INTERREG IIIB Community Initiative

INTERREG IIIB

North West Europe

Programme Complement

INTERREG IIIB Community Initiative

North West Europe

Version of December 2004

NWE Joint Technical Secretariat

24 Boulevard Carnot

59800 LILLE

Tel: +33 (0)3 20 78 55 00

Fax: +33 (0)3 20 55 65 95

E-mail:

Web:

TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER 1: Introduction...... 4

CHAPTER 2: Strategic Priorities and Measures...... 5

CHAPTER 3: Final beneficiaries...... 6

CHAPTER 4: The use of indicators...... 9

CHAPTER 5: Objectives, activities and overview of outputs, results
and impacts per Measure...... 11

Priority 1...... 12

Priority 2...... 19

Priority 3...... 26

Priority 4...... 32

Priority 5...... 39

Priority 6...... 45

CHAPTER 6: Project selection process and criteria...... 49

6.1 Basic principles of the selection procedure...... 49

6.2 Method of assessment...... 50

6.3 Processing the application...... 50

6.4 Deliberation at the Steering Committee meeting...... 51

6.5 The eligibility and selection criteria...... 51

CHAPTER 7: Financial plan and instruments...... 57

7.1 Public funding at national level...... 57

7.2 ERDF grant rate...... 58

7.3 Financial tables per Measure...... 58

CHAPTER 8: Publicity and Communication...... 60

8.1 Objectives...... 60

8.2 A focused strategy...... 60

8.3 Roles and responsibilities...... 61

8.4 Budget breakdown of major lines of action scheduled in the Secretariat’s Communication action plan 63

CHAPTER 9: Data exchange between the Joint Technical

Secretariat and the European Commission...... 64

CHAPTER 10: Outline of liabilities and responsibilities within the NWE Programme joint management structure 65

10.1 Introduction...... 65

10.2 Outline of liabilities and responsibilities...... 65

10.3 Control of expenditure...... 66

10.4 Contractual arrangements...... 67

10.5 Functions, tasks and responsibilities of the various bodies of the
Programme management structure...... 67

ANNEXES

Annex 1: Detailed description of outputs, results and impacts
per Measure...... 75

Annex 2: Final beneficiaries per Measure...... 118

Annex 3: Categories of fields of Structural Funds assistance...... 120

Annex 4: Rules of Procedure of the INTERREG IIIB Programme Monitoring Committee 123

Annex 5: Rules of Procedure of the INTERREG IIIB Programme Monitoring Committee 129

CHAPTER 1: Introduction

This Programme Complement has been drawn up according to Articles 9 and 18(3) of Council Regulation No. 1260/1999. It must be adopted by the Programme Monitoring Committee (PMC)at the latest three months after the European Commission’s approval of the Community Initiative Programme(CIP). It is prerogative of the PMC to approve the initial version and all subsequent versions of the Programme Complement, as laid down in Article 34(3).

Status of the Programme Complement

The Programme Complement implements the Programme strategy and Priorities. It does not seek to repeat the information laid down in the CIP; rather, it aims at providinginformation in greater depth in order to achieve the strategic objectives set out in the CIP. The Programme Complement will be of particular relevance to prospective project applicants and their transnational partnerships. It should always be used in parallel with the CIP and all other information contained in the Infopack.

CHAPTER 2: Strategic Priorities and Measures

Taking the European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) as a starting point,the primary objective of the INTERREG IIIB NWE Programme is to contribute, by way of an innovative and integrated approach of transnational co-operation on territorial issues, towards a more cohesive, balanced and sustainable development of the European territory and of the NWE area in particular.

This primary objective is translated intofivePriority fields of action. Chapter IV of the CIP provides a detailed description of the Programme Priorities, including the background for action and the expected results.Each Priority will be supported by two Measures.A short description of the Measures foreseen provides practical guidance for concrete projects to be implemented under the Programme.

