“He knew the road would get more interesting, especially ahead, always ahead” [On the road, Jack Kerouac]. Looking at what the month of June will bring, one can only say that cross-border cooperation drives along a road that gets always more and more interesting, and that leads always further. Beyond 2020, actually. 

It goes without saying that TESIM drives on the same road followed by the community of ENI CBC stakeholders. And that also for us the journey is becoming really interesting. Let’s take a look at some of our recent and future destinations…

All roads lead to Brussels?

Indeed! After the last two TESIM networking meetings and the activities organised in the framework of the “Next generation, please!” initiative, during the month of June a number of events will keep Brussels in the spotlight.

Everything is ready for the 3^rd meeting of the ENI CBC Consultation and Coordination Group that will take place in Brussels on 12 June. Time for DG NEAR and the ENI CBC programmes to work on the action plan through which the findings and recommendations of the ex-post evaluation of ENPI CBC 2007-2013 will be addressed. There will also be time to draw lessons and highlight best practices from the first full set of annual implementation reports and to look at how programmes intend to measure their results and impacts. And yes! In a moment in which the whole cross-border cooperation family is positioning itself for the future programming period, also ENI CBC will have to exchange on its own prospects for continuation.

Back-to-back, the 2nd meeting of the financial network of ENI CBC programmes will be organised on 13 and14 June. Financial-related issues can be a road full of dangerous turns, and it is important to hold firm the steering wheel. From the performance of administrative verifications and on-the-spot checks to anti-fraud and anti-corruption measures, from the annual summary of controls to the procurement by private beneficiaries…these are just some of the topics on the agenda.

And TESIM will participate at the Interreg annual event 2018 that will be held in Brussels on 18 and 19 June. This year, the meeting takes place right after the European Commission has presented its post 2020 proposals for Interreg. And, directly or indirectly, this is certainly relevant to ENI CBC as well. A number of interesting workshops are foreseen by the agenda, related both to the current implementation and to the prospects for the future. The proposal for Multiannual Finance Framework, the future architecture of Territorial Cooperation…certainly an interesting programme. What place for ENI CBC? Well, one of the workshops will actually focus on cooperation along the external borders of the Union, and TESIM has been invited to play an active role in it. We will let you know how it all went in our summer edition.

The road to Yerevan, Kiev, Cagliari…

Let’s leave Brussels behind for a moment and let’s focus instead on what TESIM delivers in the participating countries, be it with national or with managing authorities.

You know it, the ENI CBC Implementing Rules have brought a higher degree of involvement of the participating countries in the day-to-day management of the programmes. In order to address the challenges that this new setting implies, TESIM provides a constant support to many different stakeholders. This was the case in Yerevan on 14 and 15 May, when a working meeting with the Armenian national authorities was held. The list of topics covered was outstanding, a sign of the many implementation layers in which the participating countries will have an active role during this period. And it will also be the case for the meetings with the Ukrainian national authorities that will take place in Kiev on 29 and 30 May. Here the focus will be prominently put on expenditure verification and procurement. From the national to the programme level, TESIM will hold a briefing with the Managing Authority of the Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme in Cagliari on 22 and 23 May in order to exchange on the impending milestones that the programme will meet in the coming months.

…and the road to Madrid

Madrid? Yes, even if not know, the Spanish capital is one of the TESIM hotspots. This is where our famous video tutorials are written, filmed and produced. And during the month of June the schedule is worth the trip!

TESIM experts will work on the Arabic and French versions of the video tutorials on project preparation. But not only! The English, Russian, French and Arabic versions of four new video tutorials on project implementation will also be shot. Practical tips on project management and monitoring, on financial management, on expenditure verification, and on communication and capitalisation will become images. You will know more about this also in our summer bulletin, with an insight on how the tutorials are used by the end watchers. In the meantime, several new tutorials on project development, partnership and budget have just been uploaded in English and Russian in our capacity building platform goforenicbc.eu and in our YouTube TESIM ENICBC channel. Make sure you don’t miss them!

How many times have we read that “life is a journey”? Zillions of times, haven’t we? The road can take to many different places and look twisty but, as we see, all destinations, no matter how distant they can be, have a reason. The important thing, as Kerouac wrote, is to look ahead. Always ahead.