EaSI – EURES: Targeted Mobility Scheme "YOUR FIRST EURES JOB" - VP/2018/009

Deadline: Sep 6, 2018  
CALL EXPIRED

1. INTRODUCTION - BACKGROUND

1.1. Programme /Legal base

This call for proposals is published under REGULATION (EU) N° 1296/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 on an European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation ("EaSI")1 and amending Decision No 283/2010/EU establishing a European Progress Microfinance Facility for employment and social inclusion.

The call is financed under the European Programme for Employment and Social Innovation "EaSI" 2014-20202 is a European-level financing instrument managed directly by the European Commission to contribute to the implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy, by providing financial support for the Union's objectives in terms of promoting a high level of quality and sustainable employment, guaranteeing adequate and decent social protection, combating social exclusion and poverty and improving working conditions.

The EaSI Programme shall, in all its axes and actions, aim to:

1. a)  pay particular attention to vulnerable groups, such as young people;

2. b)  promote equality between women and men,

3. c)  combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation;

4. d)  promote a high-level of quality and sustainable employment, guarantee adequate and decent social protection, combat long-term unemployment and fight against poverty and social exclusion.

Hence, in designing, implementing and reporting on the activity, beneficiaries/contractors must address the issues noted above and will be required to provide detail, in the final activity report on the steps and achievements made towards addressing those aims.

The Annual work programme acting as financing decision C(2017)8347 was adopted by the Commission on 13/12/2017 http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?advSearchKey=8347&mode=advancedSubmit &catId=22&policyArea=0&policyAreaSub=0&country=0&year=0

1.2. The EURES axis

The EURES axis of the EaSI programme aims basically at fostering workers' geographical mobility and boosting cross border employment opportunities. It has the following general objectives:

 Transparency of job vacancies, applications and any related information for jobseekers, workers and employer

 Development of services for the recruitment and placing of workers in employment

 Cross-border partnerships

 

The EURES axis may be used to finance actions to promote voluntary mobility of individuals in the Union, on a fair basis, and to remove mobility obstacles. In this context, those objectives may be achieved with the implementation of 'targeted mobility schemes'. Targeted mobility schemes aim to test innovative methods to implement cross border job mobility and tackle the needs of specific target groups, economic sectors, occupations or countries.

Vulnerable groups such as young people are a key priority. Recital 18 of the EaSI programme sets out as follows:

“The scope of EURES should be broadened to include developing and supporting targeted mobility schemes, after calls for proposals, at Union level with a view to filling vacancies where labour market shortcomings have been identified. In accordance with Art 47 TFEU, those schemes should support facilitating voluntary mobility among young workers in the Union. Targeted mobility schemes, such as those based on the preparatory action 'Your first EURES job', should make it easier for young people to access employment opportunities and to take up a job in another Member State, and should also encourage employers to create job openings for young mobile workers. Nevertheless, mobility schemes should not discourage the Union and Member States from helping young people to find a job in their home country”.

1.3. Main purposes

This call aims to finance projects to implement the Targeted Mobility Scheme "Your first EURES job" (hereinafter referred to as TMS-YFEJ). The scheme is featured to help young EU citizens aged 18-35 to find a job, traineeship or apprenticeship in another Member State and employers, SMEs in particular, to find the skills they need for their businesses. It is an intra-EU labour market activation measure3, combining tailor- made recruitment, matching and placement services with financial support for jobseekers and employers (SMEs).

 

2. POLICY AND ECONOMIC OUTLOOK

The EU's economy continued its expansion at a robust and higher than expected pace. Year-on-year growth improved further to 2.8 %. Employment in the EU continued its expansion surpassing expectations. The EU employment rate has increased consistently over the past three years. In the third quarter of 2017, the employment rate of 20-64 years old stood at 72.3 %, the highest ever reached, but still 2.7 percentage points (pp) below the Europe 2020 target of 75 %. Nonetheless, large disparities in employment rates remain among Member States. They ranged from 58 % in Greece to 82 % in Sweden. In around half of the Member States, employment rates are still lower than in 2008.

The unemployment rates in the EU and euro area are approaching their pre-crisis values at a steady pace. The unemployment rate for the whole 2017 averaged to 7.7 % for the EU, 0.9 pp less than in 2016, and 9.1 for the euro area, 0.9 pp less than in 2016. This has been the fourth consecutive year with reductions in the unemployment rate, and 2017 registered the highest annual decrease since the start 

of the recovery. Unemployment rates decreased in all Member States in the year to December 2017. The largest reductions were registered in Greece (by 2.7 pp down to 20.7 % in October 2017) and Portugal (by 2.4 pp down to 7.8 %). Large differences remain among Member States: the Czech Republic (2.3 %) and Germany (3.6 %) display very low rates, while Greece (20.7 %) and Spain (16.4 %) continue to register high rates despite the strong decreasing trend.

