EUCF - Application process

Application Process

The EUCF application process consists of 2 steps: The eligibility check and the full application.

Before applying, please check the full Guidelines for Applicants, that include all the relevant information about the EUCF.

Municipalities/local authorities, groupings of municipalities/local authorities, and local public entities aggregating municipalities/local authorities located in the EU Member States (EU-27), Iceland or Ukraine are able to apply to receive EUCF support. If you want to know whether you are eligible for EUCF support, scroll down and access the eligibility check directly online.

After successfully passing the eligibility check, you can complete the full online application in the EUCF website user zone. Please make sure you use the templates below to upload the supporting documents. Applications have to be submitted in English language only.

Eligibility Check

The short eligibility check tells you at the beginning of the process whether you are eligible for EUCF support. This may save you precious time and resources. You are eligible if you can reply with YES to all questions of the check (see image). Supporting documents are not required at this stage.

After completing the check, you will immediately be informed about your results and the next steps. If you want to know whether you are eligible for EUCF support, start your application here.

Embedded YouTube Videos

Application Guidance

Application System tutorial

SUMMARY OF THE ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Type of eligible applicants: Municipalities/local authorities; Groupings of municipalities/local authorities; Local public entities aggregating municipalities/local authorities

Countries of eligible applicants:

The EU-27 Member States: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden;
Ukraine or Iceland

Existence of energy and climate plans:

Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (SECAP) developed within the Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy initiative;
or other local climate and/or energy plan with mitigation targets.

Political commitment:

EUCF applicants must be able to demonstrate political commitment to the project through a letter of support by the Mayor or by another relevant political representative.

Commitment to monitoring period:

EUCF applicants must demonstrate commitment to the monitoring period of two years after the final submission of the investment concept.

***

It is mandatory to submit your application and supporting documents (with the exception of the SECAP or plan of similar ambition) in English language only.

Applications are evaluated by a dedicated evaluation team. Within the limit of the available budget, the best scored applications are selected to receive EUCF support. Details on the evaluation process can be found in the Guidelines for Applicants.

***

Table of required documents

Document	Requirements	Templates
The SECAP or other local climate and/or energy plan with mitigation targets	For the EUCF application, the submitted plan must include at least one mitigation target, which must be stated and referenced by the applicant in the corresponding section of the application form. The SECAP or other local climate and/or energy plan with mitigation targets can be submitted in national language. Therefore, for the evaluation, it is important that the applicant fills correctly in the information required about the submitted plan in English in the application form. Learn more in the Guidelines for Applicants.	No.
The letter of political commitment to the development of the investment concept	To demonstrate political support to the development of the investment concept, the EUCF applicant must submit a letter of support, signed by the Mayor or other relevant political representative of the municipality/local authority, grouping or local public entity aggregating municipalities/local authorities. The applicants must use the corresponding template provided by the EUCF for submission. The letter of support must be submitted in English.	European City Facility letter of support template

Document

Requirements

Templates

The SECAP or other local climate and/or energy plan with mitigation targets

For the EUCF application, the submitted plan must include at least one mitigation target, which must be stated and referenced by the applicant in the corresponding section of the application form.

The SECAP or other local climate and/or energy plan with mitigation targets can be submitted in national language. Therefore, for the evaluation, it is important that the applicant fills correctly in the information required about the submitted plan in English in the application form. Learn more in the Guidelines for Applicants.

No.

The letter of political commitment to the development of the investment concept

To demonstrate political support to the development of the investment concept, the EUCF applicant must submit a letter of support, signed by the Mayor or other relevant political representative of the municipality/local authority, grouping or local public entity aggregating municipalities/local authorities. The applicants must use the corresponding template provided by the EUCF for submission. The letter of support must be submitted in English.

European City Facility letter of support template

Applications by groupings of municipalities/local authorities

In line with EUCF objectives, you are encouraged to join forces and resources with your partners and submit joint applications. Formal or informal groupings of municipalities/local authorities are eligible to apply. They have to define in the application form one lead applicant.

Please consult the Guidelines for applicants for specific details.

Applications by local public entities aggregating municipalities/local authorities

Local public entities aggregating municipalities/local authorities are also able to apply for EUCF support. When applying as a local public entity aggregating municipalities/local authorities, the following points have to be considered:
• Local public entities aggregating municipalities/local authorities need to declare in the application form that i) they are officially recognised as a tier of local government (different from the regional and provincial levels) by the national law with the obligation for municipalities/local authorities to join the supra-municipal organisation; (ii) they are composed only by municipalities/local authorities; (iii) they have a specific political and administrative structure.
• Local public entities aggregating municipalities/local authorities must present an own SECAP or local other climate and/or energy plan with mitigation targets that covers their geographical area.

Learn more in the Guidelines for applicants.

Please note that the entities included in this list are examples only. Entities not listed in this table but fulfilling the criteria set above are considered potential eligible applicants. The EUCF considers as eligible applicants any equivalent entity to those listed in the table officially defined by the laws and lists included in this table or by any further modification in force prior to the closing date of the EUCF Call.

