EU helps improve citizen welfare in Black Sea Basin regions

The European Union (EU) will contribute to improving the welfare of people living in the Black Sea Basin regions, including Georgians through sustainable growth and joint environmental protection.

The Black Sea Basin program is one of the EU Cross-Border Cooperation programs under the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI). The participating countries are Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine.

The European Commission approved the Joint Operational Program Black Sea Basin 2014-2020 on December 18, 2015.

The program was funded under the ENI Cross Border Cooperation for the 2014-2020 period, with total funding of €53 million. Of this €4.9 million will represent co-financing, which amounted to 10 percent of the EU’s contribution.

Specifically the program would support two main thematic objectives:

• Promote business and entrepreneurship within the Black Sea Basin; and
• Promote coordination of environmental protection and joint reduction of marine litter in the Black Sea Basin.

All sources of funding may be used on either side of the EU external border for actions of common benefit.

The development of the Black Sea Basin ENI Cross Border Cooperation Program 2014-2020 was facilitated by the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration of Romania, which was appointed the Managing Authority, following on from its 2007-2013 role as Joint Managing Authority for the Black Sea Basin ENI Cross Border Cooperation program.