• 2.1

EU programs

Community programs: what are they and what are they?

The purpose of EU programs is to implement EU policies in various thematic areas through action, in partnership, between entities from several EU countries (and even non-EU countries).

Community programs are normally defined in terms of objectives, eligibility, type of interventions, and allocation of funds for a seven-year period, following a legislative process involving all the institutions of the European Union. The establishment of a community program (and consequently, the selection of fundable project proposals) is a political act of the European Union.

Community programs require potential beneficiaries to make an effort from a transnational perspective: it is usually advisable to involve partners from several countries, to demonstrate that the project is capable of having an impact on the Union as a whole, and to prepare proposals in a vehicular language (usually English, the language in which most of the information to participants is also conveyed). This type of project is therefore ill-suited to proposals that are predominantly local in nature and impact, for which we refer to the sections on Structural Funds.

Community programs have a total allocation of more than 350 billion euros for the period 2021-2027 and cover an extremely wide range in terms of themes, categories of beneficiaries and modes of intervention. They are also called “thematic programs,” “sector programs,” or “directly managed European funds.”

We provide below a summary list of major programs for the period 2021-2027.

We provide separately, on a separate page , a list that includes more details and links about individual programs.

  • Horizon Europe – 81,400 mln € (*) : Research and innovation.
  • InvestEU Fund – 8,400 mln € (*) : loans, guarantees and other instruments.
  • Connecting Europe Facility. – 18,396 mln € : cross-border infrastructure.
  • Digital Europe program. – 6,761 mln € : digital transformation of services.
  • Single Market Program. – 3,735 mln € : SMEs, enterprises and markets.
  • European anti-fraud program. – 161 mln € : fight against fraud.
  • Cooperation in the field of taxation (FISCALIS) – 239 mln € : cooperation in the field of taxation.
  • Cooperation in the field of customs (CUSTOMS). – 843 mln € : cooperation in the field of customs.
  • European space program. – 13,202 mln € : space industry (Galileo, Copernicus, etc.).
  • Recovery Assistance for Cohesion and the Territories of Europe (REACT-EU). – 47,500 mln € (*) : measures to counter the Coronavirus crisis.
  • Technical support facility – 767 mln € : support to member states for institutional reforms.
  • Union civil protection mechanism (rescEU) – 3,006 mln € (*) : disaster prevention and response.
  • EU4Health – 2,170 mln € : strengthening health systems.
  • Erasmus+ – 21,708 mln € : study, internships, youth exchanges, teaching, training and sports.
  • European Solidarity Corps – 895 mln € : solidarity activities for young people.
  • Creative Europe. – 1,642 mln € : culture, artistic expression, audiovisual and media.
  • Rights and values – 642 mln € : active citizenship and promotion of rights and equality.
  • Justice – 305 mln € : cooperation in judicial matters and access to justice.
  • Environment and climate action (LIFE) program. – 4,812 mln € : response to environmental and climate challenges.
  • Fund for a just transition – 17,500 mln € (*) : alleviating the costs of transition to a “green” economy.
  • Asylum and migration fund – 8,705 mln € : asylum, migration, integration and return.
  • Integrated border management fund – 5,505 mln € : common management of the EU’s external borders.
  • Homeland Security Fund. – 1,705 mln € : combating terrorism, radicalization and crime.
  • European Defense Fund – 7,014 mln € : development d common defense capabilities.
  • Neighborhood instrument, development cooperation and international cooperation. – 70,800 mln € : support for development and dialogue with EU partner countries.
  • Humanitarian Aid – 10,260 mln € : relief to communities affected emergencies and disasters.
  • Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) – 2,375 mln € : foreign policy, security and peace.
  • Overseas countries and territories – 444 mln € : links between the EU and the 13 overseas countries and territories.
  • Pre-accession assistance – 12,565 mln € : accompanying candidate countries to EU accession.

The programs listed are explained in detail in Chapter 4. As explained in the Chapter 3, the choice of the most suitable program for one’s project idea must take into account not only the thematic area of reference, but also the type of action one intends to propose, the nature of the proposing entities, the characteristics and amount of funding, the timing of the calls for proposals, and the manner in which the project will be carried out.

Community programs: who manages them and how to inquire?

