FUNDS

EU Funds

Community Programmes

Community Programmes

The Community Programmes are a series of integrated measures accepted by the European Commission aiming to strengthen the co-operation among the Member States regarding Community policies for a period of time. The Community Programmes are financed from the general budget of the Community. All Acceding and Candidate countries have the opportunity to participate in the programmes, although, as a main condition of participation, an annual fee has to be paid to the budget.

Community Programmes can be tied to almost every Community policy. The Community decides on the type of programmes, their budgets and their durations. Any legal entity (sometimes individuals, too) can submit a proposal. The submission, evaluation and settlement of the accounts along with the full administration belong to the Administration of the Directorate Generals (DGs) of the European Commission.

The proposals can be submitted in a consortium with the participation of minimum two or more organisations from the EU Member States (specified in the Calls for Proposals). The applicants are directly in contact with EC officers, from the submission till the closure of the project. However, each participating country opens a national programme office or agency (either within a competent Ministry or within a separate organisation) whose task is the collection of information and mediation in order to assist the national applicants. In some cases the national programme coordinators have higher responsibility and competence.

This section presents the Community Programmes for the 2007-2013 budgetary period through focusing on the new programmes, as well as the programmes that continue to exist.