SOUTH EAST EUROPE (SEE)

Call announcement
2nd Call for Project Proposals
November 2009

Introduction
The South East Europe (SEE) Programme 2007 2013 aims at improving the territorial,
economic and social integration process and contribution to cohesion, stability and
competitiveness through the development of transnational partnerships and joint actions
on matters of strategic importance. The Managing Authority (MA) of the SEE Programme
and the partner states (Albania, Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the
former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Republic of Moldova,
Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine) are launching the second
call for projects (CfP) for transnational cooperation in the South Eastern area of Europe
to be co-financed by ERDF and IPA.

Legal framework
In order to develop their project ideas and submit an Expression of Interest (EoI) and,
subsequently, a project Application Form (AF), applicants will need to conform to the
requirements laid down in this Call Announcement and in the following documents:

SEE Operational Programme (SEE OP)

SEE Programme Manual (SEE PM)

SEE Applicants Guidelines
Provisions indicated in the above mentioned documents have to be deemed as binding.

General procedure
The call for proposals will follow the two steps open competitive procedure according to
chapter 7.2 of the SEE OP and the section 6.2 of the SEE PM.

Priorities
Under the present call, projects can be submitted only under the following Priorities and
Areas of Intervention (AoI):
1.3 Enhance the framework conditions and pave the way for innovation;
2.2 Improve prevention of environmental risk;
2.3 Promote cooperation in management of natural assets and protected areas
2.4 Promote energy and resource efficiency;
3.1 Improve coordination in promoting, planning and operation for primary and
secondary transportation networks;
3.2 Develop strategies to tackle the digital divide;
3.3 Improve framework conditions for multi-modal platforms;
4.3 Promote the use of cultural values for development.

In order to support a balanced implementation of the Programme, further targeting

measures have been adopted; eligible AoIs have to be considered either:
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FULLY OPEN (1.3; 3.1; 3.2; 3.3; 4.3): the listed AoIs are open for financing
project proposals implementing all kind of activities able to achieve all the goals of
the AoI as explained in the Annex I of the SEE PM;

OPEN FOCUSED (2.2; 2.3; 2.4): the listed AoIs are open for financing project
proposals implementing activities able to achieve all the goals of the AoI as
explained in the Annex I of the SEE PM. However, in order to stimulate the
submission of proposals tackling specific identified problems, additional scoring
(sub-criterion 2.1 in the First Step and sub-criterion 2.2 in the Second Step) is given
to the project proposals implementing specific activities/ tackling defined
problems/ addressing identified challenges as indicated below.

2.2 Improve prevention of environmental and technological risks

The Programme is expecting the generation of concrete projects which will develop
policies, plans and systems for the joint prevention of environmental risks both natural or
imposed or accelerated by human activities while facilitating the exchange of information
and coordination of activities in cases of emergency along with the rehabilitation of
affected areas and risk sources and mitigation and prevention measures, integrated crosssectoral activities for reducing risks. In this second call for proposal, particular attention
should be paid to conversion of brown fields and transportation of dangerous goods,
rehabilitation of polluted soils.
2.3 Promote cooperation in management of natural assets and protected areas
The Programme is expecting the generation of concrete projects which will address the
need for the implementation of the relevant EU legislative framework, developing and
implementing management plans for natural/semi-natural and protected areas of
transnational interest which might also include actions to foster their development and
actions promoting sustainable tourism. In this respect, particular attention should be paid
also to maritime/lake basin natural areas and to proposals addressing the demand for
know-how transfer and the development of skills for the better management of natural
assets and protected areas.
2.4 Promote energy and resource efficiency
The Programme is expecting the generation of concrete projects which will support the
adoption of renewable energy policies, resource efficiency (namely sustainable
consumption and production) policies and technologies, reduction of greenhouse gas
emissions and the movement to a recycling society. Furthermore, proposals should

exploit the capitalisation of results of previous projects implemented at a national and

European level (especially Intelligent Energy Europe) and with a strong focus on the
transnational aspect of the management of renewable energy sources.

