| Euroregion Baltic | |
|---|---|
Emblem of Euroregion Baltic |
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ERB Member Regions |
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| Abbreviation | ERB |
| Formation | 1998 |
| Type | Euroregion |
| Headquarters | Elbląg, Poland |
| Region served | South Baltic Sea |
| Official languages | English, Russian |
| President | Mikhail Pluhin |
| Vice President | Roland Gustbée |
| Website | http://euroregionbaltic.eu/ |
Euroregion Baltic (ERB) is an institutionalised form of cross-border cooperation in the south-east of the Baltic Sea Region, consisting of eight regions of Denmark, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden. The ERB was the first Euroregion to have formally included a partner from the Russian Federation. Since its early days ERB has been pursuing the goals of improving life conditions for its inhabitants, promoting bonds and contacts among local communities, and providing measures for a more sustainable development within the region. Comprising the regions from both old and new EU Member States, and the Russian Kaliningrad Oblast, Euroregion Baltic constitutes the operational network of substantial and effective links across the borders, facilitating the promotion of political dialogue and reform, as well as sustainable, economic, social and environmental development, and thus strengthening local democracy and fostering people-to-people contacts between civil societies. The co-operation actively involves both local and regional authorities, private and public sectors, and NGOs.
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The idea of establishing the Euroregion Baltic was developed in the mid-1990s by local politicians and entrepreneurs from south-east Sweden and north-east Poland. Organisational works started at an international conference held in Malbork between 28 Feb – 1 March 1997. The representatives of regions participating in the conference decided to establish the Organisational Committee, which task was to lay the foundations of the future Euroregion. The working name of the Euroregion was “Jantar”[1] or “Amber”, but it was later changed to "Baltic", as it underlined common cultural and historical heritage as well as geographical location of the participating regions.[2] Soon after the Committee began working to establish the Association of Polish Communes Euroregion Baltic. It convened for the first time on 17 November 1997. Its creation paved the way to the establishment of an international structure of the future Eurororegion. Finally, after many consultations, on 22 February 1998 in Malbork, Poland, the Agreement on Establishing the Euroregion 'Baltic'[3] was signed by representatives of regions from six countries including the County of Bornholm (Denmark), the City and Region of Lepaja (Latvia), the Klaipeda County, cities of Klaipeda, Palanga and Neringa and districts of Klaipeda, Kretinga, Silute and Skuoads (Lithuania), the Association of Polish Communes Euroregion Baltic, Elbląg, Gdańsk and Olsztyn provinces, Regional Assemblies of Local Authorities of Elbląg, Gdańsk, Olsztyn and Słupsk provinces (Poland), representatives of the Association of Municipalities of Kaliningrad Region (Russia), the Blekinge Association of Local Authorities, the Blekinge County Council, the County Administrative Board of Blekinge, the Regional Council in Kalmar County, the Kronoberg Association of Local Authorities, the Kronoberg County Council (Sweden).[4]
Euroregion Baltic is widely recognised as a hub for cross-border relations, involving citizens, politicians, institutions, economic and social partners, educational and cultural institutions. This role is also recognised by national governments which bestowed ERB with the management function of the Phare Small Project Fund. Between 1999 and 2006 Euroregion Baltic managed two strands within the Fund: one for cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region and the other for cooperation with the Kaliningrad Region of the Russian Federation. More than 6 million EUR was granted to applicants and partners from 10 countries which implemented 236 projects supporting small and medium enterprises and educational organisations, as well as facilitating youth exchanges, cultural and sports events, social inclusion, and organising conferences, seminars and trainings.
