Thursday 8th of March is the deadline for three interesting open consultations on three of the major EU Funding Instruments (in the area of strategic infrastructure, Cohesion and Research & Innovation) that we think would be of interest to all those involved in the development of cycling projects. We would like to encourage everyone to fill in this open consultations on European Funding because they will be  fundamental for the high level decision on the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027 which will be taken in the next few months.

The Commission's proposals will be designed to make it possible for the EU to deliver on the things that matter most, in areas where it can achieve more than Member States acting alone. This requires a careful assessment both of what has worked well in the past and what could be improved in the future. What should the priorities be for future policies and programmes/funds? And how can they be designed to best deliver results on the ground?

In the current Multi Financial Framework Period (2014-2020), thanks to 6 Billion Campaign and due to the great effort of everyone involved in the open consultation, ECF raised the European funding dedicated to cycling from 0,6 to 1,5 billion euros which proves that this is an effective way to raise awareness and budget for cycling projects. Now the campaigns start for the next European Budget Period (2021-2027) in which we aim  to raise the amount invested in cycling up to 3 Billion euros. To reach this important goal we would like to invite you to take part in the consultation following the links below. 

ECF is calling on all of its supporters to join us in our campaign for more Budget for Cycling.

What can you do?  Fill in the Public Consultation on any of the Funds your organisation is interested in or has experience with. The Consultations are an online survey that consists of multiple choice questions and open ended questions. We suggest that you fill in the multiple choice questions based on your own experience with these funding instruments. For the open ended questions you can find some suggestions from our side for key message that you can include in your answer.

Horizon2020  is the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever with nearly €80 billion of funding available over 7 years (2014 to 2020). The funding opportunities in this work programme are set out in thematic, multiannual work plans. The European Commission recently published the new Horizon 2020 Work Programme from 2018 to 2020. During this period the European Commission plans to invest 30 BN in H2020 projects.     

COSME is Europe’s programme for small and medium-sized enterprises. The COSME program can support the compettveness of cycling-related enterprises (e.g. cycling-related manufacturing SMEs) and European-scale cycling tourism projects.

• ! Fill in the Public Consultation on EU Funds in the area of investment, research, innovation and the single market following this link.
• A Position Paper for he Public Consultation on EU Funds in the area of investment, research, innovation and the single market​ can be found here.
• ​Suggested answers for the Multiple choice questions which we would recommend you to use, can be found here.                                                                     

The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) is a key EU funding instrument to promote growth, jobs and competitiveness through targeted infrastructure investment at European level.It supports the development of high performing, sustainable and efficiently interconnected trans-European networks in the fields of transport, energy and digital services. CEF investments are mainly for new infrastructure to fill the missing links in Europe's energy, transport and digital backbone.

• ! Fill in the Public consultation on EU funds in the area of strategic infrastructure following this link.     
•  A Position Paper for he Public consultation on EU funds in the area of strategic infrastructure can be found here.
•  Suggested answers for the Multiple choice questions which we would recommend you to use, can be found here.       

The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) focuses its investments on several key priority areas such as Innovation and research; the digital agenda; support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the low-carbon economy. The ERDF also funds cross-border, interregional and transnational projects under the European territorial cooperation objective. This Funding stream is very interesting for a wide variety of cycling projects.                            

•  ! Fill in the Public consultation on EU funds in Cohesion following this link.​
• ​​A Position Paper for the Public consultation on EU funds in Cohesion can be found here.
• Suggested answers for the Multiple choice questions which we would recommend you to use, can be found here. 

Your action and support is needed to increase the amount of money dedicated to cycling. Let's show that cycling matters!

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