About the Programme

Historical background

In 2003, preparing for European Union (EU) membership, Poland, together with Ukraine and Belarus, began work on launching a joint cross-border programme. Its first edition was the Neighbourhood Programme Poland-Belarus-Ukraine INTERREG IIIA / TACIS CBC 2004-2006. With a total budget of 58.4 MEUR, 167 projects were implemented in many fields to improve the quality of life of the borderland's inhabitants.

The next edition was the Poland-Belarus-Ukraine ENPI Cross-border Cooperation Programme 2007-2013 with significantly more EU funding. For a total budget of 203.6 MEUR, 117 projects were implemented, including 9 strategic projects, 102 regular projects and 6 umbrella projects (with 56 micro-projects).

In terms of budget, the Poland-Belarus-Ukraine Cross-Border Cooperation Programme 2014-2020 was the largest such programme of the European Neighbourhood Instrument on the EU land borders. Its total budget of 201.4 MEUR made it possible to finance 158 projects – 10 strategic, 65 regular, 76 micro-projects and 7 special non-competitive.

The 2021-2027 programme was initially prepared in a tripartite format, as a continuation of the previous fruitful and successful cross-border cooperation. However, due to the use of migrants at the EU's external borders by the Belarusian authorities and Belarus' subsequent involvement in Russia's military aggression against Ukraine in 2022, cross-border cooperation with Belarus was suspended. As a result, the 2021-2027 Programme is bilateral.

In 2023, we celebrated the 20^th anniversary of cross-border cooperation between Poland and Ukraine. 20 years of joint contacts, undertakings and actions carried out for the border regions and communities of both countries. A truly wide range of thematic activities were carried out in the various editions of the Programme – from security of various dimensions, through border crossing and road infrastructure, health and environmental protection, promotion of tourism, entrepreneurship and cultural heritage, to what is perhaps the most important, i.e. support for cooperation and people-to-people contacts.

Poland – Ukraine 2021-2027

The Interreg NEXT Programme Poland – Ukraine 2021-2027 was adopted by the European Commission on 30^th November 2022. Its overall objective is to support cross-border development processes in the borderland between Poland and Ukraine. The programme is aimed at Polish and Ukrainian border regions and all non-profit institutions operating in the area. The European Union has allocated 235.9 MEUR for its implementation (of which a minimum of 214.4 MEUR for projects), with a total budget of more than 262 MEUR.

The objectives of the Programme are implemented in 6 main priorities: ENVIRONMENT, HEALTH, TOURISM, COOPERATION, BORDERS, ACCESSIBILITY using strategic large infrastructure projects, regular projects and small project funds.

As a result of the 1^st call for regular projects (2023), the Programme Monitoring Committee selected for co-financing 20 projects from the HEALTH priority and 44 projects from the ENVIRONMENT priority.

Programme priorities and specific objectives

Programme area

The Programme is addressed to Polish and Ukrainian border regions and covers NUTS3 units (subregions) on the Polish side and oblasts in Ukraine:

Poland: Podlaskie, Mazowieckie (Ostrołęcki and Siedlecki subregions only), Lubelskie and Podkarpackie voivodeships;
Ukraine: Volyn, Lviv, Zakarpattya, Rivne, Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts.

It covers area of 177 128 km², of which 57% is in Ukraine and 43% in Poland.