Interreg Europe Programme

Interreg Europe is a cooperation programme co-financed by EU Cohesion policy’s European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Interreg Europe is part of Interreg Strand C, which includes 3 other interregional cooperation instruments that reinforce the effectiveness of EU cohesion policy (Interact, URBACT and ESPON programmes). The European Union strives to reduce disparities in the levels of development, growth and quality of life in and across Europe’s regions. The Interreg Europe programme was therefore designed to support interregional learning among policy relevant organisations across Europe. The programme’s objective is to enable public authorities and other relevant organisations to actively learn from the experience of other regions. This is a learning process which involves identifying, analysing, and transferring good practices with the aim of improving regional development policy instruments and ultimately delivering solutions that benefit all citizens. It has 5 main policy objectives, including one on education, social inclusion, integration of third-country nationals, health care, culture and sustainable tourism (Objective 4: ‘A more social Europe’). The specific objectives of ”A more social Europe” related to health and to culture are: equal access to health care, health systems resilience, family-based and community-based care, and respectively, culture and tourism for economic development, social inclusion, and social innovation. Although the Programme does not mention the specific link between culture and health, there is great potential for synergies in the funded projects because the two fields are included in the same policy objective (Objective 4: ‘A more social Europe’).