Decision on the most recent list of applicants approved EEA/Norwegian Fund funding 5 December 2008
Hungary has already made its decision on the applicants approved funding within the framework of the third call for proposals of the European Economic Area and Norwegian Financial Mechanisms Programme.
The evaluation-selection procedure of the second phase of the third call for proposals announced within the framework of the European Economic Area and Norwegian Financial Mechanisms Programme has now been completed. Funding of approximately 58 million EUR in value has been made available by the Mechanisms within the framework of this round of calls for financing applicants approved funding.
In accordance with the agreement concluded between the European Union and the European Economic Area (EEA) in May 2004, EEA non-EU member states (Norway, Lichtenstein, Iceland) must pay a fee to participate in the single market. This contribution establishes the basis for the EEA Financing Mechanism grant scheme, which funding new or less developed old EU member states may use - by means of tendering - to close their respective development gaps. Norway also set up the Norwegian Financial Mechanism with a similar aim pursuant to a series of bilateral agreements concluded with the 10 new member states. Hungary shall receive funding equivalent to a total of 135 million EUR, i.e. approximately 34.5 billion HUF, from the two Funds over a 5-year period.
Similarly to earlier practice, it was also possible to apply for development funding in 9 priority areas in this particular round, which, among others, included healthcare, protection of the European heritage, environmental protection and human resource development.
The submission procedure adopted in the third round of call for proposals of the EEA/Norwegian Financial Mechanisms Programme changed in relation to the practice applied earlier; consequently, the selection of projects recommended for approval was performed in two phases in this round.
The National Development Agency (NDA) ensured the opportunity for submitting concept proposals in the first round of the two-round tendering procedure from 1 June 2007 through to 24 September 2007. In the first step, applicants submitted a project concept presenting an overview of the key components of the project they envisage implementing. Out of the nearly 1500 proposals received, the Project Decision Committee selected a total of 165 project concepts at the beginning of 2008, which will proceed through to the second round within the framework of the Financial Mechanisms where concepts will be presented in detail – justified by necessary authorisation/permits and background documents - in the form of a project.
Evaluation of the full grant proposal documentation submitted in the second round took place in several phases following this. Two independent experts evaluated each proposal following formal evaluation on the basis of pre-defined evaluation criteria announced publicly. The recommendations made by these technical evaluators – following the assessment of quality assurance, integrity and coherence - were submitted to the working committees. Ministries competent in the given area, local governments, regions, civil society, as well as social partners were represented in the 5 working committees.
Project lists were compiled by each working group as an outcome of the evaluation carried out by the technical working groups; this served as a basis for the final decision of the Project Decision Committee. The Project Decision Committee was the forum where decisions were made in connection with which organisations are granted funding from the 58.3 million EUR budget made available; consequently, the Committee recommended the approval of altogether 45 projects of the 151 proposals submitted. In addition, the Committee also compiled a reserve list; therefore, if any given applicant that qualified for this round should withdraw their proposal, or if the donor states reject any given proposal, the next project on the reserve list in the same priority area replaces the withdrawing applicant.
However, the decision of the Project Decision Committee cannot be considered final, since the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and/or the Financial Mechanism Committee must also approve the projects recommended for funding.
NDA will individually and officially notify all applicants on results.