Following the decision taken during the first Joint Working group meeting, a written procedure was carried out for consideration of inclusions of the additional NUTS 3 regions - Vratsa district (BG) and Toplica district (RS) into the eligible area of the future Bulgaria - Serbia IPA Cross-border programme.

The possibility of inclusion of additional NUTS 3 regions to the eligible area of the Bulgaria- Serbia IPA Cross-border programme 2014-2020 was subject of discussion during the first JWG meeting, held on 07th November 2013 in Sofia (BG).  The opportunity was given to the interested regions (outside the eligible territory) to apply by justified proposals submitted to the Managing Authority – the Ministry of Regional Development of Republic of Bulgaria. Within the deadline, the applications of Vratsa district (BG) and Toplica district (RS) have been received.  

In compliance with Article 6 and taking into account Article 6 of the JWG Rules of Procedures, a written decision-making procedure was carried out for giving mandate to the MA to start coordination procedure with the EC regarding the inclusion of Vratsa district (BG) and Toplica district (RS) into the eligible area of the Bulgaria- Serbia IPA Cross-border programme 2014-2020.

As regards the participation of beneficiaries from other districts (from Bulgaria and Serbia) outside the eligible territory, the JWG was decided the flexibility rule of Article 45 (2) of the draft IPA II Rules of Application to be applied (if the conditions under Article 45 are fulfilled).

All documents concerning the written procedure (WP1) can be found HERE [1].