The focus of the Priorities and Measures will be further clarified in Chapter 5 of the Programme Complement in which a more detailed description of the objectives per Measure is provided.

General overview of the Priorities and Measures in the CIP

PRIORITY / 1 An attractive and coherent system of cities, towns and regions / 2 External and internal accessibility / 3 Water resources and the prevention of flood damage / 4 Other natural re-sources and cultural heritage / 5 Promoting territorial integration across seas of NWE / 6 Technical Assistance
Measure 1 / More attractive metropolitan areas in the global and European context / Sustainable mobility management / Land use and water systems / Stronger ecological infrastructure,reduced ecological footprint / Promoting co-operation between sea and inland ports / Technical assistance for management, implementation, monitoring and content
Measure 2 / Coherent and poly-centric pattern of complementary cities, towns, rural areas, coastal and peripheral regions / Improved access to the Information Society / The prevention of flood damage / Protection and creative enhancement of the cultural heritage / Facilitating co-operation across and between maritime and inland regions / Technical assistance for other expenditure

CHAPTER 3: Final beneficiaries

This Chapterdescribes the Final Beneficiaries eligible for support under all Measures, except for Technical Assistance (TA). A detailed description of the Final Beneficiaries per Measure is provided in Annex 2.

What is a Final Beneficiary?

A ‘Final Beneficiary’ is the body which is entitled to receive an ERDF grant, on behalf of a project partnership, in accordance with Council Regulation 1260/1999 articles 9 and 32. Among the partners of a project, the one acting as the Lead Partner is the formal link between the project and the authorities responsible for the implementation of the Programme.

Only the Lead Partner can be the Final Beneficiary of an ERDF grant. At project level the Lead Partner is the body with the overall administrative and financial responsibility.Additionally, all payments from the Programme to a project will be made directly to the Lead Partner. The Lead Partner will then be responsible, accountable and liable for the appropriate disbursement of ERDF monies to all the project partners.

The Lead Partner is responsible for:

1. The submission of the project application to the Secretariat;

1. The organisation, management and co-ordination of the project and the partnership;

1. The submission of all reports concerning the project to the Secretariat;

1. The submission of requests for Payments;

1. The auditing of the project and the organisation of a comprehensive project audit trail in line with the financial regulations.

Specific guidelines for the financial management of a project by the Lead Partner will be provided in the Guidelines to Project Promoters (section 2.3), Application Form Manual and Project Audit Guidelines.

Who can be a Lead Partner?

In principle, any public authority (or private organisation provided they are non-profitmaking) within the NWE region, in a field relevant to the NWE objectives, can be a Lead Partner. However in practical terms, the choice of the Lead Partner will be dictated by the nature of the project particularly in terms of skills and knowledge.

Here is a list of possible Lead Partner organisations (please see Annex 2):

1. Regional, local, national and international public authorities.

1. Other legal bodies functioning under public law, which, due to their legal status, cannot be subject to insolvency proceedings. Their legal status has to be confirmed in a declaration given by the National Authority[1] (NA) responsible for the co-ordination of the INTERREG IIIB NWE Programme.

1. Non-governmental and non-profit regional, local, national and international organisations and agencies functioning under private law and active in any field of relevance towards the NWE objectives, such as chambers of commerce, regional and local development agencies, natureconservation organisations etc. As these types of organisations or companies are subject to insolvency proceedings, a guarantee[2], covering the amount of ERDF assistance applied for, is compulsory for their acceptance as a Lead Partner. In addition, the National Authority or appropriate Regional Authority if this function has been delegated by the National Authority will be requested by the Secretariat to check the solvency of Lead Partners functioning under private law. This guarantee and the declaration of solvency have to be made available before the Steering Committee meeting that follows the Call for Proposals for which the project partners have applied.

It has been acknowledged by the Swiss Confederation that no Swiss applicant can act as a Lead Partner.

Who can be a project partner?

