The Government of the Canary Islands assumed this Wednesday the condition of "managing authority" of the European program for cooperation between Madeira, Azores and the Canary Islands (Interreg MAC) for the period 2021-2027, with the celebration in the archipelago of its first monitoring committee. The European Commission has provided this program with 200 million euros to develop joint projects in areas such as business innovation, the fight against climate change or the improvement of mobility.
The Canarian Vice President and Minister of European Affairs, Román Rodríguez, opened the meeting, which was attended by some 40 representatives of the European Commission; of the governments of Spain and Portugal; of Madeira, Azores and the Canary Islands, as well as of the participating African countries; all under the coordination of the General Directorate of European Affairs, headed by Julián Zafra.
Rodríguez highlighted the importance of the Interreg MAC program for cooperation between the European Union and Africa, through the outermost regions of Macaronesia, and recalled that this is a specific strategy of the European Commission for the ORs "due to our situation of double membership: one, historical and political to our respective European States and another, geographical extra-European, derived from our proximity to African countries".
Rodríguez stressed that this program has evolved over time towards an increasingly important integration of third countries and that, in fact, on this occasion four more are joining. Thus, in addition to the three that had already been participating (Cape Verde, Mauritania and Senegal), Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana and Sao Tome and Principe are joining).
Research and support for SMEs
The program's activities until 2027 will focus on the areas of applied research and support for SMEs in their innovation processes; ecological transition, risk management, the fight against climate change, the promotion of renewable energies and the valorization and protection of natural heritage; improvement of the program's governance and institutional capacity building and support for mobility management.
The Vice President also pointed out during his speech that "today more than ever we want to move towards that great neighborhood advocated by the European Commission itself with respect to the ORs" and recalled that the recently approved Communication for the ORs of May 2022 reaffirms this objective, recognizing the value of these regions as a unique asset and advantage of the European Union in its external relations".
The representative of the European Commission at the meeting, Marc Lobet, stressed that the European Territorial Cooperation Regulation presents four novelties: "Interreg MAC recognizes the ORs as actors of European foreign policy in Africa; the adequacy with the ERDF and the Global Europe instrument; the endowment with 170 million from the ERDF plus 30 of co-financing from the states involved, and the fact that it is the only Interreg that increases its budget".
For his part, Jesús Fernández Prisuelos, from the General Directorate of European Funds of the Government of Spain at the meeting, assured during his speech that this is a special program "not only because of the challenges and characteristics, but also because of the geographical area of action and its idiosyncrasy, with four investment priorities: the intelligent, the green, governance and mobility".
During the meeting, an institutional declaration was also approved in which the participants, among other things, reaffirm the objectives of economic, social and territorial development of the respective territories and consider that Interreg MAC constitutes an "instrument of special importance to deepen cooperation between their regions and countries, facilitating the promotion of their political, institutional and economic relations.