Hungary-Croatia IPA CBC Programme Overview of the Programme and planning for

Community funding of the Programme Priority 1  Sustainable Environment and Tourism ,00 EUR Priority 2  Cooperative Economy and Intercommunity Human Resource Development ,00 EUR Priority 3  Technical Assistance ,00 EUR Total ( ) ,00 EUR

Projects in numbers Number of Calls for Proposals opened: 1 in 2009, 1 in 2010 and 1 in Number of applications in total: 315. Number of supported projects: 140 so far. Number of Project Partners in these projects: 202 HU and 235 HR. Division of Lead Beneficiaries in these projects: 95 HU and 45 HR (with 20:19 in the last Call).

Regional Tourism Product Plan I During the planning in 2006 and 2007 it was established that the HU-HR border region has great potential for sustainable tourism. The idea of the Mura-Drava-Danube eco-tourism region manifested in an independent Priority within the Programme (Priority 1.2). Instead of creating a ‘programme within the programme’, a two-step approach was used.

Regional Tourism Product Plan II The basic idea was to not support tourism investments in a scattered, point-like way, but to spend IPA CBC funding for joint tourism development in a co- ordinated way. The Programming Document prescribed first the preparation of a RTPP and only then the launching of open Calls for the funds dedicated to tourism. The open tender for the RTPP was launched in 2009.

Regional Tourism Product Plan III A partnership of 4 organisations won the funding and prepared the RTPP from February 2010 to June The output is a 650 page document analysing the tourism development possibilities of the HU and HR border region. It is accompanied by a GIS database. For future applicants the RTPP was condensed into a Tourism Handbook, published in September 2011.

Tourism Actions of the Programme 1.2.2K1 – Eco-tourism infrastructure: bicycle paths K2 – Eco-tourism infrastructure: other joint investments in tourism infrastructure – Thematic routes of cultural heritage – Promotion of the river area as a single tourism product – Private investment attraction.

The 3 rd Call for Proposals Published in November 2011, opening all tourism related Actions of the Programme. Submission deadline in March Selection of projects in September, contracting from December 2012 to June Result: 27 joint projects for a total of 17,7 million EUR. Period of implementation: maximum 20 months.

Status in June 2013 From the ranking list of 3 rd Call applications the JMC created a reserve list of 40 projects. A meeting to decide on the next group of projects to be supported from the list is planned for 27 June. Two sources of additional EU contribution to these projects: a) amounts recycled from 1 st and 2 nd Call projects not spending to 100%; b) extra ERDF amount for Croatia for the second half of 2013.

The programming period Steps in the planning of the CBC programme of are being taken continuously. The two countries have meetings at central level, and the so- called Task Force (composed of regional actors) has held two meetings so far. A procurement was managed for the joint Hungarian- Croatian expert team which will elaborate the programme strategy, in close co-operation with the regional and sectoral actors of both countries.

Thank you for your attention! Márton Szűcs Hungary-Croatia Joint Technical Secretariat Internet: