From 15 to 16 September 2015, the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the EU, together with the Commission and the INTERACT Programme, will hold a Conference celebrating '25 Years of Interreg'.
Interreg, also known as the European Territorial Cooperation (ETC) was developed as a financing instrument under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as a means of supporting cross-border development cooperation in Europe.
The Conference will celebrate the 25th anniversary of Interreg, which allows for the implementation of joint actions and projects at a national, regional and local level between Member States and subsequently helps them face common challenges together and develop unified solutions.
Luxembourg's Minister for Sustainable Development and Infrastructure, François Bausch, will open the first day of the Conference along with European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Creţu. Subsequent sessions will examine the history of Interreg with the special edition 'Le dessous des cartes' ARTE series, in the presence of series author, Jean-Christophe Victor.
Conference sessions will also look at the change instigated from various Interreg projects, such as the labour markets, demographic change and the environment; as well as illustrated its capacity to 'think outside of the box' with regards to the behavioural dimensions of international cooperation and the diffusion of innovation.
The Conference will offer a global view on territorial cooperation on the second day, offering examples from West Africa and Latin America, and will discuss potential visions for Europe and its Member States with a view to examining the role Interreg could play therein. The panel discussion will be based on information derived from an online survey which was offered to citizens as an opinion outlet by the European Commission.
Participants will also received the opportunity to select the winner of the Interreg Project Slam which assembled projects from across Europe.
Photo by Interreg
