A notable trend in Cohesion policy going forward is the emphasis on citizen engagement. Linked to concern over growing geographies of discontent and popular disenfranchisement, the relationship between programmes and people is viewed as key to building trust, inclusion, transparency and informing better programmes.
Post-2027, citizen engagement is likely to be a core component of policy development, delivery and results. Interreg has a wealth of experience and expertise to offer in this regard.
- Working in cross border, transnational and interregional areas which are less well-known means that programmes and projects have had to work harder to justify their role and engage with citizens. They can’t assume an automatic association for citizens – Interreg is less well known and the focus and rationale for territorial cooperation initiatives can be less obvious to citizens, which means there has to be a greater effort to engage people.
- The projects funded are often comparatively small scale and/or in niche areas. Their scale and thematic focus can mean that while projects may not have a wide reach in terms of citizen engagement, many do have strong links to specific place-based development challenges on which citizens have strong views, making them ‘relatable’ to these communities.
- Innovative approaches to developing and delivering projects mean Interreg projects have been at the forefront of trialling and applying new approaches to citizen participation and engagement. For example, the Flanders-Netherlands Programme, working with the OECD, developed a citizen participation playbook to identify opportunities and plan for citizen participation in designing, implementing, and evaluating programme projects.1
Interreg is in a position of strength as an ‘early adopter’ and has pioneered in many aspects of greater citizen involvement – points which are noted in the 9th Cohesion Report2 and the report, Civic and civil society engagement in Interreg, prepared by Interact along with EPRC. However, if this strength is to be carried forward in the future there are several points to consider.
In theory, for the 2021-2027 programme period, PO5, ‘A Europe closer to citizens’, should have been a good fit for Interreg, particularly with its emphasis on integrated development and a territorial approach. However, few Interreg programmes worked with PO5 due to concerns about ex ante conditionality, the novelty of having to identify and work in functional areas, and the overall complexity of working on the issue across borders.3 The theme of PO5 is popular, but to be impactful in the future a simplification in approach is required.
Interreg Specific Objective 1 ‘A better cooperation governance’ was more widely used and includes a focus on cooperation between citizens and people-to-people actions. Almost all the Interreg programmes chose to work with this Priority Objective4, which speaks to interests in this area of activity within the Interreg community. For some, it has taken time to commit funding and for project applicants to ‘get’ what the objective is about. However, as programmes and project partners become more familiar with the intervention it could be used to make a significant contribution to building citizen engagement approaches in practice.
Effective and meaningful citizen engagement takes time, effort and expertise. This is particularly the case for Interreg programmes, which have limited institutional resources and small budgets but large and diverse geographies, different political contexts, and multiple languages and cultures. The cost and effort involved should be recognised and factored in, with progress in citizen and civic engagement recognised as a valuable part of not just project activities, but also outputs and results.
A focus on ‘grassroots engagement’ is important, but strategic links and networks are key to sharing and disseminating results and impact more widely and as a means to securing take-up of project results. Currently examples of good practice on civic and citizen engagement can be quite dispersed – held within programmes or a single project. A means to collect and share know-how, such as work being initiated by Interact.eu, could be extremely valuable in this context.
This work builds on points raised in Interact Report, (2024) Civic and civil society engagement in Interreg, Interact January 2024, https://www.interact-eu.net/library/186
Interact Team: Besiana Ninka, Bernhard Schausberger, Daniela Minichberger,
EPRC Team: Irene McMaster, Nathalie Wergles and Heidi Vironen
Notes
1 OECD Citizen Participation Playbook, For Interreg V Flanders-The Netherlands programme beneficiaries https://www.oecd.org/gov/open-government/interreg-flanders-the-netherlands-citizen-participation-playbook.pdf
2 European Commission, DG Regio (2024) 9th Report on Economic, Social and Territorial Cohesion , Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg p. 107
3 Interact Report, (2024) Civic and civil society engagement in Interreg, Interact January 2024, https://www.interact-eu.net/library/186 , p 26
4 Interact Report, (2024) Civic and civil society engagement in Interreg, Interact January 2024, https://www.interact-eu.net/library/186 , p 26