Interreg Go! 2025
- Anya Sitaram
- Apr 1
- 2 min read
Transalpina/Europe Square in Gorizia/Novo Gorica
I am standing in a large square in Gorizia Northern Italy. To the east around 25 metres away is a railway station that has recently had a major revamp and nearby to the West are residential apartments. As I walk, the 4G on my mobile phone disappears abruptly and then suddenly returns while my phone tells me I am in Slovenia then quickly reverts to an Italian network.
I am at Transalpina or Europe Square on the Italian Slovenian border. Except there is no visible border and people come and go as they please. I am here to host the closing ceremony of the Interreg Go! 2025 conference and the square in Gorizia/Novo Gorica is being showcased as a symbol of EU cohesion policy and cross-border cooperation.
A woman approaches and asks what is about to happen pointing at the stage and audio equipment. I explain that it is the culmination of the Interreg Go! Annual event and that participants will be gathering here for the closing ceremony. Dragica aged 77 lives in a nearby village in Slovenia and has come to marvel at the modernized Nova Gorica station. “We will be able to get a train direct to Venice!” she says with a smile. She remembers how the former border erected between Yugoslavia and Italy after the Second World War divided families and loved ones She tells me that a young man who climbed the fence for fun was shot dead.
The past still haunts her but there is a vibrant future ahead. The cities of Nova Gorica and Gorizia once separated by the legacy of war are now united as the 2025 European Capital of Culture – the first time the honour has been awarded to twin cities.
The two-day Interreg Go! Event at which I have been Master of Ceremonies has come to an end. High profile speakers have given keynotes at the conference including Massimiliano Fedriga, President of the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy, Raffaele Fitto, Executive Vice-President for Cohesion and Reforms, European Commission, Marta Kos, Commissioner for Enlargement, European Commission and Aleksander Jevšek, Minister of Cohesion and Regional Development, Slovenia.
Since its launch in 1990 as a one billion Euro fund to support the European single market Interreg has evolved into a major Cohesion Policy instrument, with over €40 billion invested in more than 30,000 projects. The programmes promote social, cultural and economic cross border cooperation.
Interreg’s future post 2027 is yet to be determined but the war in Ukraine and the chill wind blowing across the Atlantic have increased the desire for a united Europe. The participants enthusiastically unfurl a giant EU flag for drone pictures after the three Mayors at the closing ceremony call for solidarity. The consensus is that borderless is best.
