Interreg Romania – Hungary

The Interreg V-A Romania-Hungary Programme carries on the financing of cross-border cooperation initiatives in the Romanian-Hungarian border area, with the support of European Union, through European Regional Development Fund, and with the contribution of the Governments of both Romania and Hungary. The Programme will be implemented during 2014–2020 programming period.

The Programme allocates nonrefundable funding, in a competitive manner, in the framework of public calls for proposals, for joint cross-border projects aimed at:

• Joint protection and efficient use of common values and resources (Cooperating on common values and resources) – 48.50 million EURO
• Improve sustainable cross-border mobility and remove bottlenecks (Cooperating on accessibility) – 34.99 millions EURO
• Improve employment and promote cross-border labour market (Cooperating on employment) – 55.07 millions EURO
• Improving health-care services (Cooperating on health-care and prevention) – 57.03 millions EURO
  Improve risk-prevention and disaster management (Cooperating on risk prevention and disaster management) – 9.55 millions EURO
• Promoting cross-border cooperation between institutions and citizens (Institutions and Communities cooperation) – 4.01 millions EURO

The overall budget of the Programme, national co-financing included, is of 232 million EURO. Out of this amount, approximately 189 million EURO represents allocation from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).The projects are financed from three sources:

• ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) (maximum 85%),
• National contribution from the Romanian state budget (maximum13%) / national contribution from the Hungarian state budget (10% or 15%, depending on beneficiary’s status),
• Romanian beneficiaries’ own contribution (minimum 2%) and/or Hungarian beneficiaries’ own contribution (0 or minimum 5%, as the case may be)

As a a cross-border cooperation Programme, Interreg V-A Romania-Hungary has the following characteristics:

Lead beneficiary principle
For each project in part, one of the institutions/organizations participating in the project will be nominated as Lead Beneficiary (LB), which will be responsible for project implementation. Each partnership has to be composed of at least two partners, one from each country participating in the Programme, institutions or organizations in the eligible area of the Programme.

Cooperation criteria
The Beneficiaries will cooperate to elaborate and implement the project. Furthermore, the may cooperate as the regards staff selection and/or project financing.

Cross-border character and impact
The operations implemented within the Programme’s framework must have a clear cross-border impact. These operations will be relevant for the cross-border area and will reflect the interest of both countries. The elaborated projects have to address commune needs of the eligible area and to solve issues, from the cross-border point of view.