EUROPEAN UNION CORLEAP Conference of the Regional and Local Authorities for Committee of the Regions the Eastern Partnership EU FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE TO LOCAL AND REGIONAL AUTHORITIES IN EASTERN PARTNERSHIP COUNTRIES TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION _____________________ 3 EU FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE TO LOCAL AND REGIONAL AUTHORITIES IN EASTERN PARTNERSHIP COUNTRIES ______________ 4 ➞ Thematic programmes . .6 ➞ Bilateral programmes . .8 ➞ Regional instruments . 12 ➞ Overview of fi nancial instruments available to LRAs per country. 21 FINANCING THROUGH THE EUROPEAN INVESTMENT BANK AND THE EUROPEAN BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT _23 ➞ The European Investment Bank (EIB) . 23 ➞ The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development . 27 ABBREVIATIONS _____________________ 33 LIST OF TABLES AND BOXES _____________34 REFERENCES ________________________ 35 INTRODUCTION Jiří Buriánek This booklet is intended as a follow-up to the initial Secretary General publication The EU funds available for Local and Regional European Committee of the Regions Authorities from the Eastern Partnership Countries, issued by the Committee of the Regions in 2012. It contains updated information on the new local and regional funds available for the EaP initiative under the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2014-2020. The booklet is divided into two main sections: The fi rst section is based on the academic study carried out by the Aston Centre for Europe at Aston University. It serves as a guide and also gives an overview of projects fi nanced by the Pilot Regional Development Programmes during the period 2011–13. This fi rst section is concerned with two topics. Firstly, it deals with diff erent types of EU fi nancial instruments (e.g. thematic, bilateral and regional). Secondly, it presents details of conditions and opportunities on a country by country basis. The fi rst section of the booklet also gives details of the lessons learned by the EU during the previous MFF exercise, along with proposals on how to improve access to EU funds and programmes for LRAs in partner countries during the period 2014-2020. The second section of the booklet provides more general information on the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), along with details of the practical support that both institutions provide to LRAs in EaP countries. The European Committee of the Regions is grateful to the EBRD and the EIB for their cooperation and for their contribution to the work on the Conference on Local and Regional Authorities for the Eastern Partnership (CORLEAP). Providing funds for municipal projects is one of the best means by which the EU can assist the long-term development of local and regional governments. Informing LRAs in partner countries about possible funding – and about the role played by the EBRD and the EIB – is therefore of crucial importance. Strong local and regional authorities form one of the pillars of an eff ective and well-governed democratic state. At subnational level, governments are directly involved in promoting employment and managing both municipal growth and planning. They also provide basic services to the population such as waste collection, health, water, education and transport. The importance of local and regional authorities was confi rmed during the conclusion of the Vilnius Eastern Partnership Summit. The fi nal declaration at the Summit also suggested that local and regional authorities should be provided with targeted support. I trust that his booklet will contribute towards this aim and I hope that it will prove to be a useful tool for local and regional authorities in the partner countries. EU FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE TO LOCAL AND REGIONAL AUTHORITIES IN EASTERN PARTNERSHIP COUNTRIES EU FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE TO LOCAL AND REGIONAL AUTHORITIES IN EASTERN PARTNERSHIP COUNTRIES This manual provides an update on the EU fi nancial assistance available to local and regional authorities (LRAs) in Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries in the new 2014–20 programming period and on the relevant institutional framework. It serves as a guide and also gives an overview of projects fi nanced by the Pilot Regional Development Programme (PRDP) in 2011–13 and the lessons learnt for LRAs. It advises on the practical steps that LRAs in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine should undertake to access EU funds and gives strategic recommendations with a view to increasing the number of LRAs applying for EU funding. For example, this guide will show how EU fi nancial instruments could enable LRAs in partner countries to be the recipients of EU funding. The role of local authorities is both central and crucial to eff ective governance as it is at the local level that the great majority of public policies are implemented, basic services are delivered, and enterprises are established, and so on. Strong local and regional authorities form one of the pillars of an eff ective and well-governed democratic state. It therefore follows that the EU will only be able to improve the way in which it supports partner countries in their development by strengthening the capacity and capabilities of local authorities, including the environment in which they operate and their access to funding. Providing funds is one of the best means by which the EU can promote the long-term development of local and regional governments. Structural funds provide three kinds of leverage to improve the quality of governance: (1) better strategic planning and government policy making; (2) improved institutional and administrative capacity building; (3) a more cohesive, partnership-based approach to policy making. There are three types of EU fi nancial instruments (interview 1): • thematic, • bilateral, • regional. The European Neighbourhood Policy is funded through a specifi c instrument. For the 2014-2020 period, the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) will be replaced by the new European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI). With an overall budget of around EUR 15.4 billion, the ENI funds targeted instruments and supports objectives such as cross- border cooperation in the Eastern partner countries (EEAS, 2014b). Unfortunately, there is no general manual on the criteria that LRAs need to meet to access EU funds. Conditions are defi ned on an individual instrument-by-instrument basis depending on the specifi cs of the given fi nancial instrument and of the projects considered (interview 1). For more information on the specific conditions attached to each project/financial instrument, LRAs should refer to the calls for proposals published. Nevertheless, a number of recommendations can be made to maximise LRAs’ participation in the new Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). 4 EU FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE TO LOCAL AND REGIONAL AUTHORITIES IN EASTERN PARTNERSHIP COUNTRIES The 2012 CORLEAP report on the EU funds available for LRAs from the EaP countries contains practical recommendations for increasing LRA access to EU funds (Copsey & Rowe, 2012a, pp. 47–54). It also includes six practical guidelines on preparing a funding application, which could be summarised as follows: 1. identify an open call for proposals on one of the relevant websites (see sections I–III); 2. establish what the proposal is for, i.e. what precisely would you like to do with EU fi nancial assistance; 3. make contact with relevant project partners and establish jointly the aims and objectives of the project, paying close attention to the details of what the funding is to be used for; 4. calculate the cost of the project, together with the project partners; 5. download all the relevant funding application forms and make sure that each of the sections is fi lled in appropriately, correctly and in full. You should seek external advice at this stage and run through several drafts of your project application; 6. return all of the necessary application documentation to the relevant funding authorities within the time frame set out in the call for proposals. The same report also emphasised the supporting role that the Committee of the Regions (CoR) plays in helping EaP LRAs to apply for funds (Copsey & Rowe, 2012a, pp. 52-54). With its network of relations with LRAs and its expertise in the area, the CoR can not only help position LRAs as central actors in development, but can also translate this potential into eff ective action and further increase awareness of the fi nancial instruments available to LRAs. The manual follows this logic. Sections I and II describe the EU funds available to LRAs by type: thematic, bilateral and regional/cross-border. The following table provides an overview of the diff erent fi nancial instruments available to LRAs in Eastern countries: Table 1: Overview of fi nancial instruments available to LRAs in EaP countries1 Dimension Instrument Thematic • Civil Society Organisations and Local Authorities (CSO–LA)Programme Bilateral • Specifi c country envelope • Pilot Regional Development Programmes (PRDPs) Regional • Cross-Border Cooperation (CBC) Programme • Territorial Cooperation Programmes under the ERDF • Community Led Urban Strategies (COMUS) • Covenant of Mayors (CoM) • Sustainable Urban Demonstration Projects (SUDeP) • Eastern Europe Energy Effi ciency and Environment Partnership (E5P) • European Neighbourhood Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD) 1 Source: interviews with the Commission, Devco-EuropeAid, 2013; Commission, 2008b; Commission, Devco-EuropeAid,