Although these programs are defined as “directly managed,” many actors (some of them separate from the European Commission) play important roles in the management of community programs. All these actors represent possible interlocutors and sources of information for participation in a project.

Specific links to the relevant institutions and web pages for each individual community program can be found in the specific tabs (Chapter 4) and in the appropriate summary table .

  • First of all, the Directorates General of the European Commission (DG) have a key-role in the management of all community programs, as they are the organizational units in which the Commission itself is structured for the development and implementation of European policies in the various thematic areas. General directorates with expertise in major community programs include, for example. DG RTD (research and innovation), DG CONNECT (networks and digital), DG EMPL (employment, inclusion and social affairs), DG GROW (business and market), DG EAC (education, youth, sports and culture), DG JUST (justice and consumers), DG ENV (environment), DG CLIMATE (climate action), DG SANTE (health and food safety) and DG INTPA (international cooperation and partnerships);
  • The European Union Agencies are separate entities from the European institutions, established to perform specific tasks in certain areas. Agencies involved in the management of community programs are called implementing agencies and are responsible for publishing calls for proposals, selecting proposals, monitoring related activities and informing beneficiaries. Implementing agencies with expertise in major community programs are, for example, the EACEA (education, youth, active citizenship and culture), the EISMEA (small and medium-sized enterprises and innovation), the HADEA (health and digital), the REA (research and innovation) and the CINEA (climate, infrastructure and environment);

  • The Agencies and National Points of Contact are appointed by the European Commission and national governments for information to citizens, assistance to potential participants, collection/selection of project proposals, and/or other aspects of the execution of certain EU programs in individual countries. The presence of an Agency or National Point of Contact within a program makes participation procedures easier and closer to participants, including language and availability of information. Agencies and national contact points with expertise on important community programs include, for example. INDIRE, ISFOL, INAPP and the network Eurodesk (Erasmus+), theYouth Agency (Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps), OPEN (Horizon Europe) and the Creative Europe Desk (for the program of the same name);

  • There are institutions specifically dedicated to information and support of a general nature on EU policies and initiatives, such as the network Europe Direct (widely present in many Italian cities through information centers and documentation centers), the network Enterprise Europe Network (dedicated specifically to the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises) and the You Europe of the European Commission, which provides guidance on the issues most important to citizens and businesses. We also recall the possibility of gathering information on different community programs through the institutional social networks of the different Directorates, Agencies, and Programs, as well as the pages for accessing European calls by type of beneficiaries and by thematic sector ;
  • Finally, the websites of the main EU programs are very rich and articulated and present (in addition to the essential information) complementary tools useful to those who intend to submit a proposal, such as the list of upcoming calls and calls already published, news and information events specifically dedicated to potential beneficiaries of the program, and the results of the selections of the calls already evaluated. In some, the tools are supplemented by actual databases of projects and partners, useful for potential participants to identify new ideas and make new contacts. The lists are accompanied by filters and search tools to make it easier to find the desired material. For many European programs, the search for calls has been centralized in a single tool, the portal Funding & tender opportunities .

Community programs: are they "too difficult"?

The abundance of reference sources makes it relatively easy to inquire about a community program or its call for proposals, at least to find out whether or not it is within one’s reach.

In fact, community programs are often considered the “most difficult” category of European projects, as they normally require English language wording, the establishment of a transnational partnership and a certain amount of innovativeness in the proposal; conditions necessary to generate an appreciable impact at the European level.

But it should not be forgotten that the complexity of community programs is commensurate with the capabilities of the actors they target: the complexity of a call aimed at European “excellence” in research is not comparable to the complexity of a call aimed at young people, students, teachers and youth workers.

It is therefore advisable not to underestimate the effort required by these types of calls, but also not to exclude them from the pool of possible options for financing one’s project. In some cases, a community program may actually be the right choice to accompany the activity of even a small organization, youth group or small business. Indeed, there are community calls that are open and designed for these categories of beneficiaries (including sometimes individuals or non-legally constituted groups).

Sources of information, national points of contact (where available), and reference documents (regulations, work programs, calls for proposals, guides for proposers, and websites) should provide the sufficient elements to clarify whether or not funding is within one’s reach and whether or not the effort required is commensurate with the time and resources one can devote to it. For example, the description of the beneficiaries and eligible actions, always contained in these documents, makes it possible to determine in the first instance the degree to which they match the “identikit” of one’s organization.

When in doubt, there is the possibility of partnering with entities that have already gone through this path. In fact, especially in the context of more complex European programs, it is preferable to start one’s experience as a partner than as a lead partner: a condition that allows one’s commitment to be more commensurate with one’s availability and that exposes one less directly to the management difficulties of a call and a project.

To be able to do this, it is essential to stay in touch with other players in the field and to continually extend one’s network of knowledge in Italy and Europe. Therefore, our Guide has always devoted some attention to the theme of partner search .

Community programs: some key principles.

It is impossible to analyze all the key-concepts applicable to the scope of European projects. A more comprehensive discussion of technical principles is provided in the Chapter 3 .

We review below some of the main general and management principles:

  • Partnership. As mentioned earlier, in community programs, the breadth and transnationality of the partnership are constituent elements of “European added value“, that is, of the project’s ability to produce the desired effects and impacts on multiple countries and the Union as a whole. It is normally excluded from community programs to submit projects of a purely national, regional, or local nature (more easily financed through structural funds, described in the following section). The proposal must demonstrate that, with participation and funding through community programs, the action brings benefits that are substantially different from those achievable with its own funds or through the use of other funding sources (national, local, private, etc.).

    Other important criteria of technical validity (which we elaborate on below) are theinnovativeness of the proposal, its replicability in different contexts and countries, its benefits on collateral areas, and its sustainability, i.e., its ability to produce benefits beyond the duration of the project itself.

    Those participating in the partnership must have a clear division of roles and responsibilities. In particular, a lead partner (or leader) must be defined, who is the organization responsible for the project, the spokesperson and coordinator of all the other entities, defined as partners. The latter must be of a nature and experience that will add value to the formulation of the proposal and its subsequent execution.

  • Co-financing. Community programs respond to specific constraints from the point of view of financial disbursement. The grant received for the execution of a project under a community program is always (or almost always) a co-financing , i.e., it does not cover the entire costs, but an approximate share of 50% to 70-80% of eligible expenses.

    The share of co-financing, indicated in the call and related documents for each of the planned actions, is expressed both in percentage and absolute value (maximum and minimum grant amount). It is impossible, given the wide variability of programs and calls for proposals, to give an indicative amount (average, minimum or maximum) of grants awarded.

    Grants are provided on a non-repayable basis (i.e., they do not have to be repaid: in fact, they are grants and not soft loans). The part not financed by the community contribution can be covered by the beneficiary’s own resources or by other forms of financing: national or regional funds, sponsorships, private donations and funding, bank financing, crowdfunding, and other modalities related to the type of project (e.g., expected revenues from the conduct of the activities themselves). Resources made available to the beneficiary can generally include contributions “in kind,” that is, work done by paid staff or the use of premises and equipment.

  • Eligible expenditure. Not all costs and expenses incurred in carrying out project activities can be covered by community co-financing. Normally, the notices and related documents define the categories of eligible expenses that must be adhered to. They generally refer to what is needed to carry out a specific activity (in terms of personnel, travel, organization of events, production of studies, research and other outputs, etc.). It is very rare for eligible expenses to include the purchase of tangible durable goods. Adequate evidence and accounting for both the contributions made by the grantee and third-party funding sources and the costs incurred for the project activities against which the grant is requested must be provided in the proposal formulation and during implementation;

  • Reporting. Compliance with all these criteria is necessary for the disbursement of funding and is made possible by a specifically dedicated project management activity, reporting. In addition to meeting maximum percentages and matching specific categories, reporting must ensure other important conditions:

    • The reality and theefficiency of the expenditure: that is, it must refer to costs of a reasonable amount, budgeted and actually incurred by the beneficiary for the implementation of an action necessary for the project;

    • The prohibition of cumulation and of retroactivity: i.e. it is not possible to simultaneously finance the same item of expenditure through participation in different projects or to finance activities carried out before the official start of the project;

    • The transparency and traceability of the expenditure: that is, the costs must be properly recorded in the beneficiary’s accounts and substantiated by all relevant documents, such as invoices, receipts, proof of payment, etc;

    • theabsence of profit: that is, grants, combined with external sources made available to the recipient, must cover the costs of carrying out project activities without generating forms of surplus.

