Analysis of program budget of Republic of Karelia for the purpose of identification of priorities for funding CBC programs

A new CBC Karelia 2014-2020 Programme is now being planned. To get financial support from European Regional Development Fund it is necessary to select four thematic priorities for the programme out of ten proposed by EC according to strategy “Europe 2020”. Reasonable decision should be based on identification of common challenges or untapped potentials in bordering regions. One of the methods to achieve this aim is analysis of state programmes in Republic of Karelia in comparison with possible thematic priorities. This analysis allows identifying those spheres that are underfunded on regional level and those that have a good financial base for cross-border cooperation. After examination of 17 regional state programmes we conclude that CBC funds for thematic priorities “Business and SME development” and “Improvement of accessibility to the regions, development of transport and communication networks and systems” can help Republic of Karelia to solve the problem of underfunding these spheres. On the other hand, state programmes provide enough human resources for cross-border cooperation under thematic priorities “Support to education, research, technological development and innovation”, “Promotion of local culture and preservation of historical heritage”, “Promotion of social inclusion and fight against poverty”. These conclusions, as well as other analytical data, will be used for preparing CBC Karelia 2014-2020 programming documents.