Press releases

30.08.2022

Meeting newsletter of the secretariat of the regional Cooperation Group

The secretariat of the regional cooperation group held its first meeting of the autumn season on Tuesday 30 August. In Oulu, Finland.

The Just Transition Plan for Northern Ostrobothnia and the preparation of the JTF

On 17 August 2022, the European Commission provided informal feedback on the provincial transition plans. The Commission's feedback concerns all provinces. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment has requested the corrected transition plans by Monday, 5 September. According to the timetable, the Government will discuss the plan in October, and the proposal for programme amendments will also be discussed by the Commission in October. The Commission's approval of the draft programme and the regional transition plans is expected by the end of the year. The implementation of the JTF is expected to start in early 2023.

Preparation of regional funding plans for the Renewable and Skilled Finland 2021-2027 programme

Regional councils are responsible for preparing regional funding plans for the EU's Regional and Structural Policy Programme. The unions make the preparations in cooperation with the Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment and other regional partners. The financial plan describes the regional allocation of regional and structural policy funds on the basis of regional cornerstones. In addition, the plan provides an estimate of municipal and other public funding, as well as a possible allocation of funds to cross-regional activities.

North Ostrobothnia concessions under preparation 2022-2024

The JTF financial tables are being prepared for the first time. The implementation of the JTF will start in 2023. As a result, a total of EUR 88.601 million of JTF authorisation will be available in Northern Ostrobothnia in 2023. The strong frontloading is due to the fact that 57% of the JTF is EU stimulus money. The JTF allocation mandate for the whole programming period amounts to EUR 118.523 million.  For the JTF, a new and active approach to the project is needed to ensure that the region is able to receive the entire funding.

The Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment of Northern Ostrobothnia opens an application for funding on 1 September 2022

The Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment for Northern Ostrobothnia (ELY Centre) is applying for an operating environment development grant and an operating environment development grant for business-networked research projects under the Finnish Structural Fund Programme. Applications for environment development grants funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) must be submitted between 1 September and 31 October 2022. These are two separate fixed-term calls for applications. A maximum of EUR 4.0 million is available for these calls, of which EUR 2.0 million in North Ostrobothnia, EUR 1.1 million in Lapland and EUR 0.9 million in Kainuu.

Results of project calls

• The Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia has an ongoing application for national AKKE and AIKOO funding. By 6/2022, 12 applications were received for support amounting to EUR 945 627.
• The application period for projects for the 18th programming period 2014-2020 of the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia ended on 30 June 2022. By the deadline, 16 applications were received for support amounting to approximately EUR 4.2 million.
• The first ERDF project application round for Sustainable Urban Development of the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia ended on 10 June 2022. 16 project applications were received for a total amount of approximately EUR 1.6 million.
• The application period for the Sustainable Urban Development ESF+ project of the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment for Northern Ostrobothnia ended on 16 August 2022. One group project application with three sub-applications was received. The applications applied for a total of EUR 333 388. A maximum amount of EUR 390 000 was reserved for the call for applications.

Other issues

According to the Finnish Tourism Strategy 2022-2023, the coordination of the allocation of tourism project funding will be promoted by increasing the exchange of information between tourism financiers. Funding authorities operating in the same region are regularly encouraged to develop a common situational picture of the funding needs and content prioritisation of tourism projects in the region, as well as a view in relation to measures taken at national level. Project promoters are encouraged to promote cooperation with projects with similar content beyond the scope of the project.

Next meeting

The next meeting of the secretariat of the Provincial Cooperation Group will be held on 28 September 2022.