Summary of the 3rd Monitoring Committee Meeting

The 3^rd Monitoring Committee (MC) of the programme was held on December 14-15, 2017 in Szeged, Hungary.

Important decisions have been made during the meeting in relation to the following main topics:

• selection of projects for financing up to the entire allocation of the 1^st Open Call for proposals.  Consequently, more than 22 mil EUR ERDF, representing approximately 13% of the total 177 mil ERDF funds available at programme level, are to be allocated for projects under the Investment priorities (Ip) 6/c – natural and cultural heritage and 5/b – risk prevention and disaster management
• modification of the Cooperation Programme, in what concerns reallocation of funds launched within the 1^st Open Call, from Investment priority 6/b - investments in the water sector to Investment priority 6/c – natural and cultural heritage
• approval of the new, revised versions of the Methodology and criteria for assessment afferent to the relaunched 1^st Restricted and the 3^rd round of Open and Restricted Calls, so that conditions are more flexible and applicant friendly, ensuring thus easier access to the available funding for potential beneficiaries.
• approval of the outcome of the administrative compliance and eligibility check of projects submitted for the 2^nd Restricted Call for Proposals, related to the Ip 9/a – health-care and prevention-related infrastructure and services which contribute to national, regional and local development

Regarding the assessment process of the 1^st Open Call for proposals, out of the 60 applications submitted, 41 entered the quality assessment phase, requesting more than double of the available ERDF budget of the Call for proposals.

In line with the results of the quality assessment performed by independent assessors, the Joint Secretariat (JS) created a ranking list of the project proposals, structured according to the awarded scores. The projects to be financed from the available allocation were those obtaining equal to or greater than 65 points.

The list of applications approved for financing will be published on the programme webpage as soon as the MC will approve the related documents of the meeting.

The selection of the first projects marks a very important step in the lifespan of the programme. We are happy to reach this stage, in which projects will soon enter the pre-contracting phase.

Many thanks to the Interact programme, who participated at our meeting with a very valuable presentation regarding the assessment and selection of projects!

PRESS RELEASE