Territoriality

Interreg is European Territorial Cooperation, the needs and challenges of our territory forms the basis of the interventions we seek to make. Ahead of the 2021-2027 period, a special focus on territoriality was placed, in order to help programmes correctly identify the key challenges, and to understand opportunities in taking a territorial approach. This closely relates to the Territorial Agenda 2030, which provided a strategic framework for territorial development.

Throughout programme periods, the European Commission but also programmes have established instruments to improve the territorial impact programmes and projects have on the ground. Interact's work under territoriality is closely linked to the different territorial instruments:

• Integrated Territorial Investments, coordinating investments across local and regional administrative boundaries and across sectors maximises their impact and ensures resources are used efficiently to address the specific needs and opportunities of each territory.
• Territorial Impact Assessment, assessing the potential impacts of policies on different regions ensures that decisions are made with a clear understanding of how they will affect various territories.
• Localism and A Europe closer to citizens (PO5), 
• Small project funds (SPF) and small scale projects (SSP) and the intermediate bodies often managing them:
  • European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation (EGTCs)
  • Community Led Local Development (CLLD), derived from Liaison Entre Actions de Développement de l’Economie Rurale (LEADER) and Local Action Groups (LAG), translates to a “bottom-up” approach to local development that involves citizens at the forefront of the management of activities and decision-making processes.
• A Better Cooperation Governance (ISO1)
• Macro Regional Strategies (MRS)
• Sea Basin Strategies (SBS), mostly through the geographic networks in the Atlantic area, and Mediterranean. 

Besides working on the instruments, stakeholder involvement is essential for territorial cohesion. Interact therefore also provides programmes with support for better stakeholder involvement and partnerships. Additionally specific support to overcome cross-border obstacles is provided through B-solutions.

Where to start

The Territorial Package brought together the key conclusions from the process of considering territoriality in Interreg. It is designed as a beginners material to this subject,

What we are working on

We are currently working jointly with ESPON on the forthcoming Review of the Territorial Agenda 2030. The aim is to help connect Interreg programmes with the review and to help anchor Interreg within the Territorial Agenda, and vice versa. 

We also work with Interreg programmes through our various networks on the Territorial instruments for more information on the individual instruments see the linked network pages. 

Contact

For more information please contact Pieter Louwers

Exchange Community

Interact offers an online space for those working with Territoriality, and wider Programme and project management, to share information and exchange. You can find out more about our MS Teams environment on our Networks page, and see all our networks in our Portal.

If you would like to learn more about this, please contact Pieter Louwers