Turkey participates in two Cross Border Cooperation (CBC) Programmes under the second component of the Instrument for Pre-Accession 2007-2013 period (IPA I) and Regional and Territorial Cooperation policy area/sector of the IPA 2014-2020 (IPA II) period. The Directorate for EU Affairs acts as the National Authority of the CBC programmes in Turkey.
The eligible area of IPA CBC Bulgaria-Turkey Programme covers Province of Edirne and Province of Kırklareli from Turkey as well as District of Burgas, District of Yambol and District of Haskovo. The programme budget for Pre-Accession 2007-2013 period is 32 million Euro as 27 million Euro from the EU fund and 4.8 million Euro from the national funds of two countries. Within the scope of IPA CBC Bulgaria-Turkey Programme, 138 projects amounting to 26 million Euro, were completed by 31.12.2016.
The allocated fund for the IPA CBC Bulgaria-Turkey Programme under the Instrument for Pre-Accession period 2014-2020 (IPA II) is 29.642.894,12 Euro. 25.196.460 Euro of this amount was provided by IPA II. National co-financing amount of Turkey and Bulgaria constitutes 15% of approved budget of Project Partners and will be equally provided by both countries. Within the scope of the programme, Project proposals would have to target one of the priority axes and specific objectives:
Priority Axis 1: Environment:
• Specific objective 1.1: Preventing and mitigating the consequences of natural and man-made disasters in the cross-border area;
• Specific objective 1.2: Improving the capacity for nature protection, sustainable use and management of common natural resources through cooperation initiatives in the cross-border area
.
Priority axis 2: Sustainable tourism
• Specific objective 2.1: Increasing the touristic attractiveness of the cross-border area through better utilisation of natural, cultural and historical heritage and related infrastructure;
• Specific objective 2.2: Increasing the cross-border tourism potential by developing common destinations;
• Specific objective 2.3: Increasing networking for development of sustainable tourism through cross-border cooperation initiatives.
The Second Call for Proposals under Interreg-IPA CBC Bulgaria – Turkey Programme 2014 – 2020 amounting to around 11 million launched on 16.11.2015 and the project proposals were received until 16.03.2016. Within the scope of the First Call for Proposals, 43 projects amounting to 10 million Euro were contracted and the implementation phase of 43 projects will be completed by July 2019. Second Call for Proposal under the Programme was launched on 10.01.2018 and the Project application received until 11.04.2018 has been in the assesment phase by August,2018.
ENPI Black Sea Basin Programme in which the Directorate for EU Affairs acts as National Authority of Turkey is a multilateral cooperation programme, which is performed under European Neighborhood Policy. Turkey participates in the programme with IPA funds.This programme involves 8 countries, namely Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine. In Turkey, 25 cities (in 7 NUTS II regions) will be included in the programme. Namely, NUTS II equivalent regions of TR10 (İstanbul), TR21 (Tekirdağ, Edirne, Kırklareli), TR42 (Kocaeli, Sakarya, Düzce, Bolu, Yalova), TR81 (Zonguldak, Karabük, Bartın), TR82 (Kastamonu, Çankırı, Sinop), TR83 (Samsun, Tokat, Çorum, Amasya) and TR90 (Trabzon, Ordu, Giresun, Rize, Artvin, Gümüşhane).
Total budget of the programme for the 2007-2013 period is 38 million Euro as 28 million Euro from ENPI (European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument) funds and 7 million Euro from IPA funds as well as 3 million Euro of co-financing from beneficiary countries. Two call for proposals was launched in the 2013-2020 period and totally 60 projects were selected to be financed. 39 of these projects contained Turkish partners and 37 of 39 contracted projects were completed the implementation period. Under the calls for proposals during the 2007-2013 period, the amount of contracted fund to be utilized by Turkish beneficiaries is 6,158 million Euro.
Allocated fund for the Black Sea Basin CBC 2014-2020 period is 49 million Euro. 39 million Euro of the total amount is provided by ENI (European Neighbourhood Instrument), while 10 million of it is provided by IPA. Total budget of the programme together with national co-financing is 53,9 million Euro.
Objectives and Priorities
Overall objective: Improve the welfare of the people in the Black Sea basin regions through sustainable growth and joint environmental protection
Specific objectives
BSB thematic objective A: Promote business and entrepreneurship within the Black Sea Basin;
Priority 1: Jointly promote business and entrepreneurship in the tourism and cultural sectors;
Priority 2: Increase cross-border trade opportunities and modernisation in the agricultural and connected sectors
BSB thematic objective B: Promote coordination of environmental protection and joint reduction of marine litter within the BSB;
Priority 3: Improve joint environmental monitoring;
Priority 4: Promote common awareness-raising and joint actions against river and marine litter.
First call for proposals of 2014-2020 period was launched on 31.01.2017 and selection phase of the project proposals, which were submitted until 31.05.2017, was completed. The selected projects are in the process of contracting by August 2018. The projects, which include 3 to 6 partners will benefit from 19,655 million Euro.