EU announces Call for Proposals for strengthening the Rule of Law in North Macedonia

Deadline: 18 August 2020

The European Union (EU) has announced a Call for Proposals to strengthen the rule of law in North Macedonia.

The specific objectives of this call for proposals are:

To improve the capacities of justice institutions to deliver justice in transparent and accountable manner,
To strengthen the capacities to effectively implement modern investigation techniques in fighting organised crime,
To improve the prevention and fight against corruption, and
To enhance the protection of fundamental rights.

Assumptions and conditionality underlying this project

Availability of a Government Department, Public body, or relevant mandated body of a Government Department or public body authority of a European Union Member State to take the lead and provide suitable qualified expertise for the project.
Full commitment from the authorities and institutions of the Republic of North Macedonia and all beneficiary actors working towards the achievements of the project objectives, including full commitment to include project staff and experts into their functions.
Close cooperation with the authorities of the Republic of North Macedonia in the widest possible sense includes making officials available for training and maintain them in the relevant posts thereafter, providing all necessary information to advance the project objectives, and facilitating the work of the project staff.
The authorities of the Republic of North Macedonia have to appoint a project facilitator per component. The project facilitators will be the main contact point for the European Union Delegation to the North Macedonia and the EU Member State beneficiary for logistical issues, questions of day to day management of the project and coordination with relevant institutions of the law enforcement system. All implementation decisions will be taken by the steering committee.
The involved institutions will provide the necessary administrative assistance to the EU Member State beneficiary of the grant vis-à-vis other authorities for the issuing of the necessary visas for its expatriate personnel, as well as for the customs clearance for its imported equipment. The same assistance is expected to solve any unforeseen problem that the EU Member State beneficiary of the grant may encounter during the installation, presence and departure of the project in and from North Macedonia.
The authorities of the Republic of North Macedonia will host the project staff members in their premises. This will include office accommodation and furnishings. However, the project should plan for an office for the team leader and support staff.
The MoJ/MoI/JC/CPPO as well as the present project will provide the European Union Delegation to the North Macedonia with the necessary data for the monitoring, evaluation and follow up of the project.
Project reporting, will be discussed and endorsed together with the authorities of Republic of North Macedonia. Indicators and objectives will be reviewed on a regular base together by the authorities of Republic of North Macedonia.
Environmental considerations should be explicitly elaborated in the Full Application and will be assessed as added value if a clear concept is proposed. Environmental considerations can include use of environmentally friendly supplies, recycling measures, reducing flights and missions to the minimum required or other measures.

Size of Grants

Any grant requested under this call for proposals must be equal or less than the available budget of EUR 12,450,000.

Duration

The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 48 months nor exceed 60 months.

Location

Actions must take place in the following country: Republic of North Macedonia.

Eligibility Criteria

Lead applicant(s)
- In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
  - be a legal person,
  - be non-profit-making,
  - be a specific type of organisation such as: a competent Government Department, Public body or relevant mandated body of a Government Department or public authority of a European Member State in the fields related to this action,
  - be established in an EU member state,
  - For UK applicants: Please be aware that following the entry into force of the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement and in particular Article 127(7), UK participants are no longer eligible to participate in actions under EU programmes, which involve access to security-related sensitive information. UK residents and entities may therefore not apply under this call.
  - be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary.
Co-applicant(s)
- Co-applicants must include at least 1 competent Government department, public authority of a European Member State in the fields related to this action from a different Member States.
- Co-applicants participate in designing and implementing the action, and the costs they incur are eligible in the same way as those incurred by the lead applicant.
- Co-applicants must satisfy the eligibility criteria as applicable to the lead applicant himself.
Affiliated Entities
- The lead applicant and its co-applicant(s) may act with affiliated entity(ies).
- Only the following entities may be considered as affiliated entities to the lead applicant and/or to co-applicant(s):
  - Only entities having a structural link with the applicants (i.e. the lead applicant or a co-applicant), in particular a legal or capital link.
  - This structural link encompasses mainly two notions:
    - Control, as defined in Directive 2013/34/EU on the annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings:
      - Entities affiliated to an applicant may hence be:
        
        Entities directly or indirectly controlled by the applicant (daughter companies or first-tier subsidiaries). They may also be entities controlled by an entity controlled by the applicant (granddaughter companies or second-tier subsidiaries) and the same applies to further tiers of control;
        
        Entities directly or indirectly controlling the applicant (parent companies). Likewise, they may be entities controlling an entity controlling the applicant;
        
        Entities under the same direct or indirect control as the applicant (sister companies).
    - Membership, i.e. the applicant is legally defined as a e.g. network, federation, association in which the proposed affiliated entities also participate or the applicant participates in the same entity (e.g. network, federation, association,…) as the proposed affiliated entities.