Budgetary restrictions
On project level no specific ERDF budget restrictions are foreseen.
The minimum amount of IPA funding that can be requested by project partners from an
IPA beneficiary country is EUR 50,000. The maximum amount of IPA funding that can be
requested by project partners from an IPA beneficiary country is EUR 300,000. These
limits apply regardless of the number of project partners from the country concerned.
The consistency of the budget with the envisaged activities/outputs will be carefully
assessed.
The indicative allocation for this call is as following:
50,000,000.00

ERDF

IPA

Albania

540,182.00

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Croatia
former
Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia
Montenegro

866,282.00
360,000.00

Serbia

1,137,855.00

1,018,997.40
1,311,787.00

IPA funds are subject to the adoption of the relevant financing decisions by the European
Commission and signature of the related financing agreements by the European
Commission and the governments of the beneficiary countries.
Residual IPA funds 2007 are subject to the extension of the contracting deadline by
the Commission.
The IPA Contracting Authorities reserve the right not to award all the programme funds
allocated to this Call for Proposals.
ENPI funds are not available.

Public funding
The ERDF co-funding is based on public funds.
The co-funding rate of both ERDF and IPA fund is 85%. The remaining budget (15%) has
to be covered by national contribution, brought in by each project participant. The ERDF
project partners national contribution can be covered by state contribution and/or own
and/or other public contribution. Each partner state applies a different system in
providing public co-financing. Some apply an automatic procedure for granting the funds

whilst others envisage specific calls and others require the project partners to provide
the co-financing themselves.

Project duration
The duration of projects must not exceed 36 months. This limit applies for the operative
phase of the project and does not comprise the preparation phase. Please understand
that stricter limitations in time may apply for IPA contracts therefore applicants are
suggested to clarify this issue with the respective SCP. For further information please
check also section 4.1.2 of the SEE PM.

Time schedule
The call will be open from 23.11.2009.
The EoI has to be submitted to the Joint Technical Secretariat (JTS) until 21.12.09 (10 pm
Central European time).
Indicatively, the AF will have to be submitted to the JTS the beginning of April 2010.

Submission
EoI and AF have to be submitted by electronic upload. Only for the second step, the
applicant is requested to confirm the electronic upload by mailing a signed hardcopy of
the AF and related documents. All documents shall be mailed to:
SEE JTS
Gellrthegy str. 30-32
H-1016 Budapest,
Hungary
The complete package shall reach the JTS until the deadline.
Further documents may be requested at national level. Thus, we encourage the
applicants and their partners to contact their SEE Contact Points (SCPs) well in advance
before the submission deadline.
The applicant by submitting the application for the present call duly consents to the fact
that the MA and the JTS will manage all the personal data included in the application
package and provided in the contracting or project implementation phase.

Eligibility
Programme area
Project beneficiaries should be located within the programme area as indicated in section
1.3 of the OP and 2.5 of the SEE PM. Derogations are foreseen in the application of the
so called 10% and 20% ERDF flexibility rule (as explained in section 4.1.8 of the SEE PM).

Eligibility of partners
The eligibility of partners is indicated in the section 3.2.1 (ERDF) and 5.1 (IPA) of the SEE
PM. Please notice the exception in Priority 3, where infrastructure and transport
operators may be eligible for funding under specific conditions.
Eligibility of activities
Activities and related expenditures are eligible according to the eligibility rules set out in
SEE OP, Annex 1 of the SEE PM and the specific targeting explained in this Call
Announcement.
However, please note that the SEE Programme 2007 2013, is fully integrated within
the Objective 3 of the Cohesion Policy, strongly concentrated on the achievement of the
Lisbon and Gothenburg objectives. Therefore, projects should clearly consider the
following aims:
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contribution to sustainable territorial development;

leverage effect on investment, development perspectives and policy
development;
facilitation of innovation, entrepreneurship, knowledge economy and
information society by concrete cooperation action and visible results
(creation of new products, services, development of new markets,
improvement of human resources based on the principles of sustainability);
contribution to integration by supporting balanced capacities for
transnational territorial cooperation at all levels (systems building and
governance).

The orientation on research, technology and innovation encloses a significant

entrepreneurial development aspect. Hence pure academic research activities cannot be
supported under this programme.
Projects could include activities such as studies and operational plans, capacity building
activities, promotion actions, set-up of services, preparation and conduction of
investments proposed by transnational strategic concepts, including infrastructure
investment if appropriate and justifiable. Additional activities could include networking
and exchange of information, but not as stand alone, as purely networking activities will
NOT be supported.

Selection criteria
The selection criteria are detailed in the OP and SEE PM (chapter 7).

Project assessment procedure

The project assessment procedure is detailed in the SEE PM (section 7.2).