Contacting community institutions in some cases is useful, or necessary. Let’s find out how.
Contacting officials: a premise
In some cases it may be useful or necessary to be able to contact community officials who follow the execution of European programs and projects. Community institutions offer specific and very effective tools to do this, in the name of the principle of transparent administration. These tools give us an extra chance to get to know and contact our stakeholders, but they should be used with caution and in special cases.
Before answering the main question (How?) it is therefore important to make some preliminary remarks by answering three more questions: who, when e why?
Who to contact?
The EU institutions most closely related to europlanning are the European Commission and its Executive Agencies: they are responsible for the operational management of European programs, work plans, calls for proposals and projects.Other institutions have other roles and functions (here a concise and informative review of them). All of them may have relevance in terms of consultation, analysis and execution of European policies, or for the genesis of funds and programs: we discuss them here e here, and this is referred to by the “Analysis” and “Iter” links in our prospectus. Contacts and references can be found of all these institutions. However, the services of the European Commission and the Executive Agencies remain by far the most directly related to the world of europlanning.
Caution: before contacting officials of community institutions, one should ask oneself whether there are more appropriate ways of contacting them, more in line with one’s needs and respective expertise. We discuss this here: before you think about contacting an official, you should ask yourself whether all other options have been contemplated and may be more effective and appropriate. The options are many: other partners or organizations-umbrella organizations active at the European level in a wide variety of areas; national contact points active on the programs of interest; information points specifically dedicated to connecting European institutions and citizens ( EuropeDirect network, Enterprise Europe Network, Italian representation to the EU, European Parliament liaison offices in Italy and European Commission representations in Italy).
When to contact community institutions?
Any contact must be relevant, appropriate and in accordance with the rules. Direct contact (addressed directly to an official) should never occur during the project preparation or evaluation period, lest it be seen as an attempt to gain an illicit advantage over other proposers. All contact must be made on the basis of the strictest considerations of transparency.
In most cases, for purposes related to europlanning, it is advisable to use the general and official channels indicated in the appropriate project documents and on the relevant websites. For many European programs there are dedicated focal points or national contact points for this purpose.
In this way, not only do you avoid the risk of direct contact perceived as inappropriate (or worse, not in accordance with the rules), but you also have greater assurance that your message will be taken up by someone who can respond effectively.
Why contact community institutions?
Why then can it be useful to be able to contact an official directly? For various reasons. For example:
- to follow up on exchanges initiated at meetings or conferences (in-person or virtual), on aspects known to be of definite and mutual interest;
- to inform or seek clarification on aspects known to be of interest to the official, in the course of the execution of a project;
- For any invitations to events, conferences, initiatives or interviews organized as part of its activities;
- to obtain other very timely briefings, which it is believed that only a specific person could answer.
In addition, it may be of interest to know the structure of a department or unit in order to better calibrate or organize one’s proposal: for example, analysis of an organizational chart allows one to have confirmation of the existence of interlocutors on aspects of specific interest.
How to contact community institutions: 1- the electronic directory
The first basic tool for finding the contact details of European officials is the European Union’s electronic directory.
You can use it directly online by selecting the desired institutions. “Browsing through it” can prove a bit laborious because there are so many successive branches to select. We can walk you through a couple of examples:
- European Commission –> DG EMPL –> Funding direction, just transition and analysis –> Directorate of Funds, Programming and Implementation –> ESF+ Unit. / Social and inclusive entrepreneurship unit / etc.
- Agencies –> Executive Agencies –> EACEA / CINEA / EISMEA / etc.
The starting point for the research is knowledge of DGs and Reference Agencies for one’s program, indicated within our prospectus and in the sheets relating to the individual programs.
The electronic directory is also available as a pdf version (one pdf for each major community institution). The pdf document can be “browsed” more quickly, but it provides less detail and compared to the online version. Picking up on the two examples already presented, the same information (with less detail) can be found here:
- European Commission Directory –> page 72 –> DIR G – Funds: programming and implementation / 3. Social and inclusive entrepreneurship;
- Directory of Agencies. –> Executive Agencies starting on page 27.
La repertory homepage It also provides the ability to make a quick search by name, to find the contact of a specific person from his or her name.
How to contact community institutions: 2 – the pages of individual institutions
The European Commission website provides a second means of finding information and contacts on the staff of its Directorates General and Executive Agencies. It is a information section on its internal structure, which provides access to a dedicated page for each DG and Executive Agency.
This page provides in-depth information and links about the work of each DG and Agency, a specific organizational chart, and other useful directions for contacting their services. Although it is not a true “rubric,” the organizational chart: 1) Is a useful tool for visually understanding the internal structure of a DG, Agency or service; 2) can provide more comprehensive information than the electronic directory (this applies, for example, to information on Executive Agencies); 3) allows names to be found that can be searched directly on the homepage of the electronic directory (search by name).
We provide below, as examples, the references of the websites, information pages and organizational charts of the Executive Agencies. Starting from the same page similar information can be found, referring to the various DGs.
- EACEA (education, youth, active citizenship and culture) : information | organigram
- EISMEA (small and medium-sized enterprises and innovation) : information | organigram
- HADEA (health and digital) : information | organizational chart
- REA (research and innovation) : information | organigram
- CINEA (climate, infrastructure and environment) : information | organizational chart
The relevant organizational structure for calls and programs for third countries is available on specific pages: EEAS (third countries and external action) : information | organigram | delegations.
How to contact community institutions: 3 – other ways
As much as it may appear to be an outdated tool, the European Commission’s switchboard (which answers +32 2 299 11 11) remains an effective way to find contact information for EU officials. To facilitate communication, it is necessary to be clear about the question to be asked and to express oneself in English, but often turning to switchboard operators makes it easier and more efficient to find a contact.
In addition (we remind again), individual DGs, Agencies and Programs, as well as individual calls, provide e-mail, telephone contacts or non-“customized” inquiry forms, which should be preferred in cases where it is not strictly necessary to contact a specific person.
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