In 2005, within the framework of the INTERREG III B BSR Programme, Seagull devERB project (with the budget of 3.2 MEUR and ERDF co-financing of 1.3 MEUR) resulted in the elaboration of a long-term development strategy based on four strategic priorities, including economic and social development, implementation of the EU policies regarding environmental protection and promotion of renewable energy sources, as well as improving the infrastructures in order to provide better access to the Trans European transport networks, all corresponding with the revised Lisbon Strategy and the development of Four Common Spaces between the European Union and Russia.[5]
Between 2005 and 2007 work within ERB focused on the improvement of its institutional capacities, with the jointly implemented Seagull II project of 0.6 MEUR total budget and 0.5 MEUR of the ERDF and Tacis co-financing from the INTERREG III B BSR Neighbourhood Programme.[6] Working Groups were formed around the specific tasks of the Joint Development Programme, including representatives of the local and regional authorities, expert institutions, academic organisations, professionals and NGOs. Three of these groups submitted project applications to the second call of the South Baltic CBC Programme in 2009. Under implementation are currently: project DISKE prepared by ERB SME & Innovation Working Group, MOMENT prepared by ERB Water Working Group and LED prepared by ERB Energy Working Group.
South Baltic CBC Programme has also been of assistance to the ERB youth cooperation. Established at the end of 2008 Euroregion Baltic Youth Board applied with the YC3 project (Youth Cooperation and Communication) where young representatives of the ERB member regions work together forming a platform to exchange ideas and to put forward their proposals to local, regional and national policies concerning a number of issues related to the youth, e.g. student mobility and exchange programmes, young entrepreneurship, sustainable development, etc.
Also, ERB partners on Bornholm have been managing initiatives in support of cross-border cooperation. Between 2002 and 2006 the Tripartite Cross-Border Cooperation Fund was operated and co-financed 35 projects implemented in the partnership between Danish Bornholm Commune, Polish Warmińsko-Mazurskie Region and Russian Kaliningrad Oblast with 1,141,000 EUR.
In 2009 partners from around Euroregion Baltic have been able to use the Norwegian Financial Mechanism facility called "Small Cross-Border and Inter-Regional Grant Fund" offered by the Association of Polish Communes Euroregion Baltic. Micro-projects implementing cross-border cooperation, aiming and improving the operations of self-governmental administration and at stimulating social initiatives, transferring knowledge from the more developed regions to the less developed ones, promoting regional and local development and ensuring the development of communication and development of systems for exchange of information have been possible to execute in the area of EEA EFTA states, the Kaliningrad Region of the Russian Federation, Ukraine, and Belorussia. So far 81 projects have been implemented at the value of 1.8 MEUR of the co-financing.[7]
Since March 2010 Euroregion Baltic has been a partner in the Capacity Building Project, which is currently being implemented within the South Baltic Cross-border Cooperation Programme. The goal of the project is to help potential Programme beneficiaries, especially from local authorities and small NGOs, in the preparation and implementation of cross-border projects. The project offers free-of-charge services, including training on project development, cross-border workshops and individual project consultations. Within the project, Euroregion Baltic is responsible mainly for the promotion and dissemination of information about the project activities.[8]
Over the years Euroregion Baltic has also become a very important political platform targeting its effective lobbying activities at various institutions within the European Union and on national and regional levels. As a result of these activities ERB adopted a series of resolutions and joint positions on such important issues as the EU cohesion policy, maritime policy, environmental protection, transport infrastructure etc.[9] Moreover, Euroregion Baltic has also been very active during the preparation of the European Union Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region and another EU strategy Europe 2020, and is now actively involved in the process of implementation of both strategies.
The EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region is of special importance to the Euroregion Baltic which has been an early supporter of establishing an EU macro-regional strategy that would facilitate the development of the Baltic Sea Region. In a series of seminars and workshops organised by Euroregion Baltic, relevant stakeholders were offered an opportunity to present their views on the Strategy and discuss its main elements. The first ERB conference on the Strategy took place in Brussels on 11 June 2008 and was attended by representatives of the European Parliament, Swedish Government, DG Regio, Committee of the Regions, Baltic Development Forum, ScanBalt, Helsinki Commission and Baltic Sea Chambers of Commerce Association. The participants had the opportunity to hear about the Strategy in more detail while it was still being developed and contribute to the process with their views.[10] On 20 November 2008 the Euroregion Baltic Council adopted a position on the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region in which it welcomed and supported its main objectives and areas of activity.[11] In December 2008 ERB prepared a joint position on the EUSBSR together with five other organisations (BSSSC, B7 Baltic Islands Network, Baltic Development Forum, CPMR – Baltic Sea Commission, UBC – Union of the Baltic Cities), which was presented to the EU Commissioner on Regional Policy, Ms Danuta Hübner.[12] On 7 October 2009 in Brussels Euroregion Baltic, BSSSC, CPMR, UBC, B7 and BDF meet at another seminar on the Strategy and discussed some of the key questions regarding the implementation of the Strategy, such as the involvement of local and regional authorities, necessary financial resources and the need to include existing cross-border and inter-regional programmes in the implementation of the Strategy.
In 2010 Euroregion Baltic has undergone a strategic review of cooperation which was a direct result of major structural changes that have occurred at different levels in the European societies, affecting the ERB cooperation in a number of ways. At the regional level the organisational structures, roles and responsibilities of the regions have changed due to regional reforms. This has occurred in Denmark, Poland, Russia and partly in Sweden and is currently taking place in Lithuania. Secondly, following the 2004 Enlargement of the European Union the thematic scope of the cooperation shifted significantly towards the EU policies. Other external aspects which have impacted the conditions for the ERB work include: establishment of the Interreg IV A South Baltic programme 2007–2013 (with its geography not fully aligned to correspond to the ERB area), adoption of the EU regulation on establishing European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC), and last but not least, the newly approved EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region which is believed to exercise enormous impact on the cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region as a whole, and on Euroregion Baltic.
The overall objective of the review process has been to set the agenda for the ERB cooperation until 2020 with revised goals of the cooperation, as well as specific objectives and activities planned with the view of reaching the goals. The agenda compliments the vision of the ERB as an organisation with clearly defined roles and strengthened institutional and financial capacities. The goal of the ERB 2020 Agenda[13] is to draw on the previous successful experiences and help the organisation move into a new phase of cooperation where it becomes a more dynamic tool to tackle common challenges observed by its members, and a strengthened political leverage in the cross-border cooperation of the Baltic Sea Region. To implement that goal, the Agenda set out three main focus areas, therefore allowing for a consolidated approach to the cooperation within the ERB. The first strategic focus area includes lobbying activities. It will allow the ERB to enhance its role as lobbying platform towards the European Union and take an active role in the shaping of EU policies, such as EU Cohesion Policy, EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, Europe 2020 Strategy, TEN-T Policy, Rural Development Policy, EU – Russia Cooperation and Eastern Partnership. The second focus area concerns strategic actions which upgrade the added value of the cooperation by enabling networking among variety of partners and providing complementarity with the regional development strategies. Within this focus area the ERB will coordinate the implementation of the Joint Development Programme, accomplishment of prioritised institutional activities and development of platforms supporting other forms of cooperation and actors. The third focus area includes exchange activities which, through collaborative approach to common challenges by local and regional politicians, decision-makers, experts and practitioners, will lead to deepened relations between the ERB member regions and strengthened cooperation.[14]
Currently the Euroregion Baltic includes eight regions from five countries.
