessibility.
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