In this month’s edition of "Country Digest" we focus on Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Western Balkans London Summit held as part of the Berlin process on 9-10 July 2018, reaffirmed the European future of Western Balkans and highlighted EU’s commitment to advance cooperation with the region.  At the summit, the EU launched a new instrument, the Western Balkans Guarantee, under the Western Balkans Investments Framework. This new instrument will attract and facilitate private investments in a broad range of sectors, such as start-ups and SMEs, climate finance and infrastructure investments, as well as digital and social sectors. The EU has committed 150 MEUR for 2019-2020 to support the Western Balkans Guarantee which aims to leverage investments up to 1 BEUR.

The European Commission adopted a decision to update the Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2018-2020. The revision concerns different parts of the Work Programme for 2019 (topics, dates, budget)that have been updated.

Our ‘Country Digest’ special edition on Western Balkans continues. Next one in the series – Montenegro.

Italy is one of the top recipients of EU funds just behind Poland and Romania.

Through 75 national and regional programmes, Italy has been allocated EUR 42.77 billion from European Structural and Investment Funds over the period 2014-2020. With a national contribution of EUR 30.96 billion, Italy has a total budget of  EUR 73.73 billion to be invested in various areas, from jobs and growth to boosting research and innovation as well as protecting the environment and increasing labour market participation.  

The fifth edition of the Berlin Process Summit was held on 9-10 July in London (UK), gathering heads and ministers of governments of the Western Balkans six (WB6) as well as several EU Member States with high interest in fostering further cooperation with the region.

The focus of the Summit in London was on economic development and connectivity, cooperation in security matters and good neighbourly relations.

The motto for the EU presidency is 'A Europe that protects'.

On 1^st July 2018, Austria has assumed the Presidency of the Council of the EU for the third time. The Austrian Presidency will put emphasis on three areas where the EU has a particular protective role: Security and fight against illegal migration; securing prosperity and competitiveness through digitalisation and stability in the neighbourhood – rapprochement of the Western Balkans/South-Eastern Europe to the EU.

In a few days, Bulgaria will be passing on the Presidency of the European Union to Austria. We take this opportunity to look back at some of the key issues that the Bulgarian Presidency has put forward in these 6 months and to present our office in Sofia.

At the helm of the EU for the first time, 10 years after the accession to the European Union, the Bulgarian Presidency  placed particular emphasis on strengthening the stability and security in Europe with the Western Balkans and the relations with Turkey..

Security has become of the main topics for EU policy makers, ranking high on the list of concern of EU citizens. During the Bulgarian Presidency, the European PNR rules became applicable and an informal agreement was reached with the European Parliament on three regulations on the use of the Schengen Information System in the fields of:

(1) police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters;

(2) border checks and

(3) return of illegally staying third-country nationals.

The first post-Brexit budget focuses on innovation, digitization, climate change, support for young people, but also on security and migration.

Schuman Associates was invited this week to present its main elements and its impact for Spain at a breakfast-conference organized by the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Brussels. 

This new budget contains several novelties with respect to current financial framework. One example is the effort towards simplification moving from current fifty-eight funding programs to thirty-seven, multiplying the investment in digitalization, Erasmus program and security and defense programs, as well as border control.

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Last week, Schuman Associates was delighted to participate in the latest ‘Future of EU Communications’ event hosted by Indiepics. We moderated the event which looked at how European social and visual communications are changing, what the latest trends are and how we can get the most out of our communication budgets.

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The European Commission unveiled last week its proposal on Horizon Europe, the €100 billion research and innovation programme that will succeed the current Horizon 2020. The new programme will build on the achievements and success of Horizon 2020 and will continue the simplification process already started in the previous programme.

The special edition of our monthly ‘Country Digest’ featuring Western Balkans continues. This time in the spotlight is Albania.

May 2018 marked a renewed momentum in the EU-Western Balkans relations. The Sofia EU-Western Balkan Summit reinforced a mutual commitment to the European perspective of the region and set outconcrete measures to boost cooperation both with the EU and within the region. The EU also agreed to step up its support both in terms of funding and technical assistance.

Schuman Associates is the leading consultancy in Brussels working on European funding and project financing. Delivering added-value and relevant content to our clients has always been a priority for us. To strengthen our local presence and strategy we have embarked on a new wave of local recruits in Romania, Poland and the Czech Republic. Our new colleagues will bring valuable experience to our local offices and support them in providing a hands on support to local and international companies in accessing business opportunities arising from EU funding. Schuman Associates has just launched its monthly ‘Country Digest’ to capture facts and other EU funding and relevant highlights. We are delighted to continue the series with Poland.

We continue with the special edition of our monthly 'Country Digest’ featuring Western Balkans countries. This time we look at Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), a country that has been a candidate country since 2005 and benefits from 664.2 MEUR from IPA II funding 2014-2020. 

The European Commission’s proposal on the next 2021-2027 EU Budget starts a dynamic debate on the future of Europe, but also of EU Funding to its Member States and regions.

Despite a 5% cut in each of the Cohesion and Agricultural policies, the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) remain the most powerful investment tool of the European Union. They account for more than a half of the proposed 7-year EU Budget (Cohesion Policy - 374 billion EUR and Common Agriculture Policy - 371 billion EUR, including direct payments).

Leading up to the EU & Western Balkan Summit that will take place on 17 May 2018 in Sofia, Schuman Associates kicks off a special edition of its monthly 'Country Digest’ featuring Western Balkans countries. First one – Serbia.

By all accounts 2018 is the year of Enlargement policy. On 6 February 2018 the Commissions adopted a Strategy for 'A credible enlargement perspective for and enhanced EU engagement with the Western Balkans', and it announced six flagship initiatives – a set of concrete actions to be implemented in the next two years. To support the implementation of the new flagship initiatives, the Commission proposed to top up the 1.07 BEUR already foreseen for the region for 2018.  In this sense, more funding will be directed towards infrastructure investment in transport, energy & digital.

On 2nd May the European Commission revealed its awaited proposal on the new multiannual budget for the period 2021-2027. This Communication officially marks the starting point of inter-institutional negotiations that will top the EU agenda in the coming months.

On 2 May 2018, the European Commission presented its proposal for the EU’s next seven years budget cycle (also known as the Multiannual Financial Framework – MFF) covering the period 2021-2027. The proposal will now go to the co-legislators (European Parliament and Council) which will further discuss and amend accordingly. In the best case scenario, the Commission expects to have the MFF ready before the European Parliament’s election taking place at the end of 2019.

The proposal tabled on the 2nd of May by the European Commission starts a vivid debate on the EU’s long-term budget for 2021-2027 in the months ahead. The proposed 7-years budget of EUR 1279 billion (in current prices), is  more than initially expected. By mid-June, the Commission will reveal further details for different policy and funding areas.

Schuman Associates is the leading consultancy in Brussels working on European funding and project financing. Delivering added-value and relevant content to our clients has always been a priority for us. To strengthen our local presence and strategy we have embarked on a new wave of local recruits in Romania, Poland and the Czech Republic. Our new colleagues will bring valuable experience to our local offices and support them in providing a hands on support to local and international companies in accessing business opportunities arising from EU funding. Schuman Associates has just launched its monthly ‘Country Digest’ to capture facts and other EU funding and relevant highlights. See our first report on Romania here. We are delighted to continue the series with Czech Republic.