Interreg,or as it is officially called, "European territorial cooperation", is part of the European Union's structural and investment policy. For more than 20 years, it has supported cross-border cooperation between regions and cities that affect daily life, for example in transport, the labour market and environmental protection. Interreg is implemented in three priority areas (so-called strands):

• cross-border cooperation (strand A): further development of economic and social cooperation in neighbouring border regions
• transnational cooperation (strand B): cooperation between national, regional and local partners in transnational cooperation areas.
• interregional cooperation (strand C): cooperation networks and exchange of experience to improve the effectiveness of existing instruments for regional development and cohesion.

Saxony-Anhalt is eligible for funding under strands B and C.

Strand B - Central Europe Programme

The CENTRAL-EUROPE programme is strongly oriented towards the Europe 2020 Strategy, whose central focus on growth can be differentiated into three areas:

• Smart growth: this includes improving education, promoting research and development, and strengthening the digital society.
• Sustainable growth: This focuses on reducing emissions, improving resource efficiency, protecting the environment, developing the electricity grid and promoting SMEs.
• Inclusive growth: Under this objective, the aim is to increase the employment rate, the greater integration of all age groups into the labour market and society, and the modernisation of labour markets and social systems.

The programme priorities are currently being revised. The European Commission is expected to approve the programme for the new funding period in spring 2021.

German Contact Point

Strand C

Interregional cooperation operates on a pan-European level and includes neighbouring countries in addition to the 28 EU Member States. It aims to build networks and provide data and indicators to develop good practices and strengthen the exchange of experience in regional development. In particular, economically weaker regions should learn and benefit from stronger ones.

Interreg C is divided into four programmes:

• Interreg Europe  is the EU's new "policy learning" programme in the field of regional development. The four themes include research, technological development and innovation, SME competitiveness, low-carbon economy and environment and resource efficiency.
• ESPON supports European spatial development policy and policy development in relation to the objective of territorial cohesion.
• URBACT is a programme of the European Commission, EU Member States, Norway and Switzerland to promote the exchange of knowledge and experience between European cities on all aspects of urban development policy.
• INTERACT supports the transfer of good practices, knowledge and know-how between the more than 100 Interreg programmes in Europe, creates synergies and promotes their effectiveness.The main target group are the Interreg programmes and their staff.