Visegrad Strategic Program

The aim of the pro­gram is to sup­port long-term projects of strate­gic char­ac­ter that link insti­tu­tions of all four Visegrad Group coun­tries. The projects must adhere to at least one of the pri­or­i­ties defined by the Conference of Ministers for the given year (see below). The pri­or­i­ties fol­low the given for­eign pol­icy pri­or­i­ties of the Presidency of the Visegrad Group.

The max­i­mum time frame for the imple­men­ta­tion of the Visegrad Strategic Program grants is 3 years. The finan­cial con­tri­bu­tion of the Fund can­not exceed 50% of the total project costs, includ­ing the in-kind con­tri­bu­tion of the appli­cant, or in-kind con­tri­bu­tions of other co-financing subjects.

Annual bud­get: €300,000
Max. time frame: 12–36 months
Deadline: 15 February (as of 2010)

Within the annual bud­get there is no limit to the max­i­mum amount granted to the selected project(s); how­ever, the aver­age amount of the past dead­lines is about €50,000 (see the approved projects).

Recommendation: We strongly advise poten­tial appli­cants to con­sult the Fund prior to (and in suf­fi­cient enough advance to) the sub­mis­sion of the appli­ca­tion for the strate­gic grant.

2011 Priorities of the Visegrad Strategic Program:

1. Internal Cohesion of the Visegrad Group (V4)
   The aim of this pri­or­ity is the pro­mo­tion of V4 within the Visegrad coun­tries as a unique plat­form based on com­mon val­ues and inter­ests, as well as the inter­ests of mutu­ally advan­ta­geous regional and cross-border coop­er­a­tion and exchange. The strength­en­ing of the cohe­sion of the four coun­tries and V4 as a com­mon “trade­mark” is car­ried out through polit­i­cal, eco­nomic, aca­d­e­mic and civic coop­er­a­tion. Internal cohe­sion and devel­op­ment of trans­port and energy infra­struc­ture is one of the pri­or­i­ties of the Slovak V4 presidency. What is at the core of the V4? What are the joint fea­tures of the V4? What dif­fer­en­ti­ates the V4 from other Central and Eastern European forms of regional coop­er­a­tion? V4 coun­tries are inter­con­nected through a vari­ety of links and rela­tion­ships. In this con­text the Visegrad region meets the essen­tial require­ments and char­ac­ter­is­tics nec­es­sary for the launch of a com­pre­hen­sive expert assess­ment of the V4 region as a new, nat­ural EU macro-region.
2. Promotion of the Visegrad Group (V4) in Central Europe and the EU as Part of the 20^th Anniversary of the V4
   The 20^th anniver­sary of the Visegrad Group pro­vides an oppor­tu­nity for the pre­sen­ta­tion of Visegrad as a well-known “trade­mark.” It stands as an exam­ple of the suc­cess­ful polit­i­cal, eco­nomic and social trans­for­ma­tion of four Central European coun­tries and as a pos­i­tive model of regional coop­er­a­tion. The V4 has a great deal to con­tribute with its knowl­edge and expe­ri­ence of EU and NATO inte­gra­tion to the regions of south-east and Eastern Europe. Activities sup­ported by this pri­or­ity must pro­mote the V4 and present the most suc­cess­ful projects and pos­i­tive exam­ples of Visegrad coop­er­a­tion, includ­ing cul­tural, artis­tic, educational/scientific exchanges and pro­grams. Joint pre­sen­ta­tion of the V4 region, com­mon Visegrad pub­lic and cul­tural diplo­macy events and projects in Brussels and in V4/EU cap­i­tals will con­tribute to the afore­men­tioned strate­gic goal. The pur­pose of the projects is to increase aware­ness of the V4 via dif­fer­ent media and present com­pre­hen­sive infor­ma­tion about the V4 to European insti­tu­tions and the wider public.
3. Social Inclusion of the Roma Population
   There are pos­i­tive exam­ples and valu­able expe­ri­ence of inte­gra­tion in the inclu­sion of Roma peo­ple. The aim is to sup­port those ini­tia­tives that con­tribute to this goal and to the social and eco­nomic inte­gra­tion of the Roma pop­u­la­tion in par­tic­u­lar. An impor­tant part of this long-term process is edu­ca­tion and employ­ment. These projects should help gov­ern­ments and munic­i­pal­i­ties find the best ways to pos­i­tively influ­ence the lives of Roma peo­ple in rural areas, as well as in urban soci­ety. In addi­tion, these projects should extend beyond the one-dimensional and should fos­ter a multi-faceted, pos­i­tive, long-term impact.
4. Youth and Sports Exchanges
   Concrete sports and youth activ­ity projects should also be pro­moted within the frame­work of this pri­or­ity. Sports activ­i­ties help pre­vent health prob­lems and may even cre­ate con­di­tions dis­cour­ag­ing drug use. The orga­ni­za­tion of sport­ing events for young peo­ple is the best way to pro­mote a healthy lifestyle among youth. This is also a good way to forge new inter­na­tional friend­ships and rela­tion­ships, which nat­u­rally sup­port V4 sol­i­dar­ity, iden­tity and good spirit.

Applications for Strategic Grants must be sub­mit­ted through the on-line appli­ca­tion sys­tem.

[top]