The Regional Operational Programme of Macedonia-Thrace 2007-2013 is one of the 5 Regional Operational Programmes, which, together with the 8 Sectoral and 12 European territorial Cooperation programmes make up the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) for 2007-2013.
The regional operational programme of Macedonia-Thrace provides development assistance in the geographic unit of 3 administrative regions:
- Central and Western Macedonia, which are phasing out regions and
- Eastern Macedonia, which is purely a convergence Region.
This creates a difference in the financial capabilities of the two Regions in accordance with the regulations governing the 4th Programming Period:
- Central and Western Macedonia finance all their development assistance through this program of Macedonia-Thrace 2007-2013 and may be additionally financed only through the Cohesion Fund, while
- the Region of Eastern Macedonia is financed through the specific program of Macedonia-Thrace 2007-2013, but also through sectoral programs developed across the country.
The development vision of the geographic unit for this Programming period is condensed in the “creation of a sustainable, competitive regional economy with a strong outward orientation and domestic economic, social, administrative and territorial cohesion.”
The programme’s objectives are to:
- Strengthen the competitiveness of the production system,
- Promote the position of the geographic unit in southeast Europe
- Achieve balanced economic and social development in the context of sustainability.
Funding for the Regional Operational Programme of Macedonia-Thrace for the programming period 2007-2013 is 4.2 billion Euros (the total amount of public expenditure) of which 2.7 billion € represent the Community Assistance.