Interreg Programmes were bringing an important contribution to the accession process of the Central and Eastern European countries throughout the past three decades. Together with other pre-accession instruments, the territorial cooperation programmes were instrumental for the capacity building in different fields for a large variety of stakeholders from the partner and candidate countries. Interreg facilitated the transfer of knowledge and the development of national level procedures and institutional frameworks.

We propose a discussion about the role of Interreg in the enlargement process of the candidate countries and, based on the past experiences, about how it can contribute more efficiently to the accession efforts. Moreover, we would investigate how Interreg can reinforce and deepen the dialogue and cooperation with the partner countries.