In the year to December 2017, the youth unemployment rate (for those aged 15-24) for the EU declined by 1.9 pp and reached 16.1 %. It declined in the euro area by 2.4 pp and reached 17.9 %. These declines represent nearly 500.000 fewer unemployed people aged 15-24 in the EU, including 300.000 in the euro area. In December 2017 there were 3.7 million young people unemployed, including nearly 2.6 million in the euro area. Compared to 2008, and despite a higher youth unemployment rate, the level of youth unemployment is lower. This is the result of smaller cohorts combined with lower activity rates, as education enrolment increases. In the year to December 2017, the unemployment rate among young people aged 15-24 fell in most Member States. It remained stable in the United Kingdom. The youth unemployment rate fell considerably in Italy (6.9 pp) and Croatia (5.9 pp). Greece the country with the highest youth unemployment rate (40.8%), has also registered an important decline (5.8 pp). The youth unemployment rate is also high in Spain (36.8%) and Italy (32.2%). By contrast, youth unemployment rates are the lowest in the Czech Republic (4.9%) and Germany (6.6%).4

Despite the positive developments above, certain groups of the young population are particularly exposed to the risks of (long-term) unemployment, competence erosion and lack of skill acquisition. The fact that young people are over-represented in temporary and part-time work means that they are often trapped in the lower end of the labour market, with less on-the-job training, lower wage levels and weaker long- term employment and career prospects.

2.1. EU employment policy action in support of young people

President Juncker stressed in his political guidelines that this Commission will promote labour mobility not only as a right to free movement of workers, but also as an economic opportunity - especially in the face of persistent vacancies and skills mismatches and globalised economy challenge.

The Europe 2020 strategy5 aims at achieving the target of 75% employment rate for women and men aged between 20 and 64. Young people are a priority target group for which several policy measures and initiatives are being developed.

One of the flagship initiatives of the current Commission is the implementation of the Youth Guarantee (Council Recommendation of 22 April 2013). The objective is that all young people up to age 25 receive a good quality offer for a job, apprenticeship, traineeship or continued education within four months of leaving formal education or becoming unemployed. Early intervention and activation are key and, in many cases, reforms are needed, such as improving vocational education and training systems.

The Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) is one of the main EU financial instruments to support the implementation of Youth Guarantee schemes, in addition to the youth- oriented activities supported by the European Social Fund (ESF). The total budget of the YEI is €6.4 billion for the period 2014-20, frontloaded in the period 2014-2015.

The YEI is implemented in accordance with ESF rules. It was launched to provide extra support to young people aged below 25 (or where relevant below 29) and living in regions where youth unemployment was higher than 25% in 2012. The YEI exclusively targets young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEETs), including long-term unemployed and inactive young people.

In parallel, action is being taken to reform the vocational training systems in Europe for young people. In this respect, a European Alliance for Apprenticeships6 was launched in July 2013 with a view to improve the quality and supply of apprenticeships across Europe. A Council Recommendation for a European Quality Framework for Traineeships 7 adopted in March 2014 aims to make sure that traineeships on offer in the Member States satisfy minimum learning and working quality standards. In November 2015 the European Commission and business leaders launched the 'European Pact for Youth' to improve partnerships between business and education to

boost the chances of young people getting access to more jobs. The Pact aims to develop or consolidate partnerships in support of youth employability and inclusion, fostering the creation, of new quality apprenticeships, traineeships or entry-level jobs at European level. Besides, as announced by the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker during his annual State of the European Union speech in September 2016, the European Solidarity Corps, launched in December 2016, is the new European Union initiative which creates opportunities for young people to volunteer or work in projects that benefit communities and people around Europe.8

2.2. Intra-EU labour mobility

Labour mobility is a strategic tool in addressing economic and social challenges and a potential trigger of economic growth. It includes all forms of job mobility, whether occupational (within the job, from job-to-job) or geographical (between regions or countries). In the case of geographical mobility, the freedom of movement for workers in the European Union is a right enshrined in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (Art.45) and further regulated by specific EU legislation9.

