Six French regions – Nord Pas de Calais, Bouches du Rhône, Grand Est, Axe Seine and Vallée de la Bresle, Rhône Isère, Pacte de Cordemais – received technical assistance from JTP Groundwork. The technical assistance built the capacity of the relevant managing and delegated managing authorities to respond to collective issues related to JTF implementation.
The technical assistance concluded with a two-day meeting in Lille, hosted by the National Agency for Territorial Cohesion, the Hauts-de-France Region and the JTP Groundwork team. All managing authorities responsible for implementing the JTF in France attended the workshop.
The hybrid event gathered 41 participants, who also included representatives of delegated authorities (DREETS), the National Agency for Territorial Cohesion, the Directorate-General for Employment and Vocational Training and the European Commission.
The event served to:
- present to the regions and DREETS a toolbox designed by the technical assistance to support project appraisals, clarify the regulatory framework, and support JTF implementation by managing authorities;
- reflect on the approaches of other EU managing authorities and present cooperation efforts with other JTF regions;
- exchange on the state of play of the JTF programming in the different regions and discuss future needs and cooperation for the remaining programming period.
The meeting was the final event in a series of six online workshops delivered to the regions and the DREETS as part of JTP Groundwork’s technical assistance for France. The following day, two site visits were organised to meet projects benefiting from the JTF, including:
- a visit to Billy-Berclau to meet with the ‘ECOPAD’ project, which aims to decarbonise the thermal comfort sector in buildings, develop the energy autonomy of EU countries, and meet the demand for efficient and cost-effective thermal comfort systems;
- a visit to Saint-Pol-sur-Mer to meet with the ‘20,000 jobs’ project, which aims to raise awareness of employment opportunities for young people within the territory, strengthen the link between businesses and residents, and promote local industrial jobs.