Civil Society Organisations had an opportunity to learn more on the new EU programmes for 2014-2020 opened for the Western Balkans countries, at the seminar held today in the EU Delegation to BiH.

The seminar was organised by the Directorate for European Integration of the BiH Council of Ministers in cooperation with the EU funded projects „Capacity Building of Government Institutions to engage in policy dialogue with civil society in BiH“ and „Support to participation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the new 2014-2020 Cycle of EU Programmes“.

Basic information, objectives and activities of each EU programme for 2014-2020 was presented at the seminar, as well as the procedures and methods needed for country to apply to the programmes of interest.

The EU programmes support the cooperation and networking among the EU Member States in different areas. The candidate countries and the potential candidate countries, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, have the possibility to participate in these programmes, by following necessary procedures (expressing interest, signing the international agreement and paying the financial contribution for the entry into the programme for each year of participation in specific programme).  The programmes support these countries on their path to the European integration.

The European Commission will within the framework of the new cycle of the EU programmes 2014–2020, offer to candidate countries and potential candidate countries including Bosnia and Herzegovina, a possibility of co-financing of the „entry ticket“ (up to 90% of the amount) through the Instrument for the Pre-accession Assistance (IPA), with annual gradual decrease of the IPA co-financing and increase of the co-financing from the domestic budget.

Participation of applicants in the EU programmes is done through the call for proposals. Funds that are paid by the country for the “entry ticket” do not guarantee financing of the submitted project proposals, however the approved projects may withdraw funds that are much higher than the amount paid for the “entry ticket“.

Projects supported within the EU programmes usually demand participation of more partners from various countries – members of the programmes, as well as co-financing of the projects by the applicants themselves. The participation of stakeholders in the EU programmes offers the possibility for the exchange of knowledge and experiences, good practices, participation in pilot projects, preparation of the strategic documents and sector policies, participation at the seminars, workshops and study trips, etc.  

Usually, the EU programmes foresee the establishment of a national contact point for a programme in the participating country, for the purpose of offering information on a programme and giving support to the applicants, as well as improving participation of the country in the programme of interest.

In the previous period 2007-2013, Bosnia and Herzegovina participated as a member in the following EU programmes: Seventh Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration Activities (FP7), Culture, Media and Europe for Citizens.

One of the important aspects of development of incentive environment for the civil society functioning is enabling them participation in development of sustainable policies which will completely reflect the needs of the citizens. This is particularly needed for the reforms which need to be implemented by country aspiring to become EU member.

The European Union expects from the beneficiary countries to set up appropriate structures and mechanisms for cooperation of the public institutions with the civil society, as well as free, clear and accessible flow of information related to the matters of public interest. When implementing tasks from its scope of competence, the Directorate for European Integration i.e the Office of the National IPA Coordinator, besides information exchange and consultation with all partners from the BiH authorities, other donors and international financial institutions, puts efforts in further development of the level of the participation and consultation mechanisms with the civil society in BiH.

Find out more about the programmes in a publication here