Labour market data show that even in these times of economic downturn, Europe has shortages and surpluses of skilled labour, i.e. there are many job vacancies that remain unfilled due to the lack of suitable work force. Across the EU, bottleneck vacancies do not only occur in high skilled occupations but are also found in skilled and low skilled manual occupations. This is due both to mismatch in educational choices at high skill level, to poor wage or working conditions leading to high turnover and difficulties to replace ageing workers at lower skill levels and also to limited labour mobility.

Geographical mobility in particular can contribute to improving the allocation of resources and serves as an adjustment mechanism for unbalanced labour markets whilst enabling economies to cope better with sudden shocks. Mobile EU citizens are, on average more likely to be employed than nationals and tend to have higher employment rates10.

Although mobility has been increasing in the EU over the past decades, it remains relatively low - only around 4% of the EU population aged between 15-64 is living in a Member State other than their country of birth. With a view to improving the EU long- term growth performance in the light of demographic ageing and workforce decline, mobility has been "underused" as a tool to boost higher employment rates and productivity growth.

 

3. EU INSTRUMENTS TO FACILITATE INTRA-EU LABOUR MOBILITY

3.1. EURES

The EU facilitates the exercise of the free movement for workers and intra-EU labour mobility by supporting EURES11. EURES is the network between the Public Employment Services (PES) of the EU-28 countries, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein (Switzerland also participates) and the Commission which aims at ensuring the transparency of labour markets. Launched in 1993, EURES exchanges job vacancies and applications for employment and provides information concerning living and working conditions. It facilitates intra-EU mobility for all categories of workers and age brackets. EURES has a human network of more than 1000 EURES staff. At EU level the European Commission runs a portal which provides access to job vacancies, an online CV database and information on living and working conditions in Member States.

Other EURES-related tools in support of intra-EU mobility are: 1) the European Job Days platform: it supports the organisation of job recruitment events, by enabling the matching between offers and candidates either online or on site); 2) the Drop'pin Platform: it helps young people boost their employability and skills by connecting them with concrete opportunities, including apprenticeships and traineeships, across Europe offered directly on the platform by organisations, including corporates, SMEs and NGOs. In parallel, during the budget period 2011-2013, the Commission tested the YFEJ scheme which aimed at providing tailor-made job search assistance and recruitment services to young people aged 18-30, combined with financial support. Unlike the ERASMUS+ learning-based activities, YFEJ offered a service to find a work- based placement – remunerated job, traineeship or apprenticeship - in another Member State with minimum 6 month duration. A total of 15 projects (EUR 12 million) have helped around 4300 young EU citizens.

In 2013, the European Council specified that "new efforts will be made to promote the mobility of young jobseekers, including by strengthening 'Your first EURES job'"12. Following the 2013-2014 interim evaluation13, a study on the 2011-2013 YFEJ mobility scheme and options for future EU measures on youth intra-EU labour mobility is on- going. It comprises the ex-post evaluation of the scheme and a prospective analysis of policy options for the future. The study will be finalised by the end of 2016.

YFEJ accompanies the EURES reform implementing the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on a European Network of Employment Services, to 

replace Chapter II of Regulation (EU) No 492/2011 and further modernise EURES (hereinafter referred to as "EURES Regulation")14.

The EURES Regulation is a key EU instrument for promoting mobility across the EU in accordance with article 45 TFEU. It re-establishes and re-organises the EURES network, with obligations for Member States and EURES Members. Concrete provisions in the regulation aim to give workers easy access to all European job vacancies (jobs, traineeships and apprenticeships) and job applications online (EURES portal), clear information on where and how to find employment in other EU countries and minimum services to be expected when looking for assistance with job search and CV's, matching and recruitment. Specific provisions define the need to provide tailor-made support services to both workers and employers from information to placement and post-placement support.

To increase the impact of the network on the ground the regulation introduces a pathway in all Member States to open the network to other labour market players, e.g. private employment services, VET organisations, Chambers of Commerce, etc.

The EURES Regulation also sets out broadening EURES membership to improve efficiency in service delivery. It should be possible for any organisation, including public, private or third sector employment services, which undertakes to fulfil all criteria and the full range of tasks set out in the Regulation, to become a EURES Member. Certain organisations unable to perform the full range of tasks required of EURES Members under the Regulation but having the capacity to give an important potential contribution to the EURES network can become EURES Partners15.

