2. Application

The overall application process consists of two main steps: the eligibility check and the full application.

1) Eligibility check

The eligibility check is a simple, automated questionnaire, which can be answered by the applicant directly online. It verifies whether an applicant is eligible to apply for financial support from the EUCF. To be eligible, applicants must be able to answer with YES to all five requirements. Applicants receive the result of the eligibility check immediately after answering all questions. At this stage, supporting documents are not required.

2) Full application

After successfully passing the eligibility check, the applicant can complete the full application form, prepare the supporting documents and submit them via the EUCF website user zone. Once the call for applications is closed, the applications are evaluated by a dedicated team. The best-scored applications are selected and will conclude the Grant Agreements to receive the EUCF support. Unsuccessful applications can seek support from the EUCF Helpdesk and participate again in the next call for applications.

Four calls for applications with cut off dates take place within the scope of the EUCF. Each call is organised in parallel for three geographic regions (incl. UK) of the European Union, as displayed in the map below. Beginning with the second call for applications, the EEA-EFTA states of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway are also included in the EUCF geographical coverage, in the region of the Nordic countries & Western Europe.

 

Regional call	Countries
Central and Eastern Europe	Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
Nordic countries & Western  Europe	Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein , Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom.
Southern Europe	Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain.

Overall, each call for applications is open for two months. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the application period for the first EUCF call has been extended. Similarly, the fourth EUCF call will also have an extended application period, in order to better accommodate the reduced capacities of municipalities/local authorities and local public entities during the summer holidays. The following timeline applies for the EUCF calls for applications:

The exact dates of the calls and any alterations regarding the opening and closing of application periods will be published on the EUCF website under the section Open and previous calls.

Municipalities/local authorities, groupings of municipalities/local authorities, and local public entities aggregating municipalities/local authorities are able to benefit only once from the EUCF support. Thus, successful applicants are not able to participate again in the calls for applications. Unsuccessful applications, on the other hand, can be revised and re-submitted in the next call for applications. Re-submitted applications should be based on the feedback report received after each submission.

Applicants can submit only one application per call.

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Available on the EUCF website, the Guidelines for Applicants provide a comprehensive source of information about the entire EUCF process. Moreover, a Glossary of relevant terms is provided to facilitate the applicant’s understanding of the EUCF documents. In case of questions that cannot be found in these documents, municipalities, local authorities, groupings of municipalities/local authorities, and local public entities aggregating municipalities/local authorities can seek further support from the EUCF Helpdesk, which provides efficient and timely responses to the queries raised.

Finally, each country is assisted by a National Helpdesk provided by the related country experts, who can provide country-specific responses. The contact details of Country Experts are available here.

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