The ambitious 10 points Action Plan set out in the Communication “Boosting Growth and Cohesion in EU Border Regions” is moving one important step forward. The Association of European Border Regions (AEBR), under the supervision of DG REGIO have prepared and launched the initiative “b-solutions”, meaning a call for proposals to finance up to 20 pilot actions aiming at solving specific border obstacles of administrative and/or legal nature.

Public authorities should seize the opportunity offered by this initiative to test effective ways —in the form of pilot actions— of overcoming border obstacles of a legal and/or administrative nature along EU internal land borders (including also the neighbouring EFTA countries) that can be replicable in other contexts. Each of these pilot actions must focus on one of the topics highlighted in the Communication and accompanying Staff Working Document, i.e. employment, health, transport, multi-lingualism and institutional cooperation. Each of these projects (actions) will have the objective of exploring one specific solution for one specific problem in one specific border. Projects will be implemented during a maximum period of 15 months.

The call will stay open until 30 April 2018 h 14:00 CET, having a budget of 400.000 EUR available to finance with sub-grants of 20.000 small pilot projects. The information regarding thematic coverage, eligibility, application form, selection process, and assistance can be found in the official website of b-solutions.

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