Selection

This formal check consists of two parts, one regarding the completeness of the documents, automatically verified by the EEP and a second one regarding state aid assessed by the Member States.

Fact sheet 5, chapter 1 on Eligibility and admissibility assessments contains a complete overview of all elements that are verified during this assessment.

The Joint Secretariat will firstly assess the proposals regarding specific strategic and operational evaluation criteria:

Strategic criteria

• Project’s context: relevance and strategy
• Cooperation character
• Contribution to programme’s objectives, expected results and outputs
• Partnership relevance

Operational criteria

• Project management
• Communication
• Work plan
• Budget

These evaluations are transferred to the members of the 2 Seas Monitoring Committee who will perform additional evaluations.

During a Monitoring Committee meeting, the project proposals will be eventually discussed and decisions will be taken by consensus. Four potential outcomes of this decision exist;

1. approval,
2. referral back for operational reasons,
3. referral back for strategic reasons or
4. rejection.

The entire selection procedure takes approximately 2 months and there are no intermediary communications foreseen between the Programme and the applicants.

You can find more information on the Selection process in the Programme Manual, Fact sheet 5.