Montenegrin municipalities and other public authorities can use the Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform to find proven European solutions to specific challenges in policymaking and implementation, receive expert support, and connect with peers and experts from other European countries.
Interreg Europe provides policy expertise to public authorities in 36 countries, including all 27 EU Member States and nine other countries, including Montenegro.
The Policy Learning Platform helps policymakers across Europe find relevant solutions to local and regional development challenges through the exchange of experience and good practices. The Platform provides access to knowledge, people, and expertise, building on the experience and networks developed through Interreg Europe projects and beyond.
Support Across Different Areas of Local Development
The Platform provides support across all priorities of the EU Cohesion Policy, as well as in better policy governance.
Topics include research and innovation, digitalisation, SME competitiveness and entrepreneurship, energy efficiency and renewable energy, climate change, water management, circular economy, nature and biodiversity, sustainable mobility, employment, education, social inclusion, healthcare, culture and sustainable tourism, urban and non-urban development, natural heritage, citizens’ engagement, and other areas relevant to local and regional development.
Access to European Good Practices and a Community of Over 22,000 Policymakers
One way to benefit from the Platform is through its database containing thousands of expert-validated good practices. Users can find examples relevant to their country, region, or city and contact the people who have already tested and implemented these solutions.
The Platform also provides policy briefs analysing specific policy issues and offering recommendations, stories highlighting successful practices, and thematic collections of resources curated by the Platform’s experts.
At the same time, the Platform brings together a network of more than 22,000 policymakers, while its online community enables users to connect with professionals working on similar topics. Events, workshops, webinars, and recordings of past events are also available.
Direct Expert Support for Specific Policy Challenges
For institutions facing a specific policy challenge, the Policy Learning Platform offers several levels of expert support.
The Policy Helpdesk is open to everyone. After submitting a specific question, users can receive recommendations from experts on relevant resources – from EU policy documents and policy briefs to good practices – and, where necessary, further support can be organised.
Public authorities can also benefit from the Matchmaking service. It offers an opportunity to organise a two-hour discussion with carefully selected peers, moderated by the Platform’s thematic experts, to explore a specific policy challenge in greater depth. These discussions can take place in person or online.
The most comprehensive form of support is the Peer Review. During a two-day visit, selected peers and thematic experts analyse a specific policy challenge together with local stakeholders and recommend solutions tailored to the beneficiary’s needs. The process is followed by a report with a roadmap and up to two additional meetings to support the uptake of recommendations. The Platform organises this service free of charge.
Dedicated Support for Montenegro as an EU Candidate Country
Of particular relevance to Montenegro are the capacity-building events designed specifically for EU candidate countries.
These one-day events aim to support preparations for EU membership by helping candidate countries align their policies with the EU. Thematic experts, practitioners, and policymakers from EU countries work together on a specific topic selected according to the needs of the organising country.
This form of support is specifically designed for the seven EU candidate countries that joined the programme in 2024 – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Ukraine.
The Policy Learning Platform therefore enables Montenegrin institutions and municipalities to draw on the experience of other European cities and regions, identify solutions that have already been tested in similar contexts, and receive expert support in adapting them to local needs.
Want to Learn More?
More information on how the Policy Learning Platform works, the types of expert support available, and how European experience can be used to address specific policy challenges is available in the brochure “Policy Learning Platform – Your shortcut to policy solutions.”
More information about the Policy Learning Platform is also available on the official Interreg Europe website.
