Call: Interreg Slovenia – Croatia

The programme aims at promoting sustainable, safe and vibrant border area by fostering smart approaches to preservation, mobilization and management of natural and cultural resources for the benefit of the people living and working in or visiting the area.

Primary focus shall be on seizing its natural and cultural values to deliver innovative, smart and effective solutions that help preserve and improve the quality of environment and its diverse identity on one hand, and activate its socio-economic potentials on the other. Ensuring safe and vibrant area is of outmost importance for the people and shall be addressed by increasing the capacities for institutional cooperation at all levels. The vision shall be achieved through the following priority axes and specific objectives.

• Priority Axis 1: Integrated flood risk management in transboundary river basins
  • Specific objective 1.1: Flood risk reduction in the transboundary Dragonja, Kolpa/Kupa, Sotla/Sutla, Drava, Mura and Bregana river basins
• Priority Axis 2: Preservation and sustainable use of natural and cultural resources
  • Specific objective 2.1: Mobilizing natural and cultural heritage for sustainable tourism development
  • Specific objective 2.2: Protecting and restoring biodiversity and promoting ecosystem services
• Priority Axis 3: Healthy, safe and accessible border areas
  • Specific objective 3.1: Building partnerships among public authorities and stakeholders for healthy, safe and accessible border areas

The Subject of this Open Call for Proposals is co-financing of projects from the European Regional Development Fund corresponding to the following priority axes and related specific objectives:

Priority Axis 2: Preservation and sustainable use of natural and cultural resources

• Conserving, protecting, promoting and developing natural and cultural heritage
• Protecting and restoring biodiversity and soil and promoting ecosystem services, including through Natura 2000, and green infrastructure  

Priority Axis 3: Healthy, safe and accessible border areas

Under the terms of this Call, a project proposal must refer only to one of the above-mentioned priority axis and one programme specific objective, even in case of a project where some activities might also fall under the other priority axis.

Activities have to indicate cross-border impact on the eligible area of this programme.

For Priority Axis 2:

• Local, regional or national authorities (e.g. municipalities, counties..)
• Non-profit organisations established by public or private law -  legal persons acting in the field of cultural or natural heritage, sustainable tourism development or related services (e.g. museums, Natura 2000 and protected areas management authorities, regional development agencies, tourism destination management organisations, NGOs, associations…)
• Small and medium sized enterprises
• Local, regional or national authorities (e.g. municipalities, counties,..)
• Non-profit organisations established by public or private law - legal persons in the field of nature protection (e.g. Natura 2000 and protected area management authorities, conservation authorities, NGOs, R&D institutions, regional development agencies, forest institutes, rural development centres, etc.)

For Priority Axis 3:

• National, regional and local authorities
• Non-profit organisations established by public or private law - legal persons (e.g. health centres, social care organisations, NGOs, elderly centres, regional development agencies, social enterprises, rescue services and civil protection organisations, etc.)

The minimum requirement is to have at least one project partner from Slovenia and one from Croatia or an European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) registered in one of the participating countries consisting of members from both Member States.

The Programme operates on the basis of the Open Call system. This means that applicants can submit project applications continuously after the Open Call is launched as long as funds are available.

The projects eligible for participation in the programme are those with the duration up to 30 months for Priority Axis 2 and up to 24 months for Priority Axis 3.

Only eligible expenditure can be co-financed from the Programme, whereby the Community cofinancing from the ERDF funds can amount to max. 85% of the total eligible costs; at least 15% is to be ensured from other sources.

The projects eligible for participation in the programme are those with the total amount of requested ERDF funds from 100 000 € ERDF and up to 2 500 000 € ERDF for Priority Axis 2 and from 100 000 € ERDF up to 1 000 000 € ERDF for Priority Axis 3.

The applicants are requested to complete and submit their Application Form (AF) via the eMS system.
The eMS can be accessed at the following link  https://ems.si-hr.eu/ems

Joint Secretariat of the Cooperation Programme Interreg V-A Slovenia-Croatia (si-hr.svrk@gov.si)