Although the European Territorial Cooperation objective (formerly the INTERREG Community Initiative) now has an altered status, its developmental aims remain essentially the same: balanced development along internal EU borders; maintenance of the area as an attractive place to live and do business; and enhanced cross-border cooperation. Overall, the objective is to further eliminate barriers between countries and to strengthen and intensify cross-border networks.
The most important areas to be promoted include:
- cross-border economic development incl. know-how transfer
- improved access to transportation networks
- sustainable development (particularly in regard to the environment and natural resources).
Lower Austria is participating in a total of three cross-border programs (Austria/Czech, Austria/Slovakia and Austria/Hungary); Austria is the lead administrative authority for the Austria/Czech program. As in the initial phases of the program, ecoplus continues to be represented on the project approval advisory board but at present has no operative tasks. Thus project backers and organizers will receive European Territorial Cooperation support directly from the respective regional managements on site and/or directly from the so-called RU2, or Department of Regional Planning & Policy.
In addition to these cross-border European Territorial Cooperation programs, there are also the following transnational and interregional programs available for Lower Austrian project backers: Alpine Space, Central Europe, South East Europe and INTERREG IV C. Within the framework of the Regional Planning Conference, the Austrian Federal Chancellery has established so-called contact points to provide support for project applications and the search for suitable partners.
