First Call for Applications Closed in the Hungarian-Romanian Border Region – Nearly 200 Applications Submitted 3 March 2009
The first call for applications of the Hungary-Romania Cross-Border Cooperation Programme jointly announced in autumn last year by the National Development Agency and the Ministry of Regional Development and Housing of Romania was closed on 30 January. The best quality projects that truly have a cross-border impact will be eligible to receive funding from the 16 million EUR-framework made available by the European Regional Development Fund.
196 applications were received up to the deadline date for submission. The formal requirements of these applications are currently being checked; the rate of funding applied for within the framework of these applications amounts to nearly double that of the Community funding made available (16 million EUR). Applicants could apply for various amounts of funding in specific areas of intervention, generally ranging from a minimum of 10,000 EUR to a maximum 1.5 million EUR. As regards the composition of partnerships, data gathered so far indicates that there is a balanced distribution of Hungarian and Romanian project partners; a total of 230 Hungarian and 225 Romanian organisations have been integrated within the framework of applications that have already been submitted. The Joint Steering Committee of the Programme will make decisions on the approval of funds once the formal and content evaluation of the applications has been completed. Applicants are expected to be notified by the end of June.
Within the framework of the call, Key Area of Intervention 2.5.1 - "Cooperation between Communities" was the most popular, followed by 2.2.2 –"Joint Research Projects" and 2.1.3 – "Tourism Development".
Within the framework of the first call, organisations classified as non-profit organisations under public and private law were eligible to submit applications aimed at upgrading key conditions required for developing cross-border social and economic cooperation and strengthening social and economic cohesion in the theme of transport, communication, environmental protection, labour-market, research and development, innovation, education and training, as well as healthcare.
The tendering procedure ends by signing the assistance contract; the partnership agreement defining partnership commitments is also an integral part of this contract.
The second call for applications was announced on 3 December 2008 within the framework of the Programme. The combined Community funding framework of this call is equivalent to nearly 105 million EUR. The deadline date for mailing applications has already closed in the case of the first round of the two-round tendering procedure; the evaluation of the project concepts received will begin in the first week of March.
The next call of the Hungary-Romania Cross-Border Cooperation Programme is expected to be announced in the second half of 2009. It will be possible to download the application package from the website of the Programme: www.huro-cbc.eu.