Country	Examples of eligible public entities aggregating municipalities/local authorities
Croatia	Urbane aglomeracije: urbana aglomeracija Zagreb, sa sjedištem u Zagrebu; urbana aglomeracija Split, sa sjedištem u Splitu; urbana aglomeracija Rijeka, sa sjedištem u Rijeci; urbana aglomeracija Osijek, sa sjedištem u Osijeku
Finland	Seutukunta
France	Communautés des communes. The list of Communautés des communes can be found here Communautés d'agglomération. The list of communautés d'agglomération can be found here Communautés urbaines. The list of communautés urbaines can be found here Métropoles. The list of Métropoles can be found here
Germany	Landkreise. The list of Landkreise can be found here
Hungary	Budapest Főváros, Kistérség
Italy	Unioni dei Comuni, Comunità Montane, Unioni Montane, Comunità isolane o di arcipelago. The list of Unioni dei Comuni can be found here Città metropolitane, as defined by art. 1, comma 5, L. n. 56/201 or any further modification in force prior to the closing date of the EUCF Call, and any other città metropolitana officially defined in any of the “Regioni a statuto speciale” prior to the closing date of the EUCF Call
Portugal	Área Metropolitana and Comunidade Intermunicipal, as defined Lei n.º 75/2013, de 12 de setembro, and any further modification in force prior to the closing date of the EUCF Call. The list can be found here
Spain	Mancomunidad, áreas metropolitanas

The EUCF application process consists of 2 steps: The eligibility check and the full application.

Before applying, please check the full Guidelines for Applicants, that include all the relevant information about the EUCF.

After successfully passing the eligibility check, you can complete the full online application in the EUCF website user zone. Please make sure you use the templates below to upload the supporting documents. Applications have to be submitted in English language only.

Eligibility Check

The short eligibility check tells you at the beginning of the process whether you are eligible for EUCF support. This may save you precious time and resources. You are eligible if you can reply with YES to all questions of the check (see image). Supporting documents are not required at this stage.

After completing the check, you will immediately be informed about your results and the next steps. If you want to know whether you are eligible for EUCF support, start your application here.

Application Guidance

Application System tutorial

SUMMARY OF THE ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Type of eligible applicants: Municipalities/local authorities; Groupings of municipalities/local authorities; Local public entities aggregating municipalities/local authorities

Countries of eligible applicants:

The EU-27 Member States: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden;

Ukraine or Iceland

Existence of energy and climate plans:

Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (SECAP) developed within the Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy initiative;

or other local climate and/or energy plan with mitigation targets.

Political commitment:

EUCF applicants must be able to demonstrate political commitment to the project through a letter of support by the Mayor or by another relevant political representative.

Commitment to monitoring period:

EUCF applicants must demonstrate commitment to the monitoring period of two years after the final submission of the investment concept.

It is mandatory to submit your application and supporting documents (with the exception of the SECAP or plan of similar ambition) in English language only.

Applications are evaluated by a dedicated evaluation team. Within the limit of the available budget, the best scored applications are selected to receive EUCF support. Details on the evaluation process can be found in the Guidelines for Applicants.

Table of required documents

The SECAP or other local climate and/or energy plan with mitigation targets

The letter of political commitment to the development of the investment concept

European City Facility letter of support template

Applications by groupings of municipalities/local authorities

In line with EUCF objectives, you are encouraged to join forces and resources with your partners and submit joint applications. Formal or informal groupings of municipalities/local authorities are eligible to apply. They have to define in the application form one lead applicant.

Applications by local public entities aggregating municipalities/local authorities

Learn more in the Guidelines for applicants.

Croatia

Urbane aglomeracije: urbana aglomeracija Zagreb, sa sjedištem u Zagrebu; urbana aglomeracija Split, sa sjedištem u Splitu; urbana aglomeracija Rijeka, sa sjedištem u Rijeci; urbana aglomeracija Osijek, sa sjedištem u Osijeku

Finland

Seutukunta

France

Communautés des communes. The list of Communautés des communes can be found here

Communautés d'agglomération. The list of communautés d'agglomération can be found here

Communautés urbaines. The list of communautés urbaines can be found here

Métropoles. The list of Métropoles can be found here

Germany

Landkreise. The list of Landkreise can be found here

Hungary

Budapest Főváros, Kistérség

Italy

Unioni dei Comuni, Comunità Montane, Unioni Montane, Comunità isolane o di arcipelago. The list of Unioni dei Comuni can be found here

Città metropolitane, as defined by art. 1, comma 5, L. n. 56/201 or any further modification in force prior to the closing date of the EUCF Call, and any other città metropolitana officially defined in any of the “Regioni a statuto speciale” prior to the closing date of the EUCF Call

Portugal

Área Metropolitana and Comunidade Intermunicipal, as defined Lei n.º 75/2013, de 12 de setembro, and any further modification in force prior to the closing date of the EUCF Call. The list can be found here

Spain

Mancomunidad, áreas metropolitanas