On the 27th and the 28th of March 2024, the Managing Authority (MA) and the Joint Secretariat (JS) of the Interreg “Greece-Bulgaria” Cooperation Programme had the pleasure of welcoming Ms. Maria Sioliou, the Programme’s Desk Officer from the European Commission (DG REGIO) and visited together four (4) completed projects of the programming period 2014-2020.
During the projects’ visits, the Desk Officer and representatives from the MA/JS had the chance to see some of the projects’ results and discuss with the project beneficiaries the challenges they tried to tackle through the funded projects, the outcomes achieved and the impact of the implemented activities on the cross-border area and the daily life of the citizens. Moreover, they shared from their experience the benefits of cross-border cooperation and presented their plans to capitalize on their projects’ results.
The projects that were visited during these two days were:
- The strategic project Flood Protection, whose main objective is to increase the level of protection against floods in the cross-border area of Greece and Bulgaria and especially in areas with a high probability of flood events across the two international river basins of Struma/Strymon and Evros/Maritsa. This was achieved through:
- the improvement/support/maintenance of existing permanent flood protection infrastructure to either increase their ability to constrain flood water or facilitate better water flow, reducing the flood risk
- the supply of necessary equipment enabling the prompt reaction against imminent floods and the constraints of water’s negative effects in flood areas
- the enhancement of cooperation between competent authorities in the two countries and their capacity to address climate change.
Two locations were visited: (a) the 2nd Disaster Management Unit (EMAK) in Thessaloniki, which received through the project mobile flood equipment for flood protection and equipment for preparedness in case of floods and (b) Lake Kerkini where small-scale infrastructure works were implemented to strengthen the Eastern Kerkini Lake dike, to protect local housing from floods.
- The health project HealthCare Centre, which invested in health infrastructure to improve the provision of health and emergency services and promoted the cooperation between regional, local and health authorities and organizations of the cross-border region. The project contributed to more effective prevention of socially significant diseases in areas with limited access to medical activities through the introduction of mobile healthcare units and telemedicine, as well as through joint training of health authorities’ medical staff in the emergency medical system with a focus on telemedicine and joint emergency response plans and protocol in crises situations.
Three (3) Project Beneficiaries (PBs) were visited: “Papageorgiou” General Hospital of Thessaloniki, the Regional Health Inspection of Blagoevgrad, and the Center for Emergency Medical Care of Blagoevgrad, who acquired through the Programme funds medical, laboratory and telemedicine equipment as well as medical transport units.
- The socially inclusive project INTERSYC II which aims at improving the quality of life of children through: (a) the development of means for the protection of children in danger, and (b) the improvement of the level of Health and Social Care services forchildren in the cross-border area of Greece and Bulgaria. The premises of the Lead Beneficiary “The Smile of the Child” were visited in Thessaloniki, where the participants had the chance to inspect the Mobile Intensive Care Unit for Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care and the vehicles obtained through the project for immediate intervention to protect children at risk.
The whole project partnership participated through a video call to the conversation that followed, during which they had the chance to elaborate to the Desk Officer the activities carried out during the project implementation which included:
-
- joint training sessions on the European tools used for the protection of children at risk (missing children, trafficking victims etc.)
- preventive medical examinations for children in remote cross-border areas and voluntary blood donation actions, with the support of the mobile medical units of “The Smile of the Child”
- prevention, information, and awareness-raising actions to address the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.
- The cultural project Cultural Dipole whose overall objective was to create two cultural poles (museums) of European significance in Serres and Petrich, which have been sister cities since 2005, with the aim to create synergies and attract visitors from the neighbouring, national areas as well as from abroad. The participants were toured to the two new museums that were constructed in the context of the project:
- The Museum of Contemporary Art “Konstantinos Xenakis”, a Thematic Museum housing the artist’s collection of modern art in Serres. The museum is hosted in a restored (preserved) building from the Ottoman period in the former Papaloukas camp and is a nearly zero-energy building (NZEB). (https://mcx-serres.gr/)
- The new Historical Museum of Petrich, hosted in a reconstructed existing building in New City Park, a former military camp, which exhibits valuable collections of archaeological, historical, and other objects or the wider area of Petrich. (https://petrichhistorymuseum.bg/).
