Croatia, Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia become eligible in the community programme “Europe for Citizens”

The programme « Europe for Citizens » has been open, since its launch in 2007, to the potential participation of non EU-member states such as the countries in the Western Balkans and the countries from the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which are members of the European Economic Area (EEA), like Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway.
When the 2007-2013 programming was being prepared, CEMR and its member national associations played an active role in this context. 

In order to get a community grant from the European Commission, these non-EU member states have to sign a memorandum of understanding with the European Commission and pay for an “entry ticket”. 3 countries in the Western Balkans recently undertook this process and have become eligible in the twinning community programme: Croatia since the end of 2008, Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia at the beginning of 2009 (see news published on the European Commission’s website).

The participation of the countries of the Western Balkan is a priority of CEMR’s twinning action. In March 2008, a meeting was held in Sarajevo on this issue with local elected representatives, representatives of national associations of the area and from other parts in Europe where CEMR has members. A common message was adopted on this occasion, which underlined the importance of pursuing the efforts carried out by the Balkan countries to get closer to the European Union and to reinforce citizenship through twinning (see more info about this meeting on CEMR's website). 

This meeting was also the occasion for the Association of Municipalities and Cities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to introduce its new website, similar to www.twinning.org, which gives the possibility to find a partner in Europe.  This website is designed for municipalities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina: see: http://www.city-partnership.com/index.php?lang=en.

The website of the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, which is in charge of the implementation of the programme « Europe for Citizens ».