Deadline: 8 November 2019

European Union (EU) is seeking proposals for its program entitled “Support to enhance the quality of journalism in Albania” to strengthen participatory democracy in Albania to prepare for EU accession. 

The specific objective(s) of this call for proposals is to enhance the quality of journalism in Albania through independent production, with a view to strengthening media pluralism and the freedom of expression in the context of the Copenhagen political criteria.

The priority of this call for proposals is to increase the quality of media content and products that serve the public interest through the development of independent and fact-based journalism.

Size of grants

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

• minimum amount: EUR 100,000
• maximum amount: EUR 250,000

Eligibility Criteria

Lead applicant

• In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
  • be a legal person or a natural person and
  • be a public or private print/electronic/online media outlet, news agency, media production company, professional media association, non-governmental organisation and
  • be established in Albania, a Member State of the European Union or in an IPA II beneficiary country at least two years before the publication of the call and
  • 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 and
  • if the applicant is a national of an eligible country other than Albania, they must have at least one Albanian co-applicant.

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.

How to Apply

In order to apply for the grants, applicants have to register themselves in PADOR, an on-line database via given website.

For more information, please visit https://bit.ly/2mvGErB and download the guidelines.