ENI CBC IN MOTION: April 2018

Ratification of the Financing Agreements by the Federal Assembly of Russia and the final notification of the EC on the designation of the Managing Authority are the last steps before the finish line for Kolarctic, Karelia and South-East Finland – Russia in order to start project implementation. While waiting, the Managing Authorities carry out grant contract negotiations with lead beneficiaries of the projects selected for funding.

Equally good chances to cut the ribbon of project implementation phase has got Poland-Belarus-Ukraine with a total of 8 grant contracts already signed: one more grant contract was signed in Ustrzyki Dolne (Poland) on 27 March. The project “Cross-border partnership – a chance for regional development” will be implemented under the thematic objective Accessibility. However, the projects implementation may only start after the designation of the Managing Authority is completed.

With two calls for proposals already finalised and 30 applications selected for funding, Latvia-Lithuania-Belarus is pending the Managing Authority designation decision too to launch the projects, which is the last item in the programme’s to-do list of preparatory actions.

 The call is closed. Long live the call!

In a busy lifecycle of a programme, there is hardly time to rest. As soon as one call is settled, another one is just around the corner. Or sometimes, both run in parallel.

And this is the case of South-East Finland – Russia. It closed its third round of call on 28 March with 32 applications requesting ca. € 23,5 million of ENI CBC funding. And while the applications of the 3^rd round are subject to administrative and eligibility checks, the 4^th round is already in full swing (deadline 15 June). The promotion of the open call was ensured at the Networking forum on building cross-border cooperation projects which took place on 5 April in St. Petersburg (Russia) with TESIM support and will continue with a training workshop targeted at lead applicants from Russia on 23 April (registration is open until 13 April).

First evaluation results of full application forms received within the 1^st call for proposals of Estonia-Russia were at the focus of the Project Selection Committee meeting which took place in Tallinn on 4 and 5 April. The final results are expected by the end of June. In the meantime, first results of the 2^nd restricted call for proposals of the programme were announced (deadline was on 7 March): seven project summary forms were received requesting a total of € 2,26 million. The submitted project ideas contribute to the joint risk management of natural disasters in the border area of Estonia and Russia. Following the selection procedures and the JMC approval, successful applicants will be invited to submit full application forms.

In parallel to grant contract signature, Poland-Belarus-Ukraine continues project selection procedures. On 22 March in Bialystok (Poland), the JMC also approved the results of the 1^st call for proposals under the thematic objective Security. 17 projects out 143 were selected for funding with a total awarded amount of € 23,9 million.  The JMC also approved the application pack for the 2^nd call for proposals (microprojects with possible grant amount requested between € 20 000 – €60 000) under the thematic objective Heritage which opens on 1 August (deadline for submission is 31 October).

The clock will soon stop ticking for the 1^st call for proposals of Lithuania-Russia, which closes on 10 April. The open call was supported in February and March by 7 information and capacity building events attended by more than 350 participants from the eligible regions.

An opportunity not to be missed by potential applicants from Poland-Russia: on 16 April the programme is launching its 1^st call for proposals which will address protection of cultural heritage, environment protection, transport infrastructure and border security. A total of € 41,42 million is available for the project proposals which must be submitted by the deadline of 16 July. Information seminars/workshops will be organised in April, May and June to support potential applicants. A project implementation manual, including a project communication guide, will be available on the website after the launch of the call.

More funding opportunities in the field of environmental management (priority 2.2.) are proposed by the 2^nd call of Latvia-Russia launched on 29 March. The call is designed as a one-step procedure with specific requirements for projects and is open until 31 July. The month of April will see the organisation of 4 seminars in Russia and Latvia, both for 2^nd call potential applicants and 1^st call project applicants and partners invited to submit full application forms. Registration for the events is open on the programme website until 10 April.

As promised, we come back with more details on Latvia-Lithuania-Belarus 2nd call for proposals. Five priorities combined, a total of 156 proposals were received with € 101,8 million of requested funding. The majority of applications (75) deal with social inclusion issues, followed by applications related to promotion of local culture and preservation of heritage (50) and local and regional governance (31). The highest number of lead applicants (107) come from Lithuania. In terms of partnership, more than half of applications involve 2-3 beneficiaries in a project, one third have a partnership of 4-5 beneficiaries, and only 12% foresee bigger partnerships (6-8).

The first spring month was so packed with the news from the ENI CBC community, that it was pretty hard to fit it all in the limited space of our bulletin. And there is still a lot to come! Subscribe to our bulletin and get ENI CBC updates first hand!