Integrating third-country nationals: the Commission launches the 2006 call for proposals for projects under the INTI programme

IP/06/1128

Brussels, August 28 2006

The Commission publishes the 2006 INTI call for proposals: an amount of 5 million euros has been allocated to INTI programme for 2006; whereof 4 million euros for this call for proposals.

Commission Vice-President Franco Frattini, the Freedom, Security and Justice Commissioner, stressed that "encouraging co-operation between Member States and the creation of transnational partnerships and networks is paramount in order to promote new and innovative ways of integrating immigrants. The projects selected under