Implementing funding synergies across governance levels

While funding synergies are increasingly encouraged at European level, putting them into practice across EU, national, and regional programmes remains complex. Differences in governance structures, eligibility rules, timelines, and administrative procedures can make coordination challenging, particularly when multiple authorities and funding instruments are involved.

The deliverable addresses these issues through concrete examples of funding synergies implemented across different governance levels. These examples illustrate how EU, national, and regional funding sources have been aligned or combined, how responsibilities were distributed, and how coordination was organised in practice. Rather than proposing standard models, the document highlights the conditions that enabled these approaches and discusses their potential transferability to other contexts.

Operational insights and lessons learned

In addition to showcasing examples, the deliverable provides operational insights into how funding synergies are managed in practice. It looks at coordination between EU programmes such as Horizon Europe and national or regional funding schemes, as well as internal processes within funding authorities.

Common challenges are identified, including regulatory constraints, administrative burden, and the need for early and sustained coordination between actors at different levels. The guidelines are the result of a collective learning process within the Partnership, based on exchanges between Member States, regional authorities, and partner organisations. By focusing on lessons learned rather than best practices, the document reflects the evolving nature of funding synergies and offers a practical reference for programme managers and policymakers.

The deliverable Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership – Guidelines/Tutorials on how to best streamline funds at national, regional and European level and use other types of resources is available on Zenodo.