| Region | Country | Land area (km2) | Population | GDP (MEUR)[15] | Unemployment (%) | PPP per inhabitant (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blekinge | 2 947 | 151 900 | 4 958 | 5.9[16] | 110.9 | |
| Bornholm | 588 | 42 913 | 1 331 | 9.0 | 90.3 | |
| Kalmar | 11 219 | 233 834 | 7 113 | 5.6[17] | 103.2 | |
| Kaliningrad | 15 125[18] | 937 353[19] | 4 054[20] | 10.7[21] | – | |
| Klaipeda | 5 209 | 378 843 | 3 280 | 7.2 | 60.6 | |
| Pomorskie | 18 293 | 2 210 920 | 17 727 | 6.4[22] | 54 | |
| Kronoberg | 8 467 | 180 787 | 6 094 | 4.7[23] | 106.7 | |
| Warmińsko-Mazurskie | 24 192 | 1 426 155 | 8 657 | 8.5[24] | 41 |
Following the implementation of the strategic review of ERB cooperation, the organisational structure has been significantly reformed in order for the ERB to be able to fulfil the new objectives set out by the ERB 2020 Agenda. Therefore, the decision was made to dissolve the ERB Council which for more than 12 years had been the highest legislative body within the Euroregion. According to the previous ERB Statutes, the Council consisted of up to eight representatives appointed by each Party of the Agreement and all the members of the Youth Board. The Council debated in sessions while its decisions were based on consensus.[25] Apart from the Council, the ERB member regions decided to dissolve all Working Groups and replace them with ad hoc Task Forces. Currently four ERB Task Forces are being operational. As a result of the introduction of the new organisational structure, ERB should become more flexible, effective and quicker to take decisions and capable of taking strategic actions.[26]
Since 29 October 2010 the Executive Board of the Euroregion Baltic is the highest decision-making body of the organisation. According to the new Statues adopted by Council on that day, the Executive Board consists of up to two representatives of the highest possible political rank and one permanent deputy nominated by each member organisation and the Chairperson of the Youth Board.[27] The Board debates during formal meetings which may be ordinary or extraordinary. The meetings are held in English and in public unless the Board decides otherwise. Ordinary meetings must take place at least three times a year and they are summoned by the ERB President. Extraordinary meetings may take place at any time decided upon by the Board.[28] Decisions of the Board are based on consensus and each member organisation as well as the Chair of the Youth Board all have one vote. The Board has the right to initiate and adopt changes to the ERB Statutes; prepare and approve long-term programmes, biennial actions plans and other strategic documents; prepare, adopt and implement resolutions, joint statements and positions; elect ERB President and Vice-President; approve annual activity reports from the ERB President; approve annual activity and financial reports from the International Permanent Secretariat and the Youth Board; decide on enlarging of the ERB territory and approve withdrawal or suspension of the Parties; establish ad hoc task forces; confer the title of the ERB honorary membership.[29]
The Executive Board also initiates the organisation of the ERB Annual Forum of Stakeholders. The idea of the Forum, which is not a decision making body, is to create a meeting platform facilitating discussion of relevant stakeholders from member organisations. The Forum is the arena for presenting opinions and interests of all ERB stakeholders such as member organisations, local communities, authorities, and also representatives of external organisations (leading politicians and high-ranking civil servants, national and EU representatives, experts and practitioners of territorial cooperation). The main goal of the Forum is to discuss important issues related to the ERB cooperation, in particular those concerning the European Union, Baltic Sea Region or EU – Russia relations. The Forum is responsible for formulating general recommendations for the ERB cooperation which then can be taken into account by the Executive Board.[30]
The President of Euroregion Baltic chairs the meetings of the Executive Board and is the highest representative of the Euroregion.[31] The President is authorised by the Executive Board to represent ERB externally and act on its behalf. As the Chair of the Executive Board, the President is assisted by the International Permanent Secretariat and ERB regional secretariats. The ERB Presidency and Vice-Presidency are held for one year and it rotates around all of the National Parties of the ERB cooperation who subsequently recommend their candidates to be finally approved by the ERB Executive Board.[32]
Sequence of ERB Presidencies in the coming years:
Youth related cooperation has always been supported by the Euroregion Baltic. To this end a series of projects and activities were implemented targeting children and youth in a variety of cooperation areas, e.g. education and exchange activities. Such competitions as We Are from the Sea, ecological youth camps, sports events like Euroregion Baltic Youth Games, Youth Film project, Green Circle Schools and Ice Hockey tournament serve as a good example of the activities in question. Youth cross-border cooperation is also important to most of the ERB member regions. Based on these facts, a decisions was made to create a youth structure within ERB that would facilitate future youth cooperation and make it organisationally sustainable.[34]
On 20 April 2007 a special ERB Youth Conference was held in Elbląg, Poland gathering around 80 young participants from the Danish, Lithuanian, Polish, Russian and Swedish regions in Euroregion Baltic. Its main objective was to institutionalise youth cooperation within ERB. Participants of the conference were engaged in a series of the three parallel workshops on Environment, Intercultural dialogue and Democratic participation. The conference proved to be successful and on 6 December 2007 the Council of Euroregion Baltic made a decision to establish ERB Youth Board, a new structure within the organisation.[35] The Youth Board was to be responsible for the promotion and facilitation of youth cooperation around Euroregion Baltic. The Youth Board, consisting of girls and boys between 16 and 25 years of age who each represent the eight regions in Euroregion Baltic, also takes active part in the ERB decision-making process.