3.2. The TMS-YFEJ scheme

The TMS-YFEJ scheme is deemed to become a EURES instrument to help implement and accomplish the EURES Regulation objectives. It is designed as an EU active labour market measure to help young people, including the most vulnerable e.g. unemployed or low-skilled young people, to get a foothold in the labour market. TMS-YFEJ can also complement any national Youth Guarantee scheme by offering job or work-based training opportunities for young people in other Member States. Promoting labour mobility is also specifically recommended as part of the Youth Guarantee Council Recommendation16.

The TMS-YFEJ scheme aims:

1. to foster the exercise of workers' freedom of movement as set out in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU, Art. 45 & 46);

2. to be an EU labour market activation and inclusion measure for unemployed young people;

3. to contribute to

   1.  filling hard to fill vacancies with available youth workforce at EU EFTA/EEA17 level;

   2.   developing tailor-made and quality support services in EU EFTA/EEA countries for both jobseekers and employers;

   3.   boosting cross border matching and placement services for apprentices and trainees as a critical element to help transition from education or unemployment to work;

   4.   addressing labour mobility obstacles e.g. the costs of moving abroad, the cost with recognition of qualifications, the (lack of) knowledge of languages, etc.;

   5.   enhancing the integration of young mobile workers, trainees and apprentices in the countries of destination;

   6.   fostering intra-EU networking, notably through partnerships between employment services and/or other labour market players with expertise in specific areas of the recruitment, matching, placement and integration process.

The TMS-YFEJ activities, targeting young jobseekers and employers, consist of:

1.   support services such as information, recruitment, matching and placement, pre- and post-placement support to customers (e. g. profiling and pre- selection of candidates, language training or other training needs, mentoring support for trainees and apprentices, etc.);

2.   direct financial support to young jobseekers and SMEs (e.g. interview trip costs, relocation and integration support, language trainings, recognition of qualifications, induction training programmes by SMEs, etc.).

 

4. OBJECTIVES - PRIORITIES – TYPE OF ACTION AND EXPECTED RESULTS

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Guidelines on the implementation of the action are laid down in the following annexes:

ANNEX I: YFEJ Implementing Guidelines ANNEX II: Financial Guidelines for Applicants

 

4.1. Objectives - priorities

The objective of the call is to support the development of actions for the work placement of young EU citizens aged 18-35 in an EU, Iceland and Norway territory country other than their country of residence and to help address mobility obstacles.

Jobseekers and employers (SMEs in particular) are the main target groups. Priority will be given to vulnerable sub-groups, notably unemployed young people, including long- term unemployed.

Projects can cover all economic sectors and types of occupations, though specific sectors may be given priority in accordance with the demand side or the supply side needs in the countries covered by the action. Support can be provided not only to candidates who wish to find work in a new country but also to those who may wish to return to their country of origin or former country of residence.

 

4.2. Types of action

The name of the action proposal must be (mandatory):

"Your first EURES job" – Targeted mobility scheme

The actions which may be funded under this call shall support the implementation of the TMS-YFEJ scheme, i.e. they will ensure the provision of customised employment services

and include innovative working methods to foster the placement and integration of mobile young workers in the host country(ies), combined with financial incentives (cf. section 3.2).

To this end, the action supported by the projects shall have at least the six following components:

1. 1)  Creation of a partnership, involving as much as possible different labour market organisations dealing with specific work-integration fields and support to jobseekers (in particular for the most vulnerable).

2. 2)  Testing of cooperation arrangements in the partnership between EURES member organisations and other labour market organisations, in particular private employment services, as regards for instance the exchange of labour market information support services to workers or employers, to promote and raise awareness about the opportunities to gradually broaden the network in accordance with Article 11 of the EURES Regulation.

3. 3)  Provision of services comprising at least labour market information and assistance with offers and vacancies, matching these with candidates and the preparation of the placement /recruitment in the Member States covered by the action.

4. 4)  In the context of the services indicated under 3) above, provision of support measures and direct financial support to both young people and employers (in particular SME's) as laid down in Annex I;

5. 5)  Development of post-placement support measures (welcome and integration services) and/or other tailor-made support, e.g. coaching packs;

6. 6)  Development of services and support measures referred to under points 3 to 5 also for placement of candidates in traineeships and/or apprenticeships in another country18 (notably for open-market traineeships) by applying tools at national level in combination with the tools made available by EURES (exchange of offers via the single coordinated channel, self-service Drop'pin, cooperation with new Members and Partners). For those placements, applicant organisations could identify one or more economic sector(s) and/or country(ies) offering such vacancies and provide support services adapted to the specificity and needs of both candidates and employers. The scope of the action in terms of traineeship and apprenticeship placements could represent a small percentage of the overall number of expected placements.

