HUSKROUA 2021-2027

Introduction of the HUSKROUA INTERREG NEXT Programme 2021-2027

The cross-border Interreg programmes implemented within the framework of the European Union's Cohesion Policy are important tools for the balanced and integrated territorial development. Despite of their small budget, the programmes play a decisive role in strengthening regional and urban cooperation and in the development of border areas.

Similarly, to the previous programming period, Hungary is hosting the Managing Authority of the Hungary-Slovakia-Romania-Ukraine Interreg NEXT Programme. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, performing the Managing Authority function, is responsible for the planning and implementation of the Programme and is in close cooperation with the national and regional institutions of the participating countries and the Joint Secretariat hosted by the Széchenyi Programme Office.

Following an active programme planning period of the last three years, realized with the participation of four countries, the Governments of all four countries adopted the HUSKROUA Interreg NEXT Programme early this year. Hungary, as the Managing Authority of the Programme, submitted the draft Interreg Programme to the European Commission on 1st of April, 2022. As a result of further negotiations, on 3rd of November, 2022, the European Commission approved the content of the Programme developed for the 2021-2027 period at the 41st committee meeting of the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument - Global Europe (NDICI-GE). The HUSKROUA Interreg NEXT Programme was the first among the Interreg NEXT Programmes submitted in the framework of NDICI-GE, and the first approved by the European Commission.

Similarly as the quadrilateral ENI CBC Programme the new HU-SK-RO-UA Interreg NEXT Programme aims at serving the development of the Hungarian-Slovak-Romanian-Ukrainian border region and has a special commitment to catch up with the Ukrainian programme area. The Programme area consists of the following territorial units: Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county and Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county in Hungary, Košický kraj and Prešovský kraj in Slovakia, Maramureş, Satu-Mare and Suceava in Romania, Zakarpattia oblast, Ivano-Frankivsk oblast and Chernivtsi oblast in Ukraine.

In the 2014-2020 period, 67 million EUR have been allocated to 79 projects implemented in the fields of environmental protection, mitigation of climate change impact, development of healthcare, institutional cooperation, promotion of local culture and preservation of historical heritage.

The implementation of the HUSKROUA ENI CBC Programme 2014-2020 is greatly hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic and by the war situation in Ukraine. Nevertheless, the Programme management bodies do everything to mitigate those negative effects so that the Hungarian, Slovak, Romanian and Ukrainian partners who have received EU support can successfully implement their projects by the end of year 2023. All four participating countries’ primary goal is to be able to continue to finance the border region with strong cooperation in the difficult war situation, thus ensuring the assistance provided to Ukraine.

In the 2021-2027 period, 66 million EUR will be allocated for project ideas to be implemented in cooperation with partners from Member states and from Ukraine. The Programme was adopted by the EC by its decision C(2022) 8029 on the 3 November 2022.

The NEXT Programme is structured along three Priorities:

A resilient and green border region
A healthy and attractive border region
A cooperating border region

Projects will have to focus on one of the following specific objectives:

promoting climate change adaptation and disaster risk prevention
enhancing biodiversity and reducing all forms of pollution
ensuring equal access to health care
enhancing the role of culture and sustainable tourism in economic development, social inclusion and social innovation
enhancing cooperation between citizens, civil society actors and institutions

The Monitoring Committee of the new Programme will decide on the opening of the first Call for Proposals, which is foreseen at the first trimester of year 2023. The planning of the Interreg VI-A NEXT Programme between Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Ukraine for the period 2021-2027 has been finalized. The Interreg Programme was submitted to the European Commission on 1st of April, 2022. The consultation process is still ongoing. The Interreg Programme document and the final report of the Strategic Environmental Assessment with translations to national languages are available below:

Documents available:

Unofficial translations available:

Pursuant to Article 29(2) of the Interreg Regulation, the Managing Authority of the Interreg NEXT Hungary-Slovakia-Romania-Ukraine Programme is publishing the Rules of Procedure (RoP) of the Monitoring Committee (MC) of the Programme, along with the list of the Members and Observers of the MC (being Annex I to the RoP) and the summary of the main decisions of the 1st MC meeting convened on 1st of February, 2023.

Pursuant to Article 29(2) of the Interreg Regulation, the Managing Authority of the Interreg NEXT Hungary-Slovakia-Romania-Ukraine Programme is publishing the summary of the main decisions of the 2nd MC meeting convened on 25th-26th of July, 2023.

HUSKROUA NEXT _Summary of decisions_2nd MC meeting

The planning process of HUSKROUA INTERREG NEXT

The programming process of the Interreg A NEXT Programme between Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Ukraine for the period 2021-2027 has been started in 2019 with the involvement of all four participating countries.

In summer 2019, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary as the Managing Authority of the current Hungary-Slovakia-Romania-Ukraine European Neighbourhood Instrument Cross-border Cooperation Programme (ENI CBC) requested the Central European Service for Cross-Border Initiatives (CESCI) to elaborate the territorial analysis of the next Programme.

The main objective of the territorial analysis was to provide the stakeholders involved in the Programming Committee (PC) with an overview on the territorial processes of the border region and information on the intentions and opinions of the territorial and sectorial actors on the content of the future Programme.

The territorial analysis of the programme document has concluded five major proposed Thematic Objectives – Priorities (TO6-P1 Environment; TO8-P1 Disasters; TO7-P1 Transport; TO8-P2 Health; TO3-P1 Heritage), which were narrowed down by the PC to three Priority objectives (A resilient and green border region; A healthy and attractive border region; A more cooperating region).

Based on the results of the analysis, another expert team could have started its assignment to elaborate the backbone of the programme concept, in concrete, defining the priorities, policy objectives, specific objectives, potential beneficiaries, type of actions, target groups and indicators of the future Programme. In addition, a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) expert team has been involved at an early stage so their recommendations can be channelled into the planning process, leading to an improved programme document.

Workshops for stakeholders in the selected priority fields were conducted in September, 2021 online.

Programming Committee meetings

1. 1^st Programming Committee meeting, online - 16^thof December, 2020 – final territorial analysis approved

Territorial analysis for the future Interreg NEXT Hungary-Slovakia-Romania-Ukraine Programme 2021-2027

2. 2^nd Programming Committee meeting, online – 9^th of June, 2021

3. 3^rd Programming Committee meeting, online – 14^th of December, 2021

Documents available in frame of public consultation of the draft Interreg Programme and regarding the SEA process of Interreg A NEXT Programme between Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Ukraine for the period 2021-2027

The planning of the Interreg VI-A NEXT Programme between Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Ukraine for the period 2021-2027 has been finalized. The Interreg Programme was submitted to the European Commission on 1st of April, 2022. The consultation process is still ongoing. The Interreg Programme document and the final report of the Strategic Environmental Assessment with translations to national languages are available below: