The call for applications for the EU City Facility grant is open

​The second call for applications for EU City Facility grant is open until the 31 May. All municipalities and local authorities, their groupings, and local public entities aggregating municipalities or local authorities from the EU Member States, EEA-EFTA States and the United Kingdom that have a politically approved climate and energy plan are eligible for the 60.000 EUR grant.

The European City Facility (EUCF) aims to support the energy transition of cities and thus, it offers financial resources to municipalities and local authorities to develop Investment Concepts related to the implementation of actions identified in their climate and energy action plans. The ultimate objective of the EUCF is to build a substantial pipeline of sustainable energy investment projects across municipalities in Europe.

Technical feasibility studies, market analyses, stakeholder analyses, legal, economic and financial analyses or risk analyses are some of the activities that can be financed by the EUCF grant. Applicants will have to demonstrate political commitment to the development of the Investment Concept and will also have to commit to the EUCF monitoring for a two years’ period.

A total of 69 projects will be selected (26 in Central and Eastern Europe, 24 in Nordic countries and Western Europe and 19 in Southern Europe). Each Investment Concept selected will receive a grant of 60.000 EUR to be developed.

The projects will be evaluated based on five criteria: investment size, energy savings, governance structure, stakeholder engagement and alignment with EUCF objectives. The call opened on 19 March and the deadline is the 31 May. The evaluation results with the selected projects will be published in August 2021.

Contact:

Berta López Domènech

Tel. +32 (0) 2 282 2170

Berta.LopezDomenech@cor.europa.eu



Russia: Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the EU on the deteriorating health of Alexei Navalny

The European Union is deeply concerned about reports that the Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny’s health in the penal colony continues to deteriorate even further. We call on the Russian authorities to grant him immediate access to medical professionals he trusts. The Russian authorities are responsible for Mr Navalny’s safety and health in the penal colony, to which we hold them to account.

As a continuation to the clear messages passed during the High Representative’s visit to Moscow in February regarding the situation of Mr Navalny, the EU will continue to call for his immediate and unconditional release as we consider his sentencing politically motivated and running counter to Russia’s international human rights obligations. In this regard, we also expect Russia to fulfil its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights, including to comply with the interim measure of theEuropean Court of Human Rights with regard to the nature and extent of risk to Mr Navalny’s life.

The European Union has condemned the poisoning of Mr Navalny in the strongest possible terms and imposed sanctions in October last year on six Russian senior officials and one entity involved in the assassination attempt. In addition, under its Global human rights sanctions regime, the EU imposed sanctions on four individuals in February over their roles in the arbitrary arrest, prosecution and sentencing of Mr Navalny.

The Navalny case is not an isolated incident but confirms a negative pattern of a shrinking space for the opposition, civil society and independent voices in the Russian Federation.

The European Union, together with its partners, will continue to call on Russia to urgently investigate the assassination attempt through poisoning on Mr Navalny in full transparency and without further delay, and to fully cooperate with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to ensure an impartial international investigation.

The European Union will revert to this issue during the upcoming meeting of EU Foreign Ministers on Monday, 19 April.



Forward look: 19 April – 2 May 2021

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Media advisory – Informal video conference of foreign affairs ministers of 19 April 2021

Indicative programme 

+/- 09.00
Doorstep by High Representative Josep Borrell (tbc)

+/- 09.30
Beginning of the informal video conference of foreign affairs ministers

Current Affairs

Any other business

Ethiopia: Exchange of views

Ukraine: Exchange of views

Informal exchange with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

At the end of the meeting (+/- 15.00) press conference in live streaming.

Arrangements for the press conference

Please note that there will be no physical press conference. EU accredited journalists will be able to ask questions remotely using this link.

Journalists who already registered for previous press briefings or press conferences of informal video conferences of foreign affairs ministers do not need to register again.

  • Deadline: Monday, 19 April 2021, 14.00

Further instructions will be sent to all registered participants approximately half an hour after the deadline.

Videos and photos from the event



Weekly schedule of President Charles Michel

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