Institutional Cooperation

INTERREG Programme, Spain-Portugal, (POCTEP), 2021-2027

On 22 August 2022, the European Commission approved the Interreg Spain-Portugal Cross-Border Cooperation Programme (POCTEP) 2021- 2027.

The cooperation area is located in the extreme southwest of the EU and is closely linked to the border between Spain and Portugal which, with a total of 1,234 km, is one of the longest in Europe.

Taking into account the specificity of each territory, its historical trajectory and the good results obtained, the articulation of the Programme will continue to be based on the 6 Cooperation Areas that have shaped the territory in the last Programmes.

The POCTEP 2021-2027 programme has been drawn up by the Member States of Spain and Portugal with the aim of tackling key challenges in the border area between the two countries.

Its drafting has taken into account the previous diagnosis of the current situation of the cooperation area, the strategic references that affect it, the principles of partnership and multilevel governance and the results of the strategic environmental assessment.

In this way, the programme has been divided into priorities:

Priority 1. Exploit the potential of cooperation to consolidate the innovation, scientific and technological ecosystem, boost the creation of knowledge and business networks, promote digitalisation and improve business competitiveness, especially of SMEs and micro-SMEs.

Priority 2. Promote cooperation to maximise the use of the territory's endogenous resources and the development of key initiatives and sectors, making progress in smart specialisation.

Priority 3. Advance in the ecological transition and adaptation to climate change in the cross-border area through cooperation as a tool for the promotion of the green economy and the blue economy.

Priority 4. Protect and conserve biodiversity in natural and rural areas and enhance natural ecosystems and the urban environment in the cross-border area through cooperation.

Priority 5. Enhance cooperation to face the demographic challenge in the border area, creating attractive living conditions based on access to the labour market, essential public services, mobility and applying principles of social inclusion, equal opportunities and treatment.

Priority 6. Promote through cross-border cooperation the development of multi-sectoral strategies for integrated and sustainable development.

Priority 7. Overcome border obstacles by applying a transformative multi-level governance approach to cross-border cooperation.

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General Foundation of the University of Salamanca

The General Foundation of the University of Salamanca is a non-profit organisation established in 1998 with the aim of cooperating in the fulfilment of the objectives of the University of Salamanca. In this way, the University has an agile instrument to carry out specific objectives:

• To promote and develop postgraduate courses and specialised continuing education activities, in order to increase the scientific and professional training of university graduates, as well as to respond to the needs of specialisation and deepening of knowledge demanded by society.
• To promote the presence of the University of Salamanca abroad, especially through the creation of cultural centres in Latin America and Europe.
• To promote, in any matter of mutual interest, the relationship between the University of Salamanca and public and private entities, with special attention to University-Business relations, with the aim of promoting the research activities of the University and consequently the transfer of knowledge and technology, as well as actions in favour of employment, contributing to their financing.
• To promote society's interest in research, development and experimentation through the constant dissemination of scientific and technical knowledge, as well as its diffusion to the business and industrial fabric.
• To make innovation, rigorously planned, contrasted, evaluated and based, one of the main signs of identity of the University of Salamanca.
• To permanently provide scientific, technical and cultural advice to society, thus contributing to the improvement of the quality of life in the community.

The General Foundation of the University of Salamanca is working hard to achieve the aforementioned objectives, trying to integrate the entire university community in these projects.

Economic and Social Council of Spain

The Economic and Social Council of Spain was created by Law 21/1991, of 17 June (BOE of 18 June), to fulfil the constitutional function of reinforcing the participation of economic and social agents in economic and social life, reaffirming their role in the development of the social and democratic State governed by the rule of law. 
The ESC serves as a permanent institutional platform for dialogue and deliberation, insofar as it is the only body where a wide range of socio-professional organisations are represented, and is also a permanent means of communication between economic and social agents and the Government. 
The consultative function of the Council, which is instituted through its Law of Creation, is exercised in relation to the regulatory activity of the Government in socio-economic and labour matters, and is materialised, fundamentally, in the issuing of reports and opinions requested on a mandatory or optional basis, as the case may be, or drawn up on its own initiative. 
The Economic and Social Council of Spain is a public law body, as set out in article 131, section 2, of the Constitution, with consultative status with the Government on socio-economic and labour matters.
Its functional independence from the General State Administration is expressly recognised, as a specialised public body, with its own legal personality and full capacity, as well as organic and functional autonomy for the fulfilment of its purposes, which empowers it to regulate its internal organisation and functioning. The Council is administratively attached to the Ministry of Labour and Social Economy.
The functions of the Economic and Social Council are as follows:

