European funding and opportunities

Introduction

The European Union is an area of opportunity. Its cohesion policy, the EU’s main investment policy, benefits all regions and cities in the EU and supports economic growth, job creation, business competitiveness, sustainable development and environmental protection. It aims to reduce structural differences between regions, promote balanced development across the EU and equal opportunities for all.

European Guidance Office for Local Authorities in Bizkaia

The European Guidance Office for Local Authorities in Bizkaia was created with the aim of helping, advising and supporting local authorities in Bizkaia in obtaining European funding opportunities. Submitting a project to a call for European grants requires investing time, human and financial resources as well as specialised knowledge in the field.

Therefore, if you are a city council, a municipal association, a rural development association, an employment support centre (behargintza) or a tourism management body, we offer a range of services that may be of interest.

Funding opportunities for local authorities

The European Union makes a range of financial resources available to administrations, organisations, companies, universities and citizens that you may be interested in making use of.

Given the wide variety of programmes, calls for proposals and potential beneficiary entities, the Bizkaia Provincial Council selects calls for proposals, conferences and thematic networks of interest to local authorities in Bizkaia. This information is constantly updated and shared through personalised alerts.

We already have more than 50 local authorities registered on our network!

If you would like to join and receive the information, please send an email to orientacioneuropea@bizkaia.eus

Assistance and advice

If you are a local authority or work with local authorities, we can provide you with assistance and advice on submitting strategic projects for EU funding calls.

If you are interested, tell us about your projects and we will help you.

Contact us via the following email address: orientacioneuropea@bizkaia.eus

Apply for a grant

You can also request assistance from the BPC to cover the costs of external advice you may have incurred when submitting a project to a European funding call.

The Bizkaia Provincial Council publishes an annual grant decree to encourage local authorities to participate in European Union programmes and initiatives. The call for proposals is aimed at city councils and groups involving municipalities in the territory with fewer than 150,000 inhabitants.

The aim is to encourage local authorities to submit their projects to European funding calls and obtain additional funding to carry out their local initiatives. For this reason, we fund a percentage of the external consultancy costs that the applicant entity may have incurred when submitting its project to apply for European funding. The percentage varies between 50% and 100% depending on the size of the municipality.

In addition to city councils, autonomous bodies and municipal public companies, associations of municipalities, the Federation and Associations for Rural Development, “Behargintzak” Employment Support Centres and the tourism management bodies of Bizkaia are also eligible for the grant.

You can consult the conditions and submit your application via the following links:

Informative webinars

We also organise dedicated informative webinars exclusively for local authorities in Bizkaia. If you are interested, please send us an email to: orientacioneuropea@bizkaia.eus

The wide variety of topics and types of programmes and calls for applications require a good understanding of the requirements and conditions to apply for each one. We this in mind, we organise at least two online information sessions (webinars) per year for local authorities to share the latest news on calls for applications, as well as topics related to the management of EU-funded projects.

Specialisation scholarships in EU affairs

Each year, the Bizkaia Provincial Council awards scholarships for studies in specialisations related to European Union matters. They are aimed at individuals who have obtained a university degree and are interested in studying in person in a European country. These scholarships enable individuals to pursue postgraduate studies in the specialisations and universities of their choice.

If you wish to study abroad, please refer to the conditions of the Provincial Decree on specialisation scholarships in EU affairs at the following links:

EU Mobility Guide

Learn about your rights and obligations when living, studying or working in the EU

The Bizkaia Provincial Council has produced a Guide to Mobility in the European Union with practical information on mobility within the EU for study and work purposes, as well as a detailed analysis of our rights derived from freedom of movement within the EU.

The Guide also contains up-to-date information on the main rules to bear in mind when living, studying and working in the different EU countries, as well as references to the authorities responsible for bureaucratic and administrative procedures in each of the 27 EU Member States.

View the EU mobility guide

Go to View the EU mobility guide

The Bizkaia Provincial Council in the EU

Find out more about what the Bizkaia Provincial Council does in the EU

Dissemination of European legislation

The European Union has a significant influence on our daily lives, as it legislates and approves regulations that directly affect us, such as the price of electricity, food and water safety, digital privacy and security and health cards. More than 80% of the issues that affect us in our daily lives are decided in the EU.

The Bizkaia Provincial Council examines the relevant European legislation and selects those regulations that affect the competences or interests of the Bizkaia Provincial Council in order to inform each department about the new regulations issued by the Union and to be able to comply with the obligations arising from them.

View the regulations

Participation in EU decision-making bodies

The Bizkaia Provincial Council, together with the other Basque institutions, participates in the European Union’s decision-making bodies on tax matters. Specifically, it participates in the working groups and meetings of the Council of the EU in Brussels, within its country’s delegation, when tax matters are discussed that relate to the powers of the Historical Territories in this area.

Intermediate Body in the management of the ERDF

In addition, the Bizkaia Provincial Council has been designated as an Intermediate Body in the management of the ERDF Structural Funds, which gives it the functions of coordination, selection and verification of projects in Bizkaia co-financed by the ERDF Operational Programme.

Participation in networks

It also collaborates with and participates in EU-related networks and associations, mainly through the Basque European Information Network (BEIN), which was created with the aim of optimising the available resources and directing queries on European information within the Basque Autonomous Community. This also takes place through the Basque Council of the European Movement (Eurobasque), whose main objective is to promote the establishment of a federal European Union that respects the diversity of people and to foster relations in the Basque Country between the different peoples, nationalities and regions of Europe with a view to achieving European unity.

It also participates in the European IQ-Net network to improve the quality of the management of Structural Fund programmes through the exchange of experiences, knowledge and mutual learning.

Find out more…

Find out more about the European Union

If you want to know what the European Union is, what it does and who its members are, we invite you to learn about its history, its institutions, its budget and legislation, as well as its priorities and actions.

The European Union

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