New call Europe for Citizens programme published

The European Commission has launched a call for operating grants for the Europe for Citizens programme. Deadline of submission is October 18, 2017. The budget for the call 'Structural support for European think tanks and for civil society organisations at European level' (EACEA/33/2017) is estimated at € 6.8 million. Funding is between € 200,000 and € 600,000.

The specific objectives for this call are to raise awareness of remembrance, common history and values (strand 1), and to encourage democratic participation of citizens at EU level, by developing citizens' understanding of the EU policy making-process and, by promoting opportunities for societal and intercultural engagement and volunteering at EU level (strand 2). Within these objectives, the thematic priorities are as follows:

Specific priorities for European Remembrance (strand 1):

• Commemorations of major historical turning points in recent European history:
• For 2018:
• 1918 - The end of WWI – the rise of nation states and the failure to create European cooperation and peaceful coexistence,
• 1938/1939 - Beginning of WWII,
• 1948 - Beginning of the Cold War,
• 1948 - The Hague Congress and the integration of Europe,
• 1968 - Protest and civil rights movements, invasion in Czechoslovakia, student protests and anti-Semitic campaign in Poland;
• For 2019:
• 1979 - European Parliament elections – also 40 years since the first directly elected EP in 1979,
• 1989 - Democratic revolutions in central and eastern Europe and the fall of the Berlin wall,
• 2004 - 15 years of EU enlargement into central and eastern Europe;
• For 2020:
• 1950 - Robert Schuman Declaration,
• 1990 - German reunification,
• 2000 - Proclamation of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights;
• Civil society and civic participation under totalitarian regimes;
• Anti-Semitism, Anti-Gypsyism, xenophobia, homophobia and other forms of intolerance: drawing the lessons for today;
• Democratic transition and accession to the European Union.

Specific priorities for ‘Democratic engagement and civic participation’ (strand 2):

• Debating the future of Europe and challenging Euroscepticism;
• Promoting solidarity in times of crisis;
• Fostering intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding and combatting the stigmatisation of migrants and minority groups.