Practical Seminar European Territorial Cooperation: How to Build a Successful European Partnership for Better Use of EU Funds? Closure of programmes and preparation for the next programming period 2014-2020 Barcelona (ES), 27-29 November 2013 European Institute of Public Administration Institut européen d administration publique
Introduction Target group National, regional or local public administration, NGOs, associations and other actors interested or involved in the design, development and implementation of territorial cooperation programmes and projects Description The three days practical seminar will give a complete overview of all existing and accessible financial instruments for countries, regions, provinces and municipalities in the framework of territorial cooperation in the programming period 2007 2013, but as well foreseen evolution of the Territorial Cohesion from 2014 onwards. Regions and cities are very important players in programming and implementation of the EU Cohesion policy in terms of promotion of regional and local growth, job s creation and maintenance related measures, but as well in the process of creation and implementation of JOINT EU co-financed projects in different areas of regional development. The EC encourages regions and cities from different EU Member States to work together and learn from each other through joint programmes, projects and networks. This seminar will be focused on the following areas: Objective 3 of the Cohesion Policy in the programming period 2007-13 - European Territorial Co-operation (former IC INTERREG), covering three types of programmes cofinanced by ERDF: 52 cross-border co-operation programmes along internal EU borders; 13 transnational co-operation programmes covering larger areas of co-operation such as the Baltic Sea, Alpine and Mediterranean regions; interregional co-operation programme (INTERREG IVC) and 3 networking programmes (Urbact II, Interact II and ESPON) covering regions of all 27 Member States of the EU. Territorial Cooperation will be in the next programming period 2014 2020 one of the two goals of the Cohesion Policy, with the separate regulation, bigger budget and higher importance. European Grouping for Territorial Cooperation (EGTC), new legal instrument introduced by Regulation 1082/2006, designed to facilitate and promote cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation. It reflects the ongoing development of governance and organizational solutions in the area of territorial cooperation. EGTC are established mainly to manage or implement programmes and projects financed by structural funds, develop other forms of territorial cooperation without EU funding or to carry out actions relating to Community policies other than structural policy in the area of territorial cooperation. The European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) replaced as of January 2007 the existing geographical and thematic programmes currently operating in the partner countries. Since 2007, the ENPI provides grants for local development projects that target sustainable development and approximate EU policies and standards in countries that are direct neighbours of the enlarged EU, involving both EU Member States and partner countries. The ENPI follows agreed key areas in the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) Action Plans (specific action plans for development), which are the cornerstones of the ENP. Funds are allocated to individual country programmes depending on their needs and their implementation of agreed reforms. Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) instrument of the EU pre-accession Policy providing the assistance to candidate and potential candidate countries of the European Union. The aim of the IPA is to prepare these countries for full EU membership, including preparation for the efficient programming and implementation of EU Policies and the absorption of EU Funds. However, the most important component in the context of the seminar is the Cross Border cooperation component of IPA. Learning methodology Traditional training methods (lectures and presentations, including concrete examples) will be combined with an interactive approach through discussions, exchange of experiences between participants, participants experts and round table. One of the most important elements of the seminar is the presentation of best practices of JOINT EU co-financed projects that were implemented in the previous programming period as well as those currently being implemented in the present financial perspective by different member states (Spain, Poland, Nederland, France and other countries) and practical workshop how to be efficient in joint projects, managed by experts in the field. Objectives By the end of the seminar, participants will have gained a thorough knowledge of all accessible financial and legal instruments for territorial cooperation, rules which apply to joint programmes and projects, how to use the best practices and how to avoid mistakes. The goal of the seminar is as well to build a real territorial cooperation network between participants and institutions for future joint projects and the exchange of practical experiences.
