Project Objective

The three non-EU members of the EEA - Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway - established the EEA Financial Mechanism and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism to support social and economic cohesion within the enlarged EEA. The objective was to support projects in a wide range of priority sectors over a five-year period (2004-2009) in the twelve new Member States Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia and also Greece, Portugal and Spain. 1.3 billion Euros were made available by both financial mechanisms for projects in the following priority sectors:

• Health and childcare
• Development of human resources
• Protection of the environment
• Sustainable development
• Conservation of European cultural heritage
• In addition the Norwegian financial mechanism offered funding in the framework of:
• Implementation of legislation in the field of internal security and border control, such as support for 'Schengen' action plans
• Environment, with emphasis on strengthening the administrative capacity to implement relevant acquis and investments in infrastructure and technology with priority given to municipal waste management,
• Regional policy and cross-border activities
• Implementation of the aquis communitaire through technical assistance
• Funding was also made available for academic research within these priority sectors.
  
  

Project Description

The implementation of the financial mechanisms and the decision-making process followed a precise procedure based on agreements with the European Commission and Memoranda of Understanding with the beneficiary states.
Main steps of the process:

• Announcement of the availability of funds by the beneficiary states via calls for proposals
• First selection of the project applications by the beneficiary states (Focal point)
• Check of eligibility and completeness of the applications with regard to the conditions of the two financial mechanisms by the Financial Mechanism Office (FMO), the day-to-day secretariat of the two financial mechanisms
• Screening for compatibility of European objectives by the European Commission and appraisal of the applications (internally by FMO or by an independent body on behalf of FMO)
• Grant decision by the Financial Mechanism Committee and/ or the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

INBAS (lead management) and its partners (NIZW, European Centre and Central European University) concluded a framework contract with the FMO to carry out appraisals of various project applications. Responsible for the execution of the contract was the INBAS office Brussels, which maintained for this purpose a network of more than 100 subject matter experts from the twelve new Member States and Greece, Spain and Portugal.

Altogether, INBAS and its partners conducted 6 baseline studies and a total of 193 appraisals of applications including site visits in the beneficiary countries.