1. All institutions, organisations and agencies mentioned under section 2 can be project partners.

1. Private, profit-making organisations and companies. As they are subject to insolvency proceedings, the Lead Partner is strongly advised to request a bank guarantee before accepting them as project partners. This guarantee has to be made available for the Steering Committee meeting following the Call for Proposals for which the project partners have applied.

More detailed information about the conditions under which profit-making private organisations could participate as project partners is included in the document ‘Guidelines for Project Promoters’ (section 2.2).

The Lead Partner as the Final Beneficiary

The Lead Partner is considered as the Final Beneficiary, and hence all payments to the project must be based on expenditure incurred (actually paid out) by the Final Beneficiary. In practical terms, however, the notionof Final Beneficiary does not exclude other partners from incurring expenditure and being subject to the conditions of the Grant Offer Letter provided the following conditions are met:

-A legally binding contract is drawn up between the Lead Partner and the project partners;

-The overall financial responsibility remains with the Lead Partner;

-All project expenditure incurred by project partners is backed up by invoices or by an accounting document of similar status;

-A formal report is presented to the Lead Partner for all expenditure incurred by the project partners. The Lead Partner remains responsible for checking the eligibility of the expenditure, that the relevantsums have actually been paid out and that the services and/or products have been provided effectively.The Lead Partner therefore has to make sure that all partner expenditure and reports are properly audited at partner level.[3]

Project Co-ordination and private companies

A private company can be sub-contracted by the Lead Partner and project partners for the co-ordination of the project and other advisory activities. Where there is a potential conflict of interests, such a company should not also participate as a project partner at the same time. When sub–contracting, European and national regulations on public procurement must be followed and respected. The responsibility for the implementation of the project remains in the hands of the Lead Partner at all times.

CHAPTER 4: The use of indicators

In order to assess the results of individual projects and of the INTERREG IIIB NWE CIP, the use of indicators is prescribed (Art. 36 of the General Regulation on Structural Funds). In general, the assessment of the Structural Funds Programmes is based on a three-level approach:

- Outputs have to be assessed in relation to operational objectives;

- Results have to be assessed in relation to specific objectives;

- Impacts have to be assessed in relation to global objectives.

This general approach, which applies to all Programmes involving Structural Funds, requires some specific adjustments for each type of Programme. For instance, the assessment of Operational Programmes aiming at restructuring industrial areas may require slightly different indicators from those needed in Operational Programmes aiming at developing rural areas. The main objective of the Community Initiative Programmes for the various INTERREG IIIB co-operation areas is the development of transnational co-operation in the field of spatial development policies. This specific focus needs to be reflected, to a certain extent, in the choice of indicators used for the assessment of both the Programme and the various individual projects. Therefore, the approach applied in this programme does differ slightly from the definitions for outputs, results and impacts of the New Programming Period 2000-2006 methodological working paper.The three-level approach used for the assessment of the INTERREG IIIB NWE CIP is the following:

Outputs

Expected outputs and output indicators correspond to concrete activities of transnational significance, implemented within the scope of each Measure of the Programme (constitution of networks, investments, organisation of public-private co-operation, awareness-raising campaigns, etc…). Annex 1 of the Programme Complement presents the agreed list of output indicators. In preparing their Application Form, project promoters have to define targets for each of these output indicators. The outputs will therefore have to be assessed in relation to the targets initially set out for the agreed list of indicators (as listed in the project Application Form).

Results

The expected results and result indicators will help to monitor the development of a new transnational planning culture and the improvement of planning procedures and territorial practices, including the better co-ordination of sectoral policies and the stronger involvement of civil society in the implementation of Measures and projects.

Due to a lack of consistent and harmonised baseline information, result indicators are mainly of a qualitative nature. Project results will predominantly be monitored and evaluated on the basis of qualitative evidence and concrete examples of improvements in territorial planning practices in the area concerned. Nevertheless, some quantitative indicators have been mentioned where possible and/or suitable. It will be up to the Mid-Term and Ex-Post evaluator to judge if such indicators can be used, depending on the information available (including data that could be collected through a sample survey).

