Third meeting of the Programming Committee (PC) was organised on-line on 4 February 2021. On the table for joint discussions were territorial analysis, large investment projects, programme objectives, simplified cost options, functional area, monitoring system and the assessment of the environmental impacts. The meeting got information of the stakeholders’ and experts’ consultations as part of the programming process, and the outcomes were reflected in terms of continuing the work. Representative of the European Commission informed the meeting that the legal framework for the future programme is expected to be finalized during the June-July 2021. This will be an important milestone for the preparation work, providing corner stones on the content of the Programme and supporting the dialog over the Financing Agreement between the European Commission, Russia and Finland.
Supported objectives and programme logic
The Programming Committee identified following Specific Objectives to be included in the further preparation of the South-East Finland – Russia 2021-2027 Programme:
Policy Objective (PO) 1 “A smarter Europe”
- Specific Objective (i) Enhancing research and innovation capacities and the uptake of advanced technologies;
- Specific Objective (iii) Enhancing growth and competitiveness of SMEs.
Policy Objective (PO) 2 “A greener low-carbon Europe”
- Specific Objective (vi) Promoting climate change adaptation, risk prevention and disaster resilience;
- Specific Objective (vi) Promoting the transition to a circular economy;
- Specific Objective (vii) Enhancing nature protection and biodiversity, green infrastructure in particular in the urban environment, and reducing pollution.
Policy Objective (PO) 3 “A more connected Europe”
- Specific Objective (iii) Developing and enhancing a sustainable, climate resilient, intelligent and intermodal national, regional and local mobility, including improved access to TEN-T and cross-border mobility.
Policy Objective (ISO) 1 “A better cooperation governance for Europe”
- Specific Objective (i) Institutional capacity of public authorities, in particular those mandated to manage a specific territory, and of stakeholders;
- Specific Objective (iii) People-to-people action for increased trust.
Identification of the Specific Objectives (SO) is based on the results gained from the various discussions during the second consultation phase, as well as the territorial analysis done by the Finnish and Russian expert supported by the MA and BO team. As a next phase the contents for the SOs will be prepared for the decision-making in the PC and the final results are shared accordingly.
The Committee will meet twice still before the summer holiday breaks to continue well-proceeding programming. The material supporting the decision-making on the objectives is made available a Programming material.
