With over €113 million in EU funding, the newly approved Interreg NEXT MED projects bring together 331 organisations from 15 participating countries to advance the green transition and strengthen climate adaptation across the Mediterranean.
The Monitoring Committee of the Interreg NEXT MED Programme has approved 49 new projects under the second call for proposals dedicated to the green transition, investing more than €113 million in European Union funding to support transnational cooperation initiatives across the Mediterranean region.
The decision was taken during the fourth meeting of the Programme Monitoring Committee, held in Brussels on 5-6 May 2026 with the participation of representatives from the participating countries and the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy of the European Commission.
The newly approved projects, selected from a record 841 proposals submitted, will promote innovative and collaborative solutions addressing some of the Mediterranean’s most pressing challenges, including climate change adaptation, energy efficiency, circular economy, sustainable water management, the development of green business models, technologies and skills, as well as empowering youth in climate action and addressing the consequences of global warming on health.
The selected initiatives, worth over €128 million, involve 331 actors – including public authorities, universities, research centres, civil society organisations and private sector entities – from the 15 countries participating in the Programme, further strengthening Euro-Mediterranean partnerships and contributing to a greener and more climate-resilient Mediterranean.
To consult the results of the call, please see the documents attached at the end of this news.
A third (and last) call for proposals on sustainable tourism
In addition to the approval of the 49 green transition projects, the Monitoring Committee agreed to launch a third call for proposals dedicated to capitalisation projects in the sustainable tourism sector. With over €8 million in EU funding available, this final call for proposals under the current Interreg NEXT MED 2021–2027 Programme will support the transfer, adaptation and upscaling of solutions already developed by Mediterranean cooperation projects from 10 different Interreg programnmes, with the aim of promoting more sustainable, inclusive, smart and resilient tourism models across the region.
The call will be launched as a coordinated initiative under the Mediterranean Multi-Programme Mechanism (MMM), a major cooperation and coordination framework bringing together 10 Interreg programmes across 22 countries to strengthen synergies and joint action on sustainable tourism. The participating programmes are: Interreg Euro-MED, Interreg Italy–France Maritime, Interreg NEXT MED Interreg Italy–Croatia, Interreg Greece–Cyprus, Interreg Italy–Malta, Interreg Italy–Tunisia, Interreg Italy–Slovenia, Interreg IPA South Adriatic and Interreg IPA ADRION.
The third call will focus on four thematic areas: innovative and smart tourism products, tourism and green transition, the social dimension of tourism through employment and upskilling as well as inclusive and accessible tourism, and the governance of tourism offers through shared and strategic cooperation models.
Further information on the publication of the call will be available soon on this website.
Towards the new Interreg NEXT MED Programme
Finally, the meeting also marked an important step in the preparation process for the future Interreg NEXT MED Programme beyond 2027. Representatives of the participating countries agreed to launch the preparatory work for the new Interreg NEXT MED Plan (new word replacing ‘Programme’) for the 2028-2034 period.
The first meeting of the Programming Committee, the body responsible for drafting the new Interreg NEXT MED Plan and composed of representatives from the participating countries, is scheduled to take place before the summer.
Statements
Ms. Alessandra Todde, President of the Autonomous Region of Sardinia which is the Managing Authority of the Programme, opened the meeting on 6 May, stressing the importance of Interreg NEXT MED as a platform for long-term cooperation and collective action across the Mediterranean.
“These initiatives provide concrete and innovative responses to some of the Mediterranean’s most urgent environmental challenges,” President Todde stated, referring to the newly approved green transition projects. She also underlined that “as the Mediterranean faces increasingly interconnected challenges – from climate change to economic disparities and inclusion – it is clear that no country can address them alone. These challenges require stronger cooperation.”
President Todde further highlighted the Programme’s resilience and strategic importance in the current geopolitical context, noting that Interreg NEXT MED “provides a stable and constructive space where Mediterranean countries can work together in a spirit of trust, genuine partnership and shared ownership, even in difficult times.”
Hugo Sobral, Deputy Director-General of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO), also addressed the meeting, reaffirming the strategic value of territorial cooperation in the Mediterranean. He highlighted how Interreg NEXT MED represents a unique programme within the Interreg framework in terms of its scale, ambition and the management capacity demonstrated by the Autonomous Region of Sardinia as Managing Authority.
Last Update
08/05/2026
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