The Greece-Bulgaria Cooperation Programme 2014-2020 was approved by the European Commission on 09.09.2015 by Decision C(2015)6283.

Budget
The total budget (ERDF and national contribution) of the European Territorial Programme "Greece-Bulgaria 2014-2020" is EUR 130 262 836. The total funding consists of EUR 110 723 408 (85%) ERDF funding and EUR 19 539 428 (15%) national contribution.

Eligible area
The eligible area of the programme consists of the East Macedonia and Thrace region (Evros, Kavala, Xanthi, Rhodope and Drama prefectures) and the Central Macedonia region (Thessaloniki and Serres prefectures) in Greece and the South Central Planning Region and South West Planning Region (Blagoevgrad, Smolyan, Kardzhali and Haskovo districts) in Bulgaria.

The Greece-Bulgaria cross-border area eligible for funding in the 2014-2020 programming period covers 40 202 km2 and has a total population of 2.7 million inhabitants. It comprises four NUTS II territorial units (regions) and 11 NUTS III territorial units (districts). The eligible area extends along the entire Greek-Bulgarian border and is adjacent to Turkey (to the east) and FYROM (to the west), both countries seeking access to the EU. It is part of the south-easternmost non-insular region of the EU and lies between three seas: the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and the Ionian-Adriatic Sea. Finally, it lies at the crossroads of strategic fossil fuel pipelines supplying the EU market and the TEN transport axes.

The settlement structure of the region is characterized by the presence of 10 medium-sized towns (>50,000 inhabitants), which collect 38.2 % of the total population, and 25 small towns (10,000-50,000 inhabitants).

Despite the historically relatively small amounts of funding allocated, there is a long history of cooperation in the eligible area, beginning with the INTERREG I Community Initiative (1989-1993).

The priority axes are:
PO 1: Competitive and entrepreneurial cross-border area
DA 2: Resilient and climate adaptive cross-border region
DA 3: A better interconnected cross-border area
DA 4: Socially inclusive cross-border area
PA 5: Technical assistance

For more information: www.greece-bulgaria.eu