Second Training Session held in Brussels – Pro-I3T final conference – 23/10/2012

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European funds have always been of paramount importance for local and regional authorities around Europe. In the context of the current economic recession and budgetary restrictions at every level, European funding becomes even more an important source of potential income for sub-national public authorities.

The final conference of the Pro-I3T project, which took place in the Committee of the Regions (CoR) in Brussels on 23 October, addressed the question of how local and regional authorities can make best use of EU funding programmes.

During the event, participants got acquainted with the current European programmes and discussed the challenges of accessing European funding. Basis for this discussion provided Mr. Vanraes, AER Bureau member and member of the Brussels-Capital (B) Regional Parliament, with the presentation of the AER’s report: Information and access to European funding.

Mr. Fanourios Pantelogiannis, Head of Brussels Office of the Union of Cyprus Municipalities presented to the participants the current EU funding programmes, with the help of the Pro-I3T project and its information tools. Mrs. Anna Michaelidou, Municipality Commit-tees and Cultural Affairs Officer from Idalion, Cyprus talked about how to make the most out of thematic networking and gave a practical example of a Thematic Network. Following this presen-tation, Mr. Jean-Luc Vanraes, presented the AER Report on information and then Mr. Kyriacos Kyriacou, Counsellor to the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU updated the participants on the state of play of negotiations for the 2014-2020 budget. Mr. Petr Mooz, Head of Unit at DG Budget Information and Communication, presented the New MFF Post-2013 and Mr. Luc Van den Brande, former president of the CoR and member of the BUDG Ad-hoc Commission presented the CoR Opinion: New MFF Post-2013. Mrs. Françoise Chotard, Chairwoman of the ERRIN network talked about the “Horizon 2020 – New opportunities or new challenges?” Then, Mrs. Isabelle Albertone, Head of sector, DG EAC B1 – Coordination of the Lifelong Learning Programme presented the European Commission proposal on the “Erasmus for All” programme and finally Mr. Nikos Lampropoulos, journalist on Regional Cooperation presented the Territorial cooperation after 2013. The presentations were followed by a long Q&A session.

The presentations of the speakers are available here bolow.

For more information, please contact:

Mr. Fanourios Pantelogiannis
Head of Brussels Office
Union of Cyprus Municipalities

Study visit to Brussels and evaluation – 15/11/2012

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The study visit of the Pro-I3T project to Brussels took place from the 22nd to the 24th of October. It involved 18 participants: 15 newly elected Mayors of Cypriot Municipalities, 2 Municipal Secretaries of Cypriot Municipalities and the Twinning officer of the Municipality of Idalion.

The group arrived in Brussels on the 22nd of October. The next day, the participants followed the final conference of the Pro-I3T project, which took place in the Committee of the Regions (CoR), and addressed the question of how local and regional authorities can make best use of EU funding programmes.

In the afternoon of the same day, the participants visited the Brussels Office of the Union of Cyprus Municipalities, discussed on how the Office can help them find partners and ideas for Thematic Networks and attended presentations about project management.

On the 24th of October, the participants attended the Symposium “Regions in a Globalising World: Challenges and Opportunities” and visited the European Parliament in order to be updated on the negotiations concerning the New MFF post-2013.

After the visit, the participants completed questionnaires in order to measure their degree of satisfaction for the study visit. The questionnaire asked participants to indicate how satisfied they were, based on ten criteria, related to their expectations before the visit, the structure of the program of the visit, the degree to which the visit served the purpose of the Pro-I3T project, as well as the knowledge gained from the visit.

According to the responses, the overwhelming majority of the participants were very or extremely satisfied with 9 of the 10 abovementioned criteria. Many, however, said that they had not understood the purpose of the visit before their participation (which is partly explained by the fact that many of them participated for the first time in such a visit to Brussels).

Results and Conclusions of the project – 31/12/2012

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The 31st of December marks the end of the Pro-I3T project, which has been co-funded in the framework of the “Europe for Citizens” programme and aimed at promoting the cooperation between the Union of Cyprus Municipalities and the Assembly of European Regions, in order for them to commonly develop information tools for the promotion of thematic Twinnings between their members, but also with Towns from the rest of Europe.

Fifteen thematic guides have been produced in English and in Greek. Thus, local and regional authorities around Europe are now able to find out all possible solutions for financing their project ideas, either through the “Europe for Citizens” programme, or through other EU programmes.

Two training sessions (one in Cyprus and one in Brussels) taught local and regional practitioners how to use the provided information material (CD-Roms, websites etc) and therefore how to improve the quality and the implementation procedures of their activities. A study visit to Brussels gave to newly elected Mayors of Cyprus the possibility to share their experiences in working with European programmes and the “Europe for Citizens” programme and to explore the possibilities to develop twinnings with Towns from the rest of the EU.

The benefits from the Pro-I3T project were multiple for all the involved stakeholders:

Union of Cyprus Municipalities: Building upon the interest of Municipalities and the knowledge that the DECISIVE and SUSTAIN projects had created in 2010 and 2011, the UCM obtained through the Pro-I3T project, a series of practical tools and Guides (see left), through which it can now effectively support the efforts of its members to participate in Town Twinning.

Assembly of European Regions: Just like the UCM, the AER gained through the Pro-I3T project, access to the practical tools of the project, through which it can effectively support the efforts of its members to participate in Twinning actions and other European programmes.

European Union: The Pro-I3T project reached hundreds of Municipalities in several European countries and has given to hundreds of officials, elected people and citizens, the chance to take part in a European action.