Deadline: 29-Sep-2025
The European Commission is offering grants to support independent reporting on EU affairs by European-level newsrooms. This initiative aims to enhance the availability and consumption of pluralistic and independent news content about the EU, targeting specific audience groups across the continent.
The primary objective is to deepen public understanding of shared European challenges and opportunities, foster a sense of common European identity, and support democratic debate. Projects are expected to either establish or expand media hubs, which can be physical or virtual collaborative spaces where journalists and newsrooms work closely together.
Applicants should clearly describe how their hubs will operate, including editorial workflows and compliance monitoring. The structure, team composition, and multilingual strategy should be well defined. It’s important that consortium members contribute actively and meaningfully to the editorial process, bringing diverse perspectives that promote mutual understanding among European audiences.
Proposals must show how the hub’s content stands out, particularly in a media landscape already saturated with information. Projects should demonstrate how they will engage audiences and address the information needs of their target groups in multiple languages, ensuring that content is localized effectively rather than merely translated.
Applicants must produce or curate original, professional, and independent news or non-fiction content. For projects focusing on curation, the added value and coherence of the content offering must be clearly explained. Fair remuneration for journalists is expected.
The geographical focus includes EU Member States and candidate or potential candidate countries. Content must be made available in at least five official EU languages to reach audiences across Europe.
Applicants are also required to demonstrate how their projects will be cost-effective and sustainable. Proposals should explain how funding will support long-term quality news production and how the project plans to sustain itself after the EU funding ends. If a project is a continuation of a previous one, the proposal must clarify why it wasn’t sustainable before and how it aims to become independent in the future.
The total budget for this call is €7,421,438, with the EU covering up to 95% of eligible costs. The Commission expects to fund two to four projects, each with a grant amount ranging from €1.5 million to €3.8 million. Projects should have a duration of approximately 24 months.
Eligible activities include editorial research and content production, coordination and governance, the setup of collaborative workspaces, development of technical distribution systems, audience engagement, promotion, training, and data analysis.
To be eligible, applicants must be legal entities established in EU Member States or in candidate and potential candidate countries. The coordinating entity must be based in an EU Member State. Proposals may be submitted by news media organisations or other public or private media-related entities.
For more information, visit European Commission (EC).
