The UK Government and EU negotiators issued a joint report “Progress during phase 1 of negotiations under article 50 on the United Kingdom's orderly withdrawal from the European Union”. The report addresses major issues such as UK and EU citizens’ rights and financial settlements, including UK’s commitment to all programmes financed through the 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).

Interreg programmes such as the NPA are part of the budgetary commitments in the long-term budget (MFF) for the period 2014-2020. The report states that “UK entities’ right to participate in EU MFF 2014-2020 programmes will be unaffected by the UK’s withdrawal from the EU”. More precisely, “This means that UK based organisations will be able to bid for funding in 2019 and 2020. They will also be able to participate in projects, lead projects, and to continue to receive funding for the lifetime of the projects”.

Compared to our earlier message that it is “business as usual” for UK partners in projects contracted before March 2019, this means that UK partners will most likely be able to participate in calls for the remainder of the programme period. It remains the case that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed”.

One line in the report also leaves a door open to the possibility of the UK joining the table of negotiations about “some post-2020 programmes”, as a non-Member State. However nothing more precise is said about which programmes.