From May to the end of July, the call for applications for the Interreg NEXT Poland-Ukraine 2021-2027 cross-border cooperation programme will be open. Applicants can request EU funds under the priorities: Health – with a budget of €37.36 million and Environment – €43.75 million.

According to the Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy, applications can only be submitted in English via the 2021 Central ICT system. The staff of the Joint Programme Secretariat will answer questions on the rules of the call after the Monitoring Committee approves the application package.

“To assist applicants, we will organise two free Partner Search Forums. The first one, for the Health priority, will be held on 19-21 April 2023 in Rzeszów, and the second one for the Environment priority on 26-28 April 2023 in Lublin”, announces the Ministry. 

In May, after the call for proposals is announced, 10 training courses for future applicants will also be organised, one for each of the six regions in Ukraine: Volyn, Lviv, Zakarpattia, Rivne, Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, and one for the four provinces in Poland: Mazovia, Podkarpacie, Podlasie and Lublin. The training courses will also be available online. Information on where and how to register will be published on the programme website. 

The second call for proposals for the remaining priority axes of the programme: Tourism – with a budget of EUR 35.87 million, Cooperation – with a budget of EUR 5.11 million for actions to increase the efficiency of public administration is planned for 2024. 

The cross-border cooperation programme Interreg NEXT Poland-Ukraine 2021-2027 envisages a total of more than 170 million euro from the European Union for the implementation of joint initiatives. It focuses on the common challenges of environmental protection, culture and sustainable tourism, healthcare, cooperation between citizens and institutions, and security and border protection.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński