2.2 Partnership

Partnerships in the Interreg NPA Programme are built on 3 types of partners: Lead Partners, project partners, and associated partners.

In general, all partners should have the capacity and knowledge in the project subject area to participate fully and to deliver the envisaged project outputs . In addition, all partners need to have the administrative and adequate resources required to participate in a transnational project.

Furthermore, all partners are required to provide supporting documents required by the Managing Authority, Joint Secretariat, controllers, or auditors. 

Where suitable, partnerships should try to involve a cross-sector of partners from the national, regional and local level.

In order to develop tangible and viable outputs and long-lasting results, it is essential to have the appropriate partnership constellation capable of developing and implementing the project outcomes. A project application will be judged on the partnership constellation and this can be a deciding factor in the project’s approval.

 2.2.1  Eligible partners

Organisations from the public and private sectors can participate in Interreg NPA projects and receive direct financial support, including:

• National, regional and local authorities

• Regional and local development agencies, chambers of commerce

• Universities, colleges, higher education, research institutions

• Non-governmental organisations (NGOs)

• Sectoral agencies and business support organisation

• Voluntary sector organisations

• Other relevant organisations contributing to the development of the programme area

• Micro, and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs)

• Larger enterprises, if their participation brings a significant asset otherwise not available to the project, e.g. playing a role as R&D providers

Partner organisations are deemed public if they have all of the following characteristics[1]:

1. they are established for the specific purpose of meeting needs in the general interest, not having an industrial or commercial character;

2. they are a legal entity, and;

3. they are financed, for the most part, by the State, regional or local authorities, or by other bodies governed by public law; or are subject to management supervision by those authorities or bodies; or have an administrative, managerial or supervisory board, more than half of whose members are appointed by the State, regional or local authorities, or by other bodies governed by public law.

Please note that the legal status of a partner organisation impacts on their eligibility to be a Lead Partner.

2.2.2  Lead Partners

The Interreg NPA Programme applies the Lead Partner principle, meaning that a Lead Partner takes additional responsibilities and coordinates the project on behalf of the project partners. A Lead Partner should be nominated for each project. The Lead Partner is formally the final beneficiary of the Programme funding and acts as a link between the project partners and the Programme.

Lead Partner responsibilities are stipulated in Article 26 of the Interreg Regulation (EU) 2021/1059. The Lead Partner is responsible for the submission of the joint application form via the Joint Electronic Monitoring System (Jems), as well as:

• Overall project management;

• Being contact person for the Joint Secretariat in Copenhagen;

• Delivery of project reports and documentation;

• Delivery of project outputs;

• Producing the documents required for controls and payments and ensuring that all expenditure has been certified by controllers, where relevant;

• Ensuring that the certified expenditures for all partners are matching activities outlined in the approved application and any other decisions;  

• Concluding a partnership agreement for its relations with the other project partners, where relevant;

• Informing the JS/MA immediately about any circumstances that delay, hinder or make impossible the realisation of the project, as well as circumstances that mean a change of the project as outlined in the approved application.

Eligibility of Lead Partners

• The role of Lead Partner can only be held by a public organisation.

• The Lead Partner is based in the NPA Programme area, unless they have a national remit that covers the Programme area.

The demands on a Lead Partner are higher than those on other project partners. A Lead Partner must have the proficient administrative and financial capacity to be able to manage a transnational project. Therefore, all project applications must demonstrate that the Lead Partner has the capability to manage a transnational project.

2.2.3  Project Partners

Project partners are project beneficiaries with a defined role and a budget in the project. They can be any type of organisation defined in the list of eligible partners, and are expected to be located in the Interreg NPA Programme area, unless they have a national remit inside the Programme area.

Partners from outside the Interreg NPA Programme area

In exceptional and fully justified circumstances the Monitoring Committee may allocate ERDF to a partner located outside the (Union part) of the programme area. Note that geographical flexibility is only applied as an exception and where a partner from outside the programme area has a significant asset that is not otherwise available and benefits the programme area.  In duly justified cases, the Monitoring Committee may apply the flexibility criteria but it is not an obligation and the final decision is at the discretion of the MC.

Besides this, when a project involves one or several partners located in a territory of a country that is not represented in the Monitoring Committee, the Managing Authority needs to have a written acceptance by this country, in accordance with Article 52(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1059/2021, or another type of guarantee.

To ensure the legality and regularity of the expenditure incurred, the partners outside the programme area must undergo the same control procedures as any other NPA project partner. The Lead Partner is responsible for setting up all arrangements regarding the partner outside the programme area. These arrangements should be defined in the Partnership Agreement.

In addition, a system of audit needs to be set up in the external country. In practice, this means that participation of external partners is expected to be limited to EU countries outside the NPA area. Exceptions for certain third countries could be made at a later stage, when administrative arrangements for geographical flexibility are in place.

Note: Applicants planning to include an external partner in their project should be aware that meeting the above mentioned pre-conditions can be a time-consuming procedure, possibly delaying the issuing of the Grant Letter. It is strongly recommended that applicants planning to include an external partner contact the Joint Secretariat in the early stages of project development.

2.2.4 Associated Partners

Associated partners are not part of the formal partnership, but they are directly involved in the project’s implementation for various reasons. Often an associated partner is closely linked to one particular project partner and a project partner may have several associated partners. For example, a project partner may wish to involve a number of companies in the project and, to avoid the administrative burden of full project partnership, they could become associated partners. The inclusion of associated partners can also lead to the creation of a network connected to the project, which could facilitate project implementation. However, if an organisation will play a vital role in the implementation of the project outcomes, it is expected to participate as a full partner where possible.

Table 3 - Minimum partnership requirements by project type

[1] Article 2(4) of Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on Public Procurement