Programme Wednesday 27 November 2013 I. Territorial cooperation and partnership: objectives, instruments, legal solution, geographical division and future developments 2014-2020. 08.45 Registration and distribution of seminar material 09.00 Opening of the seminar: Introduction to the programme, objectives and methodology (PL), Senior Lecturer and Project Leader, EIPA Barcelona 09.15 Tour de table : Participants presentation to endorse networking 09.35 Introduction to the EU Territorial Cooperation Policy in the programming period 2007-2013 and its development in the next financial perspective 2014-2020: objectives, instruments and challenges 11.00 Coffee break 11.30 European Grouping for Territorial Cooperation (EGTC): state of play and prospects in Europe Case study: the EGTC s in Spain. Gracia Vara Arribas (ES), Expert, EIPA Barcelona 13.00 Lunch 14.30 State of play of all ENPI CBC programmes and foreseen changes for the programming period 2014-2020 Bodil Persson (SE), Deputy Head of Unit - Coordinator Cross Border Cooperation Unit F3 - Regional programmes, Neighbourhood East, Devco, European Commission 15.30 Debate II. Territorial Co-operation and partnership: experiences by regions and countries, practical examples of best practices, closure of programmes and preparation for 2014-2020 15.45 Implementation of the 3rd objective of the EU Cohesion Policy in Poland and the preparation for the next programming period 2014-2020 Marta Pietrzyk (PL), Head of the Systems and Control Management Unit, Territorial Cooperation Department, Ministry of Regional Development 17.15 Debate 17.45 End of the first day 20.30 Welcome dinner Thursday 28 November 2013 09.10 Success stories of territorial cooperation programmes and projects in Spain Belén Mendoza (ES), Responsible of EU programs, EU Programs Department in the Santiago de Compostela Chamber of Commerce 10.40 Q&A session 10.50 Coffee break 11.15 Ex-ante evaluation of Territorial Cooperation Programmes - methodological approach Pietro Celotti (IT), Partner, Head of Culture and Tourism at t33 12.45 Q&A session 13.00 Lunch 14.15 Baltic Sea Region and North West Europe case studies - experiences from programme and project management Liga Baltina (LV), Senior EU policy researcher and consultant at Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini III. Territorial Cooperation goal in the next programming period 2014-2020 15.30 Europe 2020 and territorial cohesion Alexander Heichlinger (AT), Expert and Manager of EPSA, EIPA Barcelona 16.45 The future of the territorial cooperation, state of negotiations and the CoR point of view Bert Kuby (DE), Head of Unit, EU Committee of Regions 18:15 End of the second day Friday 29 November 2013 IV. Workshops 09.00 Key elements of different phases of Joint project: practical approach Xavier Tiana Casablancas (ES), Expert in EU Structural Funds national and regional programmes 10.30 Workshop: How to build a successful partnership in European Territorial Cooperation projects? Xavier Tiana Casablancas, 11.00 Coffee break 11.20 Workshop: continuation 13.15 Evaluation panel Xavier Tiana Casablancas, 14.00 Closure and issuing of the EIPA Certificates 09.00 Introduction of the second day
Experts In alphabetical order: Liga Baltina (LV) Senior EU policy researcher and consultant at Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini. She has experience serving as the Regional development and territorial cooperation expert at the Centre for European and Transition studies. She has over ten years of experience working with EU and other financial instruments (ERDF, ESF, Norwegian financial mechanism, Latvia-Swiss cooperation program, EU Territorial cooperation programs), out of which, more than six years being Head of International Projects and Communication department at the State Regional Development Agency of Latvia. Working experience covers also being a member of the national subcommittee for Territorial cooperation, acting as ESPON contact point in Latvia and having a working experience for Territorial cooperation programme in France. More than 5 years being part of research and expert team at the Centre for European and Transition studies and Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence. Current PhD. cand. in Management Science at University of Latvia. Research focus is on the implementation of the place-based approach in regional development. Pietro Celotti (IT) P Partner, Head of Culture and Tourism at t33. He has over 10 years experience in the coordination of transnational projects for culture, rural tourism, lifelong learning and corporate internationalization. In the area of European Territorial Cooperation, Pietro is involved in the interim evaluation of the ALCOTRA France-Italy 2007-2013 programme and in the assessment of the Italy-Tunisia ENPI standard projects. He has also contributed to the stakeholder dialogue of the Alpine Space programme. He is currently coordinating the ex-ante evaluation of the ERDF Regional Operative Programme of the Province of Bozen (Italy). On behalf of the Italian Republic Embassy in Tunis he formulated a training plan for the launch of eco-cultural tourist routes in different regions of Tunisia. Since 2010 Pietro has been teaching Project Cycle Management for International Development Cooperation to international students at the University of Macerata. Alexander Heichlinger (AT) Senior Faculty Member, Expert at EIPA Barcelona and Head/ Manager of the European Public Sector Award (EPSA). Over the last 16 years he has been involved in and has led numerous assignments for regional and local authorities in the enlarged Europe as well as for the European institutions and other international organisations, e.g. Resource reference in the 2012 edition of the United Nations Public Service Awards Day and Forum; Membership of the Steering Committee of the Council of Europe s 2012 Programme Best Practices on Regeneration of the European coastal towns ; Member of the EC DG Employment 2010 Steering Committee in Assessment of administration and institutional capacity building interventions and future needs in the context