Financial Plan

The total sum of the community funds in the Programme is EUR 25,578 million. These funds have been allocated from the Member States as follows:

Denmark EUR 2,630 million,
Finland EUR 4,503 million,
Germany EUR 12,461 million,
Sweden EUR 5,984 million.

In addition to this, the financial table provides for EUR 21,276 million national public co-financing and EUR 1,0 million private co-financing from the Member States, bringing the total budget of the EU part of the programme to EUR 47,508 million. Of this total budget, 76 % is allocated to the first priority, 19 % to the second and 5 % of the total is allocated to technical assistance.

In the course of the preparation of the programme it became evident that all types of activities proposed were eligible for funding from the ERDF. Therefore, and for the sake of simplified financial management, it was decided to put forward a single fund programme, using only ERDF funding.

National co-financing will consist of national, regional and local public financing. In addition an amount of EUR 1,0 million of additional, "ineligible" funding coming from Norway is included in the financial table, but is not affecting the Community funding intervention rates. Due to the nature of the programme, it has been anticipated that private funding can only play a minor part. These figures are indicative.

Part of the programme area is made up of Objective 1 and Objective 6 areas. Of the total EU-funding for the programme, EUR 6,8 million will be spent in Objective 1 areas (in Germany) and EUR 1,5 million in Objective 6 areas (in Finland). An indicative amount of EUR 5,6 million is estimated to be spent in the Objective 2 and 5b areas. Most Finnish and Swedish coastal areas are however outside the objective areas.

Rates of assistance is 75% in Objective 1 and 6 areas, and 50% in other parts of the eligible area. The financial table contains only funding for the four Member States in the region. However, the programme is intended to cover the whole Baltic Sea Region, including both EU Member States and Non-Member States. Financing for the participation of Non-Member States will have to come from other sources than EU Structural Funds.

Norway has allocated 2,032 million of national and regional funds to the programme. For the other Non-Member States the financial situation is more problematic. In the preparation of the programme it was estimated, that a balanced programme for the whole region would require considerable additional financing for these countries/regions.

The PHARE Baltic Sea Region Cross-Border Co-operation Programme contains two elements which could provide funding for PHARE partner participation in Interreg projects. These are the PHARE Baltic Small Project Facility and PHARE/Interreg projects (PHARE CBC funding for Interreg complementary projects).

Even though the Baltic Small Project Facility does not require an Interreg linkage, it has been created for local and regional level co-operation and should be studied as a potential source for funding enabling PHARE partner involvement in Interreg projects.

The Tacis Small Project Facility already allows a certain matching of Tacis and Interreg funds. Both land borders between Russia/Belarus and the EU/CECs and maritime borders of the Baltic Sea are eligible.