European cooperation of rural and economically weaker regions

Rural regions and economically weaker regions often have poorer conditions for the successful acquisition of subsidies in comparison with urban areas. However, it is precisely these regions that can benefit most from the funds: firstly with regard to investments, and secondly with regard to knowledge gain and the qualification of local solutions. Interreg B, a European funding program, enables transnational cooperation, for example in the Alpine or Baltic Sea region. This paper investigates for the period 2000-2020 how Interreg B programmes integrate rural and economically weaker regions into European cooperation. It analyses whether transnational programmes, due to their geographical focus, offer better opportunities for participation in these regions, compared to the Europe-wide programmes “Interreg Europe”, “Horizon 2020” and “Interregional Innovation Investments” (I3). Interreg B as part of the European cohesion policy makes it possible to include rural and economically weaker regions in the development of the entire region, especially through spatially limited co-operation. This is a unique selling point of transnational cooperation that needs to be utilised more than before.