The organisational structure of the ERB Youth Board is specified in the ERB Statutes and has not been significantly changed since the establishment of the Board in 2007. It consists of one youth representative from each ERB member organisation. All members of the Board must be between 16 and 25 years of age. The Youth Board elects a Chairperson and a Vice-Chairperson among its members for the term of one year. The decisions are based on consensus with the presence of more than 50% of the Youth Board members. The Youth Board contributes to the ERB Biennial Action Plan and submits activity and financial reports on the their activities to the ERB Executive Board. The Chairperson of the Youth Board is the member of the ERB Executive Board with a right to vote.[36]
The work of the Youth Board was inaugurated on 22 February 2008 in Elbląg, Poland when its representatives took part in the meeting of the Euroregion Baltic Council. A day later, on 23 February 2008 the ERB Youth Board convened its first official meeting and elected Ms Anna Grazova from the Kalniningrad Region for the position of the first Youth Board Chairperson. During subsequent on-line meetings members of the Youth Board discussed the activity plan which was later submitted to the ERB Executive Board and finally approved on 25 April 2008 at a meeting in Svaneke, Bornholm. The activity plan defined the following vision concerning the development of youth cooperation in the ERB:
In 2015 Euroregion Baltic will be a region where the youth agenda is an important and integral part of the ERB cooperation, well rooted in the Euroregional and regional structures, and reflected in ERB contributions towards EU policies.[37]
Based on this vision, the Youth Board established a series of short and long terms goals of their cooperation. The short terms goals included the creation of a well functioning operational structure that would be capable of developing and implementing cooperation projects. As a result, the Youth Board would be able to engage youth in the cooperation and promote their perspective and interests in the ERB. As for the long term goals, the Youth Board was to, among others, provide the opportunity for the youth to be involved in the ERB activities, act as a voice for youth in the ERB, increase interaction between regional authorities and the youth, encourage closer cooperation between the youth and local government, eliminate cultural prejudice and facilitate youth mobility.[38]
During 2008 and 2009 the Youth Board managed to create a well functioning structure. With its own internet website and a logo, it became an effective organisation promoting youth issues in the ERB during various seminars and conferences within and outside ERB area. Since 2009 the Youth Board has been managing a joint project within the South Baltic Cross-border Cooperation Programme entitled Youth Cross-border Cooperation and Communication Yc3. The aim of the project is to give young people around the South Baltic area an opportunity to influence politicians on subjects of importance, and to provide a platform for networking where young people would be able to exchange ideas and cooperate on various youth initiatives.
