EEA and Norway Grants
[1] Through the Grants, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway are also contributing to strengthening fundamental European values such as democracy, tolerance and the rule of law.
The EEA Agreement sets out the common goals involved in working together to reduce social and economic disparities in Europe and strengthen cooperation between European countries.
For the 2014–2021 funding period, these countries are Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
[10] Second, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway negotiate with each beneficiary state to agree on which programs to establish, their objectives, and the size of the allocation to each one.
The Programme Operators develop and manage programs, often in cooperation with a partner from the donor states, and award funding to projects.
Partnerships between entities from the beneficiary countries and their counterparts in Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway are a fundamental part of the Grants and offer an opportunity to tackle common European challenges.
Cooperation between people and institutions at administrative and political levels and in the private sector, academia and civil society is a prerequisite to strengthen bilateral relations.
The contribution of each donor country is based on their gross domestic product (GDP).The five Priority Sectors (PSs) and related 23 Programme Areas (PAs) funded in the 2014–2021 period[15] reflect the priorities set out in the 'Europe 2020 Strategy' – the European Union's ten-year growth strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth – and the EU's 11 cohesion policy objectives.
They aim at contributing to growth and jobs, tackling climate change and energy dependence while reducing poverty and social exclusion.
[19] The Donor Programme Partners are mostly public bodies with national mandates in their respective fields and with extensive international experience.
Intergovernmental organisations and actors play an important role in the EEA and Norway Grants, as they monitor compliance with international conventions and treaties across Europe.
In order to ensure that the programmes and projects of the EEA and Norway Grants are aligned with European and international standards, the donors have established strategic partnerships with three European partners, which act as International Partner Organisations (IPOs) in the 2014–2021 funding period: For the 2009–2014 period, €1.8 billion was set aside under the Grants.
Cooperation through bilateral programmes and projects provides an arena for exchange of knowledge, mutual learning from best practices and developing joint policies.
Apart from these two mechanisms, Norway allocated €68 million through the Norwegian bilateral cooperation programmes with Bulgaria and Romania, once the two states joined the EU in 2007.
In addition to the €500 million in project support, interest rebates were granted on loans amounting to €1.5 billion in the European Investment Bank (EIB).
