INTERACT II

The European Commission adopted the INTERACT II programme for 2007–2013 on 4 December 2007. This programme seeks to provide support for actors involved in the European Territorial Cooperation objective and, in part, in the ENPI CBC programmes, in order to increase the effectiveness of programmes. Good governance has been identified as one of the key challenges of the programmes. Key target groups include the organisations and bodies managing the European Territorial Cooperation objective programmes: managing authorities, joint technical secretariats, national contact persons, certifying authorities and auditing authorities. The new programme builds on the 2000–2006 INTERACT programme.

The priorities include:

• Producing and disseminating information among the actors in the aforementioned target group
• Supporting the development of methods and instruments in order to improve the quality of programme implementation
• Disseminating approaches to good governance to all interested parties.

The eligible area covers the whole of the EU (EU 27), with Norway and Switzerland participating in the implementation of the programme.

Total EU funding for INTERACT II will amount to 34 million during this programming period. In addition, a total of 6 million euros will be provided by national public funds. Finland's share of national public funding for 2007–2013 totals around 65,000 euros. The total national share will be provided by the central government.