Norwegian Financial Mechanisms

Period: 1 May 2004–30 April 2009

Budget: EUR 567 million

The Norwegian Financial Mechanism was established in 2004 as Norway's own counterpart of the EEA Financial Mechanism. The objective of The Norwegian Financial Mechanism is the same as the EEA, to ensure the enlarged EEA is socially and economically equal and providing financial assistance so the new Members can fully participate in the internal market.

In addition to contributing EUR 113.4 million annually to the EEA Financial Mechanism, Norway also contributes the same amount annually to its own fund. The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the deciding body of the Mechanism, coordinating the awarding of grants with the Financial Mechanism Committee (FMC).

Since Norway has complete control over its own mechanism, the Mechanism's areas of focus differ slight from the EEA Mechanism, granting funds to projects in the following fields:

• Security and border control

• Environment

• Regional and cross-border activities

• Aquis communitaire implementation assistance

In contrast to the EEA Financial Mechanism, the Norwegian Financial Mechanism is only for the ten new EEA member states: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

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