The opening meeting of the Flood Protection 2 project was held on April 1, 2026, in Thessaloniki, marking the official launch of the project implementation and aiming to ensure a shared understanding among partners regarding:
• the overall objective of improving flood protection in the cross-border area of Greece and Bulgaria;
• the project structure, including governance, coordination, and decision-making mechanisms;
• the roles and responsibilities of all partners;
• the financial management, reporting and compliance requirements under the Interreg VIA Greece-Bulgaria 2021-2027 Programme;
• the technical scope of interventions, including infrastructure, nature-based solutions, and technological systems;
• the immediate next steps for the initial phase of implementation.
The meeting was attended by representatives from:
• Region of Central Macedonia (LB)
• Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace (PB2)
• District Administration of Blagoevgrad (PB3)
• District Administration of Smolyan (PB6)
The District Administrations of Haskovo (PB4) and Kardzhali (PB5) had informed in advance that they could not attend the kick-off meeting.
Also, representatives from the Managing Authority (MA), the Joint Secretariat (JS) and the National Bulgarian Authority (online) of the Programme were present and actively contributed to the discussions.
The opening speeches highlighted the strategic importance of cross-border cooperation in addressing flood risks and the growing need for climate change adaptation and disaster risk management mechanisms. During the meeting, the project, the partners’ planned activities, the project management/coordination framework, the communication approach and the project’s obligations under EU regulations and Programme requirements were presented. The meeting concluded with an agreement on the next steps of the project implementation.
