EU announces Call for Proposals to support Economic Growth in North Macedonia

Deadline: 5 August 2020

The European Union (EU) has announced a Call for Proposals for Economic Growth.

Objectives of the Programme and Priority Issues

The global objective of this call for proposals is: To support start-ups and SMEs in selected less-developed regions of the country to grow, produce added value and create a local living economy.

The specific objective of this call for proposals is: To increase local economic activity and competitiveness  in the North-East, Polog, South-West regions and Prespa area (Resen opština/municipality) of North Macedonia by improving access of start-ups and SMEs to financing and high value-added services.

The priorities of this Call for Proposals are:

• To support setting up and/or developing at least 1 accelerator in each of the target areas, but preferably 6 in total;
• To provide business development support and/or technical assistance prioritising companies owned by people below 40 years of age and/or women and/or people belonging to vulnerable groups and minorities. A quota system will be set up after the analysis of the business opportunities and of the economic potential in each region is carried out;
• To provide financial support to at least 55 start-ups and/or SMEs to start or expand their business activities;
• To create at least 300 new jobs expressed in Full Time Equivalent (FTE). The jobs created – either self-employed or employed – are mainly to target people below 40 years of age, women and people belonging to vulnerable groups and minorities. A quota system will be set up after the analysis of the business opportunities and of the economic potential in each region is carried out.
• To provide support to start-ups and SMEs for business activities in line with the EU Green Deal to move towards the green economy, i.e. companies strongly committed towards boosting the efficient use of resources by moving to a clean, circular economy and restoring biodiversity and cut pollution towards a zero pollution and zero waste model.

Size of Grants

Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:

• minimum amount: EUR 8,950,000
• maximum amount: EUR 9,000,000

Duration

The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 48 months and exceed 60 months.

Location

Actions must take place in the following target areas of the Republic of North Macedonia:

• North-East region;
• Polog region;
• South-West region;
• Prespa area (Resen opština/municipality)

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead applicant
  • In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
    • be a legal person, and
    • be non-profit-making, and
    • be established in the EU Member States, and
• For UK applicants: Please be aware that following the entry into force of the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement on 1 February 2020 and in particular Articles 127(6), 137 and 138, the references to natural or legal persons residing or established in a Member State of the European Union are to be understood as including natural or legal persons residing or established in the United Kingdom. UK residents and entities are therefore eligible to participate under this call.
• • • be a specific type of organisation such as:
      • Public law bodies/organisations, established by the EU Member States with the objectives to support private sector development in the respective EU MS; or
      • Bodies governed by private law, mandated by an EU Member State – through a law or act of assignment or similar – with a public service mission to support private sector development;
    • 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 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 entity(ies)
  • 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.

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