The Monitoring Committee meeting, the decision-making mechanism of the Interreg IPA Bulgaria-Türkiye Programme, for which the Directorate for EU Affairs is the National Authority, held online.

Opening speeches of the fifth meeting, held during this period, were delivered by Serdar Öztürk, Deputy Director General for Financial Cooperation and Project Implementation of the Directorate for EU Affairs, on behalf of the National Authority, Desislava Georgieva, Director General for Regional Cooperation Management of the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, on behalf of the Managing Authority, and Margarita Grancharska-De-Muynck, Programme Manager, Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policies, Directorate General for Enlargement, on behalf of, European Commission. The meeting, co-chaired by Öztürk and Georgieva, was also attended by the member institutions and stakeholders of the committee. 

Following the opening speeches, the implementation report prepared for the 2014–2020 period was presented for approval and adopted during the meeting. In the next stage, once the report is also approved by the European Commission, the final closure of the 2014–2020 period will be completed. Under this programming period, 100 projects, with budgets ranging from 80 to 400 thousand euros depending on whether they included investment activities, were successfully implemented. In addition, one strategic project was carried out during the period. Within the framework of the project titled “Cooperation of Cross-border Regions for Blue Growth”, water quality laboratories and a research center were established to be jointly used on both sides of the border, focusing on water ecosystems.Thus, through the allocation of approximately EUR 29.6 million under the 2014–2020 period, a total of 101 projects were supported in Edirne and Kırklareli provinces under the priorities of environmental protection and sustainable tourism. Non-profit organizations and institutions in the region, together with their Bulgarian partners, benefited from this EU-funded programme.

The meeting also included an update on the implementation of the 2021–2027 period. Participants were informed about the current status of projects, including one strategic project, to be implemented under a Europe closer to citizens priority. Updates were also shared on the progress of projects to be carried out under a greener, low-carbon Europe priority. Moreover, the implementation process of another strategic project to be carried out under  a safer cross-border cooperation region priority was discussed during this technical meeting.