The ERB International Permanent Secretariat and Regional Secretariats are administrative bodies of the Euroregion which are responsible for daily management and coordination of ERB cooperation. The IPS is responsible for submitting periodical financial reports to the Board; assisting the President in submitting to the Board annual activity and financial reports; assisting the President and Vice-President in submitting to the Board the biennial action plan of the ERB cooperation; keeping regular contacts with Regional Secretariats; maintaining close working relations with the member organisations; preparing meetings for the Board; maintaining internal and external correspondence and conducting promotion and information dissemination activities.[39] The IPS is hosted by the Association of Polish Communes Euroregion Baltic which seated in Elbląg, Poland. Regional Secretariats are established in each ERB member organisation and serve as a liaison between the International Permanent Secretariat and member organisations.[40]
In 2010 ERB has undergone a strategic review of cooperation which resulted in a series of new documents outlining new objectives and focus areas. According to the revised ERB Statues, the main goals of ERB is to undertake joint initiatives aiming at strengthening and promoting cooperation among the local and regional authorities within ERB, as well as contributing to the sustainable development of the Baltic Sea Region, with particular attention to the South Baltic area. The Euroregion also represents and promotes common interests of its member organisations and acts on their behalf towards the national, European and international institutions, and is responsible for implementing strategic initiatives complementing local and regional agendas of the member organisations, and pursuing organised exchange activities.[41] New joint ERB activities are streamlined into three focus areas:
Lobbying activities aim at strengthening ERB lobbying activities towards the European Union and taking an active role in the shaping of EU policies such as EU Cohesion Policy, EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, Europe 2020 Strategy, TEN-T Policy, Rural Development Policy, EU – Russia Cooperation and Eastern Partnership. These activities are initiated by the Executive Board which is authorised to established dedicated ad hoc task forces responsible for planning and executing lobbying activities. In achieving these goals, ERB cooperates closely with the European Commission, European Parliament, Committee of the Regions, national governments, Baltic organisations, as well as with the regional offices in Brussels.[42]
In order to facilitate the successful implementation of the lobbying activities, on 28 October 2010 ERB Council decided to create three ad hoc task forces. The Task Force on EU Cohesion Policy is responsible for monitoring the preparation of future EU Cohesion Policy and will actively promote a greater role of its objective 3 – European Territorial Cooperation. The Task Force on the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region will be analysing the current implementation of the Strategy and prepare a draft position on the Strategy’s review process and including a lobby plan. Finally, the Task Force on the Annual Forum of ERB Stakeholders is in charge of preparing and organising the Annual Forum in 2011.[43]
This focus area ERB is designed to upgrade the added value of cooperation by enabling networking among ERB partners and providing complementarity with the regional development strategies. It also aims at strengthening the vitality of ERB cooperation through involving high political representatives of the regions and other important stakeholders. The ERB 2020 Agenda sets out three strategic objectives within this area:
The ERB Joint Development Programme is an important element of ERB cooperation. It continues to be implemented by the organisation. Under the new guidelines, each partners of ERB cooperation will define which JDP actions shall be selected for realisation. Currently, the organisation provides support to the ERB Water Forum and assists the Pomorskie region in its efforts to resubmit the BaltNet project to the South Baltic Cross-border Cooperation Programme.[45]
The second objective includes the investigation of a possible status of a European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) on the condition that it covers all the ERB partners and aims at involving more intensively experts in the our work with the long-term objective of building a think-tank capacity of Euroregion Baltic. Within this objective ERB also supports the Youth Board in developing a flagship project proposal to the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region.[46]
With regards to the third objective, ERB will mainly support the development of other platforms of cooperation by serving as a match-making point and information broker in such areas as the triple-helix cooperation, labour mobility, maritime safety, environmental protection and energy saving, promotion of investments in transport infrastructure and facilitating border crossing with the Kaliningrad Region.[47]
These activities aim at deepening relations between the ERB member regions and strengthening cooperation through a collaborative approach to common problems. The exchange activities include: maintaining continuous exchange of information for the benefit of ERB members, gathering and disseminating information about existing Baltic initiatives, taking actions aiming at deepening relations between ERB communities; collecting information on the needs of communes and local communities regarding cross-border cooperation and the existing resources of this cooperation.[48]
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