Applicants shall submit proposals focusing on

 Job placements

and also on at least one of following types of placements:  Traineeships19
 Apprenticeships

The TMS-YFEJ basic requirements applicable to job or work-based placements are set out in section B.2 of Annex I. If applicant organisations do not deal with traineeships and/or apprenticeships or are not experienced in this field, they could attract other public or private co-applicant organisation(s) to their projects, with proven knowledge and experience in this domain e.g. VET providers or Chambers of Commerce.

Applicants involved in the European Alliance for Apprenticeships20 could also explore the potential of the alliance signatory employer organisations to offer work-based opportunities for mobile candidates21.

The choice of the countries involved in the action must be based on the analysis of labour market situation and identification of labour shortages and surpluses in the Member States. The sources of evidence and the basis for this choice must be explained in the proposal (description of the action under SWIM).

Role of applicants and other organisations

The lead applicant, together with co-applicants, should ensure that the action covers the overall objectives and activities set out in sections 4.1 and 4.2 above, in compliance with Annex I..

Applicant organisations should also be ready to provide information and support to nationals from other EU EFTA/EEA countries with no services or other facilities involved in this action.

4.3. Expected outputs/results

The actions will be quality-oriented and outcome-driven, i.e. they must offer quality work opportunities and employment services with a view to enhance the skills and employability of young candidates.

Applicants are free to choose the methods, tools, etc. to implement the action, provided they comply with the TMS-YFEJ Guidelines (Annex I). This call aims to ensure at least 3500 work placements22 (including around 2000 placements in economic sectors with hard-to-fill vacancies) for young mobile candidates in the EU EFTA/EEA countries23, other than their country of residence.

Proposals submitted under this call shall clearly indicate the expected outcome in the area of youth placement, labour market integration services, after individual support and/or training measures. This information will be included in the "description of the action" (SWIM application). The expected outcome must be quantified according to the relevant economic sectors and type of placement.

 

4.4. Monitoring

Lead applicants shall monitor the action and make data available. The Commission will monitor the action at two different levels:

a) For the EaSI programme, through the information provided in the annex to the Grant Agreement "Final technical report"

The European Commission, with the support of an external contractor, will monitor regularly the EaSI Programme. Therefore, beneficiaries will have to transmit qualitative and quantitative monitoring data on the results of the activities. These will include the extent to which the principles of equality between women and men has been applied, as well as how anti-discrimination considerations, including accessibility issues, have been addressed through the activities. Related templates of the “Final technical report” are provided in the annex to the Grant Agreement.

b) For the EURES TMS-YFEJ scheme based on the adopted rules laid down by the

Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/170 of 2 February 2018 on uniform detailed specifications for data collection and analysis to monitor and evaluate the functioning of the EURES network24. Related templates will be provided before the project kick-off meeting.

Moreover, the reporting of the activities co-financed must contribute, wherever appropriate, to the exchange of information between Member States and to the EURES programming cycle in accordance with chapter V of the EURES Regulation.

The Commission will follow the implementation of the TMS-YFEJ scheme as whole and promote networking among the project beneficiaries. To that end, maximum four meetings will be held with the Commission in Brussels or another Member State (one meeting every six months). The purpose is to provide guidance and take stock of progress made. The lead applicant must nominate the project coordinator within his staff members. The project coordinator will participate in the networking meetings with the Commission.

Lead applicants may also be invited to other ad hoc meetings or events during the lifetime of the action. These venues can be an opportunity for raising awareness to the action and disseminating information.

The estimated budget should include provisions for participation in the monitoring and reporting activities and meetings above as well as in, at least, two EU level events (for further information, see section 16).

As the monitoring of the EaSI Programme involves the collection and further processing of personal data, Regulation (EC) 45/2001, of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community Institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data, is applicable.

 

5. TIMETABLE
The indicative timetable for this call for proposals is as follows:

Deadline for proposal submission: 06 September 2018

 

(a)Publication of the call for proposals

June 2018

(b)Deadline for submitting applications

06 September 2018 Swim, Courier and Post: 24:00 Brussels time (CET) Hand deliveries 16:00 Brussels time

(c)Deadline for questions and request for clarifications

27 August 2018

(d)Evaluation period (indicative)

September - October 2018

(e)Information to applicants (indicative)

October - November 2018

(f)Signature of Grant Agreement (indicative)

November 2018

(g)Starting date of the action (indicative)

From October 2018

5.1. Starting date and duration of projects

The actual starting date of the action will either be the first day following the date when the last of the two parties signs the Grant Agreement, the first day of the month following the date when the last of the two parties signs or a date agreed upon between the parties.

