Upon the invitation of the Greek STEP National Contact Point, the STEP taskforce participated in a two-day event dedicated to STEP in Athens on 9 and 10 January 2025.
The objective of the first day was to promote STEP and discuss the possibilities for reprogramming with the Managing Authorities in charge of cohesion policy programmes (ERDF, ESF+ and JTF). The STEP Taskforce presented the STEP tools with a particular emphasis on the STEP Seal, the STEP Portal and the 1st wave of reprogramming for cohesion policy programmes. The Managing Authorities were well aware of STEP and actively engaged in discussions with the taskforce. Examples of Greek projects with STEP Seal were also presented.
The second day (10/01) had a stronger political focus with the participation of the Deputy Minister of Economy and Economics, and the Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister. Private sector stakeholders, SMEs, business confederations and representatives of the academia participated in the discussions. The political interventions focused on the importance of using STEP to its maximum extent in order to help Greece realise its full potential in terms of competitiveness and economic growth. The STEP taskforce participated in two panels focused on the opportunities opened by STEP for combination of funding and on skills.
In addition, the STEP taskforce met with EIC beneficiaries and with one of the STEP Seal holder projects from Horizon Europe. The STEP taskforce also met with the recently established Hellenic National Development Bank.
The STEP taskforce will pursue the discussions with the national and certain regional managing authorities to promote the mobilisation of cohesion policy funds for STEP.