European Commission approves Operational Transnational Cooperation Programme

The European Commission approved the Operational Transnational Cooperation Programme in the South East European Space for 2007-2013. The first contest of projects could take place in March, the Bucharest press reports. The cooperation area includes five new EU member states - Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia; two candidate countries – Croatia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; four potential candidate countries - Albania, Bosnia, Montenegro and Serbia and two states that have special relations with the EU - Moldova and Ukraine. The programme also includes three old members of the European Union: Austria, Greece and Italy. The programme has an available budget of 245 million euros for the seven years covered by the programme (2007-2013). The EU will contribute approximately 206 million euros through the European Regional Development Fund. The national financial contribution of the eight states that are partners in the programme will be about 38 million euros. The projects will be implemented between the public authorities of the partner states and will be financed only if there are at least two beneficiaries involved – by one from each side. Some of the programmes are under negotiations. The cooperation projects could be submitted the next year.