Applicants should note that if their project is selected, they may receive the grant agreement after the start date of the action that they have indicatively set in the application form. It is therefore advisable to number the months in the work programme instead of indicating the name of the months, for ease of reference.

Any expenditure incurred before the signature of the Grant Agreement will be at the applicant's risk. No expenditure can be incurred before the date of submission of the application.

An action grant may be awarded for an action which has already begun only where the applicant can demonstrate in the grant application the need to start the action before the Grant Agreement is signed.

The indicative duration of projects should be 24 months.

 

6. AVAILABLE BUDGET AND CO-FINCANCING RATE

6.1. Available budget

The total budget earmarked for the EU co-financing of projects under this call is estimated at EUR 11,200,000.

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The EU grant requested should indicatively be between EUR 2,500,000 and 10,000,000, thus the Commission expects to fund 2 to 4 projects.

The Commission reserves the right not to distribute all the funds available or to increase the call budget to fund more actions, including from any reserve list that may be established, should additional budget be made available at a later stage.

6.2. Co-financing rate

Under this call for proposals, the EU grant may not exceed 95% of the total eligible costs of the actions. The applicants must guarantee their co-financing of the remaining amount covered by the applicants' own resources of from other sources other than the European Union budget25.

 

7. ADMISSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

•   Applications must be sent no later than the deadline for submission referred to in section 5(b);

•   Applications (application form including budget and description of the action including work plan) must be submitted using the electronic submission system available at https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/swim, and by sending a signed, printed version of the application form and the other afore-mentioned documents by post or courier service (one original dossier and one copy; see also section 14).

Failure to comply with the above requirements may lead to the rejection of the application.

Applicants are encouraged to submit their project proposal in English, French or German in order to facilitate treatment of the proposals and speed up the evaluation process. It should be noted, however, that proposals in all official languages of the EU will be accepted. In this case, applications should be accompanied by an executive summary in English (see section 16.2, checklist point 2).

 

8. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
8.1. Eligibility of applicants (lead and co-applicants) and affiliated entities

Please be aware that eligibility criteria must be complied with for the entire duration of the grant. If the United Kingdom withdraws from the EU during the grant period without concluding an agreement with the EU ensuring in particular that British applicants continue to be eligible, British beneficiaries will cease to receive EU funding (while continuing, where possible, to participate) or be required to leave the project on the basis of Article II.17.3.1(a)of the Grant Agreement".

a) Place of establishment

Legal entities properly established and registered in the following countries are eligible as lead applicants and co-applicants:

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•   EU Member States

•   Iceland and Norway in accordance with the EEA Agreement

Organisations of social partners without legal personality under the applicable national law of above-mentioned countries are also eligible provided that the conditions of the Financial Regulation related thereto are met (Art.131 2 (b) of the Financial Regulation)27

b) Type of entities
To be eligible, lead applicants must be:

EURES National Coordination Offices which are placed in organisations whose main mission is to ensure the provision of employment and placement services to jobseekers, job changers, trainee/apprentice candidates and employers covering jobs and/or work-based trainings. Those services must include information, recruitment, matching and pre- and post-placement support;

To be eligible, co-applicants must be:

•   EURES member organisations (i.e. National Coordination Offices, EURES Members and EURES Partners28), or other public or private labour market actors (including the third sector);

•   Providers of the same services as lead applicants and/or complementary customer-oriented services in other expertise fields such as information, training, education, career guidance, mentoring, legal advice, integration support or other equivalent.

c) Consortia29

To be eligible, actions must have the involvement of a minimum of five organisations established in at least five different EaSI-EURES participating countries. At least three of these organisations must be EURES member organisations. Besides the lead applicant, members of the consortia can be co-applicants (at least four from four different EaSI-EURES participating countries, different from the home country of the lead applicant).

If the lead applicant is considered not to be eligible, the application will be rejected.

If a co-applicant is considered not to be eligible, this organisation will be removed from the consortium and the eligibility of the modified consortium will be re-evaluated. In addition, the costs that are allocated to a non-eligible co-applicant will be removed from the budget. If the modified consortium is still eligible, the application will be evaluated on that basis. If the application is accepted for funding, the work plan will have to be adapted as appropriate.

 

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