Interreg projects: reforming the territory in healthcare, education, employment and tourism

Capitalisation More social Europe (PO4) Reforms in Interreg

A side event of the European Week of Regions and Cities

Interreg projects: reforming the territory in healthcare, education, employment and tourism

Most Interreg projects start small — two hospitals agreeing on a referral protocol,  schools running a joint training course,  tourist boards recognising each other's guides. Nothing dramatic. But stay with these projects long enough, and you start to see something bigger happening: the rules themselves are changing.

That's really what this session is about. Not the pilots, but what comes after them — when a working protocol becomes a standard procedure, when a one-off agreement becomes a mutual-recognition arrangement, when enough territories prove something works and a regulation finally catches up.

We'll look at how this plays out in four areas people actually live with:

Healthcare. Ambulances that can cross a border without paperwork holding them up. Patients referred to the nearest hospital, not the nearest one in-country. Shared teams, shared bookings, shared costs.

Education & VET. A qualification earned on one side of a border that's simply accepted on the other. Schools and training centres building courses together instead of duplicating them.

Employment. A worker who can find a job, understand their tax situation, and get matched to the right skills programme — all in one place, instead of chasing three different systems.

Tourism. A tour guide who doesn't need three certificates to work in three countries. Permits and visitor rules that keep up with how people actually travel now.

None of this happens by accident. It happens because someone tested it first, in a real place, with real institutions willing to take a risk. That's the role Interreg plays — and it's what public authorities can build on once they see it work.

The venue and agenda will soon be available.