At the eastern border of the European Union, Belarus, Poland and Ukraine have set up the Euroregion Bug, a cross-border cooperation structure. With an area of 80 thousand km² and 5 million inhabitants, the Euroregion Bug is one of the largest Euroregions in Eastern Europe, uniting Brest oblast (Belarus), Lubelskie Voivodeship (Poland) and Volyn oblast (Ukraine).
To pave way for further collaboration between entities in the regions, a €500,000 cross-border programme has been set up under the Norway Grants in Poland. €450,000 in grants is now available for projects by municipalities and municipal bodies in the Lubelskie region carried out in partnership with an entity from the Euroregion.
Grants in the range €5,000-30,000 are available for projects within the following thematic areas:
- transfer of knowledge from the developed regions to underdeveloped regions
- publicity of regional and local development in the area
- support for development of communication and information exchange systems
cross-border ecological tourism-based cooperation
The call, launched on 16 September, will remain open until 16 November. Details on eligible activities, applicants and application procedures are available in the open call text and at the web site www.euroregionbug.pl. The programme is managed by the Association of Local Governments of Euroregion, which provides 15% co-financing of the fund.