The 3083rd General Affairs Council in its conclusion at meeting held on 23 April 2011 stated:
Conclusions of 13 April 2011, points 19/21 : “19. CALLS UPON the Member States concerned and the Commission to ensure full transparency and visibility as far as the implementation process and further development of the Strategy is concerned and to disseminate to all Member States information, good practices and lessons learned, on the basis of experiences acquired, in view of possible future macro-regional
strategies.
20. Considering the results achieved as well as experiences and good practices acquired during the implementation of existing macro-regional strategies, INVITES the Commission to clarify the concept of macro-regional strategies, to evaluate their value added and submit the outcomes to the Council and the European Parliament by June 2013.
21. INVITES the Member States in cooperation with the Commission to continue to work on possible future macro-regional strategies.”

Furthermore, European Council in its conclusion on 23 June stated:
Conclusions of 23 June 2011, other points – third : “The European Council: (…) endorsed the EU Strategy for the Danube Region and called on all relevant actors to
implement it without delay, as outlined in the Council’s conclusions of 13 April 2011;
Member States are invited to continue work in cooperation with the Commission on possible
future macro-regional strategies, in particular as regards the Adriatic and Ionian region;”

Moving from “Maritime Strategy”, the concept behind the Adriatic and Ioanian Sea Region was endorsed by Maria Damanaki, the EU commissioner for maritime affairs and fisherieson last 24th of May.

“The Adriatic Ionian countries are bound not only by historical links and a common cultural heritage, but also by a shared responsibility for their sea,” she said.
Addressing ministers from the eight countries, Damanaki said she had instructed her staff to work with them on a ‘Maritime Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian’.
“I extend a special welcome to the non-EU countries and I gladly invite you all to work with us in the coming year, so as to have a proposal ready in 2012,” she concluded.

In the same occasion, Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik also expressed his backing for the macro-region.
“I am convinced that cooperation will be essential for identifying and addressing the specific challenges for the marine environment in the Adriatic and Ionian Seas and implementing successfully the ecosystem-based approach to the management of human activities”.

Furthermore, the president of the EU’s Committee of the Regions (CoR), Mercedes Bresso, gave her strong support to the demand for a new macro-regional strategy.
“From overfishing to chemical pollution, the Adriatic and Ionian face many challenges that can only be solved if all neighbouring countries pull in the same direction,” said Bresso.
“A European strategy for the entire Adriatic-Ionian ‘macro-region’ would give us the means to tackle these issues together,” the Italian explained.
According to Bresso, participating in a macro-regional strategy would also be a way for the candidate countries and potential candidates in the Western Balkans to strengthen their cooperation with the European Union.
“Proper involvement of local authorities keeps citizens close to the accession process and informed about its concrete advantages,” she added.
Bresso called for a macro-regional strategy to be launched “right now, at a crucial time for defining priorities on future funding programmes for post-2013”.

The CoR is currently preparing an own-initiative opinion on “Territorial cooperation in the Mediterranean through an Adriatic and Ionian Macro-region”. The opinion, drafted by the president of Italy’s Marche Region, Gian Mario Spacca, is due to be adopted at a CoR plenary session in October.

The “Adriatic and Ionian Sea Macro-region” would involve national and regional authorities in 3 EU member states – Italy, Slovenia, Greece – and 6 countries that are preparing to join the EU – Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo.

The IPA Adriatic Cross-border Programme is a cross-border programme co-financed by the European Commission through the Instrument of Pre-accession Assistance (IPA).

The Instrument of Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) is the financial instrument established by the European Union to assist candidate Countries (Croatia) to adopt and implement of the full acquis communautaire and to assist the potential candidate Countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia) to promote a degree of alignment with the acquis communautaire and approximation with the Accession criteria.

The IPA Adriatic Cross-border Programme aims at “strengthening the sustainable development capacity of the Adriatic Region through an agreed strategy of actions among the partners of the eligible territories”.

The eligible area of the Programme consists of the territories facing the Adriatic Sea. These are identified as NUTS III (or equivalent level) of
– three Member States (Italy, Greece, and Slovenia),
– a Candidate Country (Croatia),
– three Potential Candidate Country (Albania, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina).

Although not being territorially eligible for the Programme because it lacks of costal area, but taking into account its eligibility in previous INTERREG IIIA NPPA Adriatic Cross-border Programme 2004 -2006, Serbia participates in the Programme with the whole territory under a phasing out condition until 31 December 2012.

The IPA Adriatic Cross-border Cooperation Programme is the result of joint programming work carried out by the relevant participating countries and is part of the cooperation process in the Adriatic area. The Programme draws its strength and incisiveness from the wide experience, gained during the previous Programme period producing concrete results from the studies and analysis financed in the past.

Many factors make cooperation in the Adriatic area important today, particularly from a political and economic point of view:
– Factors connected to geographic and cultural proximity which make possible the intensification of multilateral relationships among Adriatic coastal regions to support local processes of harmonious growth, sustainable development and unity among peoples.
– Factors connected to the political stability of the area. Following ten years of conflict, the area is now moving towards progressive integration both “vertical” (within European and International institutions) and “horizontal” through the creation of a free trade area.

The Countries involved in the IPA Adriatic Cross-border Programme have appointed Abruzzo Region as Managing Authority. The Managing Authority is responsible for managing and implementing the Programme in accordance with the Programme and European Regulations.
The Managing Authority of the Programme is the pro tempore executive body of:
Regione Abruzzo – Direzione Affari della Presidenza, Politiche legislative e Comunitarie/Servizio Attività Internazionali

The Joint Technical Secretariat assists the Managing Authority and all the other Programme institutions in performing their tasks. It receives and assesses the project proposals. It is the major technical-administrative structure of the Programme.

The Joint Monitoring Committee verifies the effectiveness and quality of the implementation of the Programme. It is responsible for selecting and approving operations.

The Certifying Authority is competent for receiving the payments made by the Commission and transferring them to the beneficiaries.

The Audit Authority is responsible for the functioning of the management and control systems in accordance with the Programme and European Regulations.

The total Programme Contribution available in the first Calls for proposals of the period 2007/2013 was 75,000,00.00 EUR, broken down for the 3 priorities as following:

– € 25,000,00.00 Priority 1 – Economic, social and Institutional Cooperation
– € 25,000,00.00 Priority 2 – Natural and cultural Resources and Risks Prevention
– € 25,000,00.00 Priority 3 – Accessibility and Networks

Bosnia and Herzegovina are participating in six EU funded programmes in the 2007-2013 period. There are three bilateral CBC programmes: BH-Croatia, BH-Montenegro and BH-Serbia and three multilateral programmes: IPA Adriatic CBC and the two multilateral: South East Europe Programme and Mediterranean Programme. Therefore, IPA CBC bilateral Programme between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia and IPA CBC multilateral programme Adriatic are two separate programmes with their own management systems, funds and their own rules for implementation.