of the European Social Fund ; Jury member of the Living Labs Global Showcase Award 2010; Partner in and member of the Scientific Committee of the ALSO Project Achievement of the Lisbon and Gothenburg Strategy Objectives by INTERREG, EC INTERACT Secretariat (2005-2008); etc. Since 2009 he heads the European Public Sector Award (EPSA) project management team at EIPA. EPSA will celebrate in 2013 its fourth edition. He has published 9 books and has many other publications in his name (i.e. academic articles, policy and discussion papers, expert reports, etc.). (PL) Senior Lecturer and project leader at EIPA Barcelona. Doctor in EU Regional Policy. Specialised in EU funds, with main focus on European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and pre-accession funds (former PHARE, IPA). Working experience as EU expert, trainer, manager or adviser in the framework of Institutional Building and Technical Assistance EU projects in the field of regional development: Poland, Germany, Slovakia, Romania, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, Albania, Turkey, Kosovo, etc. Bert Kuby (DE) Head of Unit at the EU Committee of Regions, in charge of the Subsidiarity Monitoring Network, Europe 2020 Monitoring Platform and the platform on European Groupings for Territorial Cooperation. Bert oversees the monitoring (and research) of the role of local and regional authorities in the Europe 2020 strategy and the contribution of the CoR to the mid-term review of the strategy from the perspective of regions. The unit implements the EU Treaty obligation of the CoR as guardian of the subsidiarity and proportionality principles. This includes involvement in impact assessments (IA), lately also territorial IA. Bert has been substantially involved in regional policy issues. He has been in charge for 10 years at the European Commission for the negotiations on the Regional Policy chapter in accession negotiations. For 6 years, he has been providing policy advice, technical assistance and training on regional policy and EU cohesion policy, including cross-border and interregional cooperation. Belén Mendoza (ES) Responsible of EU programs, EU Programs Department in the Santiago de Compostela Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Navigation. Former Secretary General of CECICN (Conference of European Cross-border and interregional city networks), where her job focused on cross-border and interregional projects and consultancy work for International Relations issues for the City Council of Santiago de Compostela. She was in charge of the designing and monitoring of projects of the different European Programmes: Interreg IVB, Interreg IVC, Framework Programme, Europe for Citizens, Daphne, and Youth in Action. She has coordinated ATLANTE project (Interreg IIIB), SUITE project (URBACT II) and SANTIAGO-UNE project (Europe for Citizens). She also took part in the General Assemblies or Executives Bureaus and was in charge of the communication with the entities and institutions in which the City Council of Santiago is a member. Bodil Persson (SE) Deputy Head of Unit F3 Regional programmes East, EU Commission. Responsible for the 13 operational ENPI Cross Border Cooperation programmes both East and South. She has been involved in Cross Border Cooperation with countries on the other side of the external border since many years closely
Experts involved in setting up the Neighbourhood programmes and the preparation and implementation of the ENPI CBC programmes. She is directly responsible for the 2 sea basin programmes Mediterranean programme and the Black Sea programme. Marta Pietrzyk (PL) Head of the Systems and Control Management Unit, Territorial Cooperation Department, Ministry of Regional Development. Responsible for horizontal issues within 7 ETC (earlier also 2 ENPI) programmes, including: supervision of the national financial control and eligibility system, system of detecting irregularities, official interpretations of European and polish regulations, especially concerning public procurement, system s and projects on the spot control, cooperation with external and internal auditors during annual audits of management and control systems, elaboration and verification of procedures, manuals (regarding Managing Authority, Joint Technical Secretariat and First Level Controllers, eligibility guidelines), monitoring of implementation of the programmes, cooperation with controllers and partners of the programmes, preparation of the new operational programmes for 2014-2020 (institutional system, control and eligibility system). In 2012 she participated in the twinning project in Croatia. The aim of the project was to prepare Croatia for implementation ETC programmes after joining the EU. Xavier Tiana Casablancas (ES) tbc Expert in EU Structural Funds national and regional programmes (programming, project preparation, project management, evaluation). Experience in European Territorial Cooperation and other programmes: project preparation and project management. Experience in lobbying EU Policies related to urban and regional issues. Good knowledge of networks. Involved in the management of transnational networks (Arco Latino, Partenalia, etc.). Gracia Vara Arribas (ES) Expert at EIPA Barcelona. She specialises in European law, regional participation in decision making, and the legal aspects of European integration, with a particular focus on regional and local governance (Multilevel Governance). In the area of territorial cooperation through the legal tool EGTC she was a member of the Committee of the Regions group of selected experts on the topic (CoR Ateliers 2008), conducted a research on the EGTC s in Spain (2008), and published several articles on the issue, the last one under the title European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) -New spaces and contracts for European integration? (Eipascope number 2009/2, coauthored G. Vara & G. Spinaci). European Institute of Public Administration EIPA Barcelona C/ Girona, 20 / 08010 Barcelona www.eipa.eu Project Leader Senior Lecturer Tel.: +34 93 55 38 742 E-mail: i.karwot@eipa.eu