- May 28, 2024
- Posted by: admin
- Category: Νέα
The European Economic Area Financial Mechanism (European Economic Area – Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway Grants) is the financial contribution of the three donor countries Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, to reduce economic and social disparities and to strengthen the bilateral relations of these donor countries with the beneficiary countries, including Greece.
The EEA Financial Mechanism has been operating in our country since 1994, when the EEA Agreement on the European Free Trade Area was signed.
The EEA CM of the 2014-2021 programming period is currently operating , contributing to 116.7 million. euro through 9 programmes in areas such as environment and water resources, renewable energy and energy saving, asylum and migration, civil society, innovation and entrepreneurship fund. In particular, for the period 2014-2021, EEA Grants 2014-2021 have allocated a total of €2.8 billion. 116.7 million of which 116.7 million has been allocated to Greece through the international Protocol 38c. The end of the financing period is set for 30 April 2024.
On 31 October 2017, the donor countries and Greece signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the 2014-2021 programming period, which involves the funding of nine (9) new programmes. The Memorandum was the result of formal negotiations between the Greek authorities and the Financial Mechanism Committee (FMC) on the basis of the country’s needs and priorities for targeting this financing.
The programmes, as included in the Memorandum of Understanding, cover the following priority areas:
- Innovation and Entrepreneurship
- Social integration and empowerment of Roma
- Local Development and Poverty Reduction
- Water management
- Renewable energy sources – Energy saving
- Good Governance, Institutions and Transparency
- Asylum and Migration (Strengthening national asylum and migration systems)
- Asylum and Migration (Urgent needs for reception and identification of new arrivals and accommodation of vulnerable groups)
- Civil Society
Of these programmes, five (5) are managed by the Greek authorities, while the remaining four (4) are managed by the Financial Mechanism Office (FMO).
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) also includes a provision for the Fund for Bilateral Relations, the purpose of which is to strengthen bilateral relations between the donor countries and Greece.
Finally, in accordance with the EEA EEA Grants Implementation Regulation 13249/4-2-2020 (B’526), as it incorporates the EEA Grants Implementation Regulation 2014-2021 (article 3.2), the National Focal Point (NFO) has the overall responsibility for the achievement of the objectives of the EEA Grants Programme 2014-2021, as well as the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).