Community programs: the sources of reference.

Information provided on community programs can be varied and take different forms. However, some sources are particularly typical and important. We analyze the main ones below, knowing that some (especially the more specific ones) may not apply to all programs, or take slightly different forms.

Although not exhaustive, a categorization of the main referenced sources is very important to navigate the available information and to recognize the location and purpose of the document being analyzed.

  • The Regulations is the document that provides the legal and strategic basis for the implementation of the program throughout its duration (which normally corresponds to the seven-year period of the overall programming, 2021-2027 in this case). It contains the basic information, including, for example:

    • The definition of the program, the main elements that led to its establishment, its general and specific objectives, and its structure (sub-programs, components, etc.);

    • The priorities, measures and types of actions funded by the program (or by each sub-program);

    • The main eligibility criteria (countries and main categories of eligible beneficiaries);

    • The main information regarding program management (Implementing Agencies, national desks, etc.);

    • The definition of the periodicity and main contents of the work programs that will be published for the execution of the program;

    • The total financial allocation of the program and the allocation of resources among its sub-programs or components.

  • The Work Program is a document that, on an annual, biennial or multi-year basis, plans the release of calls in terms of timing, theme and budget. Thus, it contains indicative, but very useful information for planning the work of those involved in europlanning:

    • The list of actions that will be funded during the reporting period;

    • The general eligibility and evaluation criteria;

    • The financial allocation for each year;

    • The detailed list of calls that will be published during the reporting period with the main information for each call (priorities, objectives and expected results, expected number of funded interventions, funded activities, eligible subjects and activities, specific evaluation criteria, expected call publication period, financial allocation and co-financing share);

  • The announcement is finally the actual reference text for submitting a project proposal. Contains the actual, final and official indication of what is required for participation in a specific project (requirements for participation, actions eligible for funding, evaluation criteria, budget, timeframe and method of submitting proposals, references for obtaining further information). It is accompanied by other key documents, related to the specific call or the entire program or component, which are periodically updated:

    • The guidelines, define in greater detail the expected priorities and types of projects, timelines for project submission, award and start-up, eligible activities and subjects, conditions of exclusion and supporting documents to be provided, selection criteria, funding arrangements and other ancillary guidance;

    • The guides for proposers, often organized into a summary document with practical and administrative guidance for submitting a proposal and a second, more detailed document, including guidance for submitting the proposal and uploading it through the online portal;

    • I forms, which can be differentiated by type of action and by type of beneficiary, and which include the necessary (required elements and format) for the description of the project proposal, for the definition of a proposal budget and for the formal compliance of the proposal (statements, information and documentation);

    • Normally, within the agreed timeframe from the expiration of the call, the results (list of funded projects, amount of funding and other relevant details) can be consulted.

A global strategic vision.

Since European programs are a means of realizing the goals of EU institutions, it is advisable to maintain some awareness of the big picture in which one’s call for proposals fits: following the ongoing debate in one’s field (and beyond) allows one to focus one’s proposal on the most heartfelt issues, increasing its relevance and chances of success.

The methods of updating, the relevant sources and the depth of analysis change depending on the subject area being addressed, however, it is possible to identify some interesting sources and insights for all sectors.

  • The European Commission prepares an overall strategy applicable to the five-year term in which its political representatives (president and college of commissioners) remain in office. It thus covers part of the planning period. L’current strategy is valid from 2019 to 2024 and refers to 6 priorities: Green Deal, Digital, Economy serving people, Voice of Europe in the world, European values e Democratic participation. From each priority descend specific strategies. A specific strategy also exists for each thematic area in which the different Directorates General of the European Commission are active;

  • You can follow European current affairs through the European Commission press service and of the set of EU institutions . Both services allow users to select specific topics, subscribe to updates and newsletters, consult in-depth information, and access relevant pages on thematic or institutional sites;

  • The websites of major Directorates General and programs carry regularly updated “news” sections, which are listed in the tabs of our Guide;

  • In our comprehensive overview of European programs we provide an overview of the main documents related to each individual program, including a page (edited by the European Parliament services) that summarizes elements of the debate and preparatory strategy documents for each program.