Beyond the Borders

This is project addressed at providing support to the European Union’s frontier areas. This is the spirit of Interreg, “ a communitarian initiative undertaken by the European Fund for regional development for the cooperation between EU Regions”, addressed at “strengthening economic and social cohesion within the EU, promoting on one hand trans-frontier, trans-national and inter-regional cooperation, and on the other the territory’s balanced development”. Launched in 1990, the Interreg project concludes this year its third one of programming, and it presents a “fourth edition” for the 2007-2013 five year period. For further information see: a target=’_blanck’ href=http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/interreg3/index_it.htm.http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/interreg3/index_it.htm. THE ADRIATIC’S FRONTIERS. “Territorial cooperation”: this is the name of the fourth Interreg experience, which will be launched next year. As in the past, its objectives will still include economic and social cohesion at a trans-frontier level, addressing first of all the Adriatic area. Within the framework of involving extra EU countries, among the European areas of most interest for the programme. The Adriatic area is certainly a decisive are of cooperation for accelerating the process involving the stabilisation and development of South-Eastern Europe, the part of our continent where there is the greatest inequality in income and where the highest levels of tension develop. And so the Adriatic area is transformed into a “European Sea”, in view of the possible formation of an Adriatic Euro-Region, a territorial and maritime homogeneous area the frontiers of which will be crossed more easily. INVOLVING THE PERIPHERAL AREAS. Interreg is one of the longest lasting means created by the European Commission for promoting economic development and integration between countries and regions. It is part of programming created to facilitate the involvement of extra-European areas, overcoming both inner and outer borders between States, and attempting to address the numerous obstacles linked to linguistic, cultural, legal and administrative differences. All this originated in the disadvantaged situation in the EU’s peripheral areas, in terms of geographical positions, administrative, legislative, linguistic and structural gaps. Problems that already in the Sixties were exposed to the attention of the EU institutions and national governments, and that developed alongside strategies addressed at the simplification and facilitation of the free circulation of goods, services and people from one country to another, followed ever since the 1957 Treaty of Rome, and then perfected with the creation of the Single Market and later enlargements. AN INSTRUMENT FOR INTEGRATION. Hence, from the very beginning, the Inteereg programme’s objective has been that of providing real support to the overcoming of these difficulties in development, stimulating cooperation within the EU, but also outside it, in particular with countries in Central-Eastern Europe. Trans-national cooperation between neighbouring countries was introduced in 1994, with the second programme (1994-1999), and then also maintained for the third (2000-2006). There are two cornerstones on which this programming is based: “the European Union’s external borders, especially in view of enlargement” and “cooperation with the Union’s ultra-peripheral regions”. In the course of this last cycle, with the objective of encouraging and facilitating planning that is as coherent and effective as possible, the programme has been subdivided into distinct areas as geographical aspects are concerned. The about 5 billion Euros available have allowed the implementation of projects addressed at improving cooperation not only between neighbouring regions, but also between countries that are geographically, and in some cases culturally, close, addressing priorities concerning urban and rural development, the creation of and efficient and sustainable transport system, society’s access to information, the valorisation of cultural, artistic and natural heritage and the protection of the environment.