Impacts

As the main aim of this programme is related to spatial development, the expected impacts relate to the effects of project on the territorial development of the area concerned and the wider NWE area. These impacts may have an economic, social and environmental dimension. Since the level of funding provided by INTERREG IIIB Programmes is relatively modest compared to that of mainstream Programmes (in relation to the size of the co-operation areas), projects are not likely to induce significant territorial impacts, at least in the short term. Therefore, it seems sensible to limit the impacts considered to territorial effects. For this purpose a limited number of quantitative indicators have been established to assess territorial impacts.

Project indicators

Indicators are tools to monitor the quantitative and qualitative performances of a project.The three types of indicators mentioned above (output indicators, result indicators and impact indicators) concern all projects. In addition, input indicators will measure the financial resources actually spent on the various budget lines of the project assessed against the corresponding financial targets set out in the Application Form.

The indicators used for each project have to be explicitly mentioned in the project Application Form and will be referred to consistently throughout both the interim and final Reports.

Programme indicators

The information gathered from projects will be used for the evaluation at Programme level (Annual Report, mid-term and final evaluation). The information gathered from projects will be aggregated at Measure, Priority and Programme level to compile the required data for these indicators, wherever possible.

All projects are expected to gather and update the relevant data in order to assess the main territorial impacts of their activities. At Programme level, evaluation will strive to outline a territorial impact assessment on the basis of the information provided by project partners.Aggregated output indicators at Programme level will be assessed in relation to the target values indicated in the CIP.

CHAPTER 5: Objectives, activities, results, outputs and impacts by Measure

In the NWE CIP the objectives, expected results and indicators for outputs and impacts are described at Priority level. This is essential in order to assess the performances of the Programme as a whole.

In this Chapter the objectives of the Priorities are further specified at Measure level, complementing the CIP. Furthermore, the following elements are also presented for each Measure:

- The ex-ante evaluation;

- Examples of possible activities;

- Fields of intervention of Structural Funds assistance;

- Aselectionof the expected outputs, results and impacts and relevant indicators.

The reference listof the expected results, outputs and impacts and relevant indicators per Measure is included in Annex 1. This list of indicators will be referred to in the project application materials.

Possible activities under each Measure have been listed below for strictly indicative purposes. In many cases, several such activities will be carried out within a single project. Moreover, there may be activities which are not mentioned but which will clearly contribute to the aims of the Programme.

It should be highlighted that the inclusion of one or more of the activities listed in this Chapter in a project Application does not suffice to make the project eligible. All projects will have to comply with the eligibility criteria.

PRIORITY 1: An attractive and coherent system of cities, towns and regions

Measure 1.1: More attractive metropolitan areas in the global and European context

Priority 1 of the CIP aims at promoting an attractive and coherent system of cities, towns and regions in NWE. Measure 1.1 focuses on the metropolitan areas as a strategic part of the urban system of NWE.

Measure 1.1 addresses the position and role of metropolitan areas in their European and global context. Metropolitan regions may co-operate in developing joint approaches to maintain and enhance the global functions and services that NWE provides, whilst avoiding unnecessary competition with existing and growing cities at European and global level.

Measure 1.1 also supports networking between metropolitan areas with the aim of making these areas more attractive by preparing joint development strategies and creating common tools and other co-ordinated actions. Projects will address challenges that are experienced across regions, such as improving the relations between urban and rural areas, managing urban growth in line with sustainability principles and fighting social exclusion.

Objectives of Measure 1.1

Objective 1

Maintaining the leading global position of NWE through more attractive metropolitan areas; achieving a more balanced distribution of functions among metropolitan areas in order to increase global competitiveness and reduce the detrimental effects of unnecessary competition between cities;