Agreement on the Development of Regions – co-financing of the establishment and operation of regional mobility centers and preparation of comprehensive regional transportation strategies

In order to promote balanced regional development, the Act on the Promotion of Balanced Regional Development establishes the manner in which the state and municipalities coordinate with one another in planning regional policy and implementing regional development tasks, activities, and the performance of development tasks in a development region, as well as regional policy measures.

Agreement on the Development of Regions is an instrument for planning regional policy measures and constitutes a bilateral implementing act or agreement through which the regional development programme of a specific development region is implemented by identifying key regional and sectoral projects aimed at overcoming developmental obstacles in the region, as well as sources of funding. The programming period for the implementation of regional policy is the same as the period of the current financial perspective of the European Union.

In the Programming period 2021–2027, the Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development is the ministry responsible for implementing regional policy. In March 2024, the Ministry issued a call for regional development councils to prepare and sign regional development agreements for the Programming period 2021–2027.

The purpose of this invitation is a call to development regions to submit draft agreements for the Programming period 2021–2027, in accordance with the Act on the Promotion of Balanced Regional Development and the Regulation on the Implementation of Endogenous Regional Policy Measures. Based on this call, regional development agencies prepare and submit draft agreements that include regional and interregional projects for the region, which will enable the region to capitalize on its most significant development potential and advantages, remove the region’s development barriers, and realize regional development specializations. A draft agreement may also include sectoral projects coordinated through territorial development dialogue with the relevant ministries.

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy is involved in the inclusion of projects in draft agreements—specifically, those projects that are co-financed by the Cohesion Fund under the European Cohesion Policy Programme for the 2021–2027 programming period—as part of the following measure:

Policy objective 3 – A more connected Europe

Priority 5: Sustainable cross-regional mobility and connectivity

Specific objective: RSO3.2 Developing and enhancing sustainable, climate resilient, intelligent and intermodal national, regional and local mobility, including improved access to TEN-T and cross-border mobility (ERDF) (Cohesion Fund).

Measure: Non-infrastructural sustainable mobility measures at the horizontal level.

As part of the Agreement on the Development of Regions Call for proposals, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy is allocating funds to co-finance projects under non-infrastructure measures for sustainable mobility at the horizontal level, which includes:

Component A: Establishment and operation of regional mobility centers to promote and develop sustainable mobility in the regions and/or

Component B: Preparation of comprehensive regional transportation strategies, which will enable regions to approach sustainable transportation planning at the regional level.

To be eligible for the agreement, a separate project proposal must be prepared for each individual component. Details on the conditions and requirements for co-financing the establishment and operation of regional mobility centers (Component A) and the preparation of regional integrated transportation strategies (Component B) are presented in the following guidelines:

Content Guidelines for the Co-financing of the Establishment and Operation of Regional Mobility Centers under the Agreement on the Development of Regions and
Content Guidelines for the Co-financing of the preparation of regional comprehensive transportation strategies under the Agreement on the Development of Regions.

The aforementioned content guidelines must be taken into account as early as the drafting stage for amendments to the agreements. The draft amendment to the agreement and the accompanying documentation must demonstrate that project proposals relating to the establishment and operation of regional sustainability centers or the development of comprehensive regional transportation strategies meet all the conditions and requirements set forth in the content guidelines. The description of the project proposal in Form 2 and the annexes must clearly indicate all outcome indicators as defined in the content guidelines. A project proposal that does not comply with the content guidelines will not be approved for inclusion in the agreement.

Confirming Operations

On March 12, 2025, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy has, on the basis of the first amendment to the Invitation for Regional Development Councils to prepare and sign amendments for Agreement on the Development of Regions, following the harmonization of project proposals and the completion of the territorial dialogue, and in accordance with paragraph 3 of Article 5 of the Regulation on the Implementation of Endogenous Regional Policy Measures, granted its approval for the inclusion of 23 regional projects in the Agreement on the Development of Regions. Approval was granted for 12 operations related to the establishment and operation of Regional Mobility Centers (RCMs) and 11 operations related to Regional Integrated Transportation Strategies (RCPS).

After signing the Agreements on the Development of Regions, project leaders must, no later than on December 31, 2026, submit an application for direct approval of the operation. Applications must be in accordance with the Ministry’s instructions for submitting applications (Guidelines for Applicants – Preparation of Applications for Direct Approval of Operations).