Europe for Citizens – EU grants

The Europe for Citizens programme for the period 2014-2020 funds European remembrance and democratic engagement and civic participation projecs. It aims

• To contribute to citizens’ understanding of the EU, its history and diversity
• To foster European citizenship and to improve conditions for civic and democratic participation at EU level
• To raise awareness of remembrance, common history and values
• To encourage democratic participation of citizens at EU level, by developing citizens’ understanding of the EU policy making-process and, by promoting opportunities for societal and intercultural engagement and volunteering at EU level

It has the status of a call for proposals and the program has just announced the projects selected to be funded. Among the public bodies or non-profit organisations that have applied, 33 projects have achieved the European Remembrance funding, all of them focus on the World War II and the associated rise of intolerance that enabled crimes against humanity and the consequences of World War II for the post-war architecture of Europe.

Regarding the Democratic engagement and civic participation, selected projects, Hungarian municipalities have successfully get funding for Town Twinning projects, getting 30 out of the 144 total grants, followed by Slovakia (21 projects granted), Romania (13) and Italy (11), among others. Italy seems to be the most successful EU country though regarding the grant selection for Networks of towns projects, followed by close by Hungary.

All these initiatives will contribute to reinforce the cooperation among European countries.