Darren Grasso

The Europe for Citizens Programme

The institutions of the European Union are committed to give citizens and representative associations the possibility to make known and freely exchange their views in all areas of Union action and policy-making. This concept was strengthened by the Lisbon Treaty, which in 2009 introduced a new set of provisions on democratic principles in order to give citizens a real participatory role in shaping European policies.

Bringing the Union closer to the citizens is a vital and persistent challenge for the European project, and the Europe for Citizens Programme aims to contribute towards the achievement of this objective by enhancing citizens' understanding of the EU, its history and diversity, and by fostering European citizenship and improving conditions for civic and democratic participation at EU level.

Europe for Citizens funds projects that are directed towards bringing together people from local communities across Europe to share and discuss experiences, opinions and values, to learn from history and to build for the future. It encourages meetings, exchanges and debates among European citizens from different countries and through different events.

European Remembrance

One of the strands that constitute the Europe for Citizens Programme is ‘European Remembrance’, which aims to raise awareness of remembrance, common history and values and the Union’s goals, and the second encourages democratic and civic participation of citizens at Union level.

Through this strand, Europe for Citizens finances projects that provide European citizens the opportunity to preserve the memories of the past whilst engaging in a reflection on the origins of the European Union, on the history of European integration, and finally on today’s Europe, thereby moving beyond the past and building the future.

The Programme supports initiatives which reflect on the causes of the totalitarian regimes that devastated Europe's modern history, look at its other defining moments and reference points, and consider different historical perspectives.

Each year, the European Commission’s Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (which manages the Programme), identifies a number of priorities with which proposed projects should be coherent. In 2015, the European Commission will give priority to projects that focus on 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 - its division and the Cold war on the one hand, and the beginning of the European integration process following the Schuman Declaration in 1950 on the other hand.

Proposing a Project

In submitting proposals under this strand, applicants are encouraged to include different types of organisations such as local authorities, NGOs and research institutes, or develop different types of activities like research, non-formal education, public debates and exhibitions. Participants should also involve citizens coming from different target groups. Moreover, projects should be implemented on a transnational level or with a clear European dimension.

Potential beneficiaries under this strand can be public, regional and local authorities or not for profit organisations such as civil society organisations, survivors’ associations, cultural, youth, educational and research organisations, and associations of twinned towns.

In planning and submitting a project it is essential for organisations to keep in mind that proposals will be assessed against the level of consistency with the objectives of the Programme and the particular strand, the quality of the activity plan, the impact of the project and citizens’ involvement, and the effectiveness of the dissemination of the project’s outcomes.

The first closing date for this call for proposals is March 1, and projects must be implemented between August 1 of this year and January 31 of next year. For more information about this strand or assistance in preparing proposals one can contact MEUSAC on 22003300 or [email protected]