• To issue an opinion, on a mandatory basis, on Preliminary Draft State Laws and Draft Royal Legislative Decrees regulating socio-economic and labour matters and on Draft Royal Decrees considered by the Government to be of special importance in the regulation of the aforementioned matters.
• To issue an opinion, also on a mandatory basis, on Preliminary Draft Bills of Laws or Draft Administrative Provisions affecting the organisation, competences or functioning of the Council; on the dismissal of the Chairman and General Secretary of the Council and on any other matter on which, by express provision of a Law, the Council must be consulted.
• To issue an opinion on matters which, on an optional basis, are submitted to the Council for consultation by the Government of the Nation or its members.
• To prepare, at the request of the Government or its members, or on its own initiative, studies and reports related, within the framework of the economic and social interests of the social partners, to the following matters: Economy and Taxation; Labour Relations, Employment and Social Security; Social Affairs; Agriculture and Fisheries; Education and Culture; Health and Consumer Affairs; Environment; Transport and Communications; Industry and Energy; Housing; Regional Development; Single European Market and Development Cooperation.
• To regulate its own internal organisation and functioning.
• To draw up and submit to the Government, within the first five months of each year, a Report setting out its considerations on the socio-economic and employment situation of the nation.

Economic and Social Council of Portugal

The Economic and Social Council of Portugal, provided for in Article 92 of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, is the constitutional body for consultation and consultation on economic and social policies, whose main objectives are to promote the participation of economic and social agents in the decision-making processes of the organs of sovereignty, in the field of socio-economic matters, being, par excellence, the space for dialogue between the Government, the Social Agents and other representatives of organised civil society. It participates in the drafting of proposals for major options and economic and social development plans and exercises other functions attributed to it by law. It is responsible, under the terms of Law no. 108/91 of 17 August 1991, as updated:

• Give its opinion on the preliminary drafts of major options and economic and social development plans before they are approved by the government, as well as on the reports on their implementation;
• give its opinion on economic and social policies and their implementation;
• to consider Portugal's positions in the bodies of the European Communities in the field of economic and social policies, and to give an opinion on the national use of Community, structural and specific funds;
• to give its opinion on proposals for national sectoral and spatial plans and, in general, on restructuring and socio-economic development policies that the government considers submitting to it;
• to regularly consider the evolution of the economic and social situation of the country;
• To consider documents pertaining to regional development policy;
• To promote dialogue and consultation between the social partners;
• To issue opinions on its own initiative, under the terms of the law.

Polytechnic Institute of Bragança

The Polytechnic Institute of Bragança is a public institution of higher education whose mission is the creation, transmission and dissemination of technical-scientific knowledge and knowledge of a professional nature, through the articulation of study, teaching, applied research and experimental development.
It develops its mission in articulation with society, including cross-border collaboration, in a perspective of territorial cohesion and national and international affirmation, with a view to the development of the Region, based on innovation and the production and transfer of technical-scientific knowledge.
It promotes the enhancement of its teaching, research and non-teaching staff, stimulates the intellectual and professional training of students and ensures the conditions for all duly qualified citizens to have access to higher education and lifelong learning.
It promotes the mobility of students and graduates, both nationally and internationally, especially in the European Higher Education Area and in the community of Portuguese-speaking countries.
It participates, individually or through its organisational units, in activities of connection with society, especially with regard to the dissemination, transfer and enhancement of knowledge.