Harvesting Report on Post-2027 Interreg Consultations

The European Commission has published the Harvesting Report on Post-2027 Interreg, presenting key findings from extensive consultations with Interreg practitioners, stakeholders, and citizens.

This initiative, part of a large-scale consultation on European Territorial Cooperation (Interreg) that began in 2023, involved over 10,000 individuals and organisations.

Key insights from the report highlight the advantages of living in border regions, such as cultural links, economic opportunities, and access to services. However, respondents also noted development challenges and barriers. The consultations underscored the value of Interreg in areas like climate change, economic competitiveness, and public services.

The report emphasises Interreg’s role in fostering knowledge exchange, building resilience, and addressing common challenges. These findings will inform future EU legal and policy frameworks for post-2027 cooperation.

For a detailed read, check out the full report: Harvesting report on post 2027 INTERREG: Results of stakeholder, citizen and programme consultations

Overall, the consultations led to the following major conclusions regarding post2027 (page 7 in the Report):

1. Interreg is both a tool and a policy to bring European values and policies close to the people through cooperation governance, trust building, communities and citizens’ actions, place-based approaches (customised to local needs) and joint projects.

2. Interreg is appreciated for its role in opening up new opportunities for cooperation, reaching beyond borders, fixing the issues linked to the different legal and administrative systems (hampering the full opportunities of the Single Market) and learning from each other (thereby benefitting from Europe’s diversity);

3. Interreg is crucial for candidate countries, outermost regions and neighbouring countries (especially it prepares the accession of candidate countries); and

4. Interreg acts on the territories of several Member States and, in many cases, it also involves non-Member States; therefore, it needs to keep the key elements of its ecosystem built and successfully tested over 35 years (i.e. programmes with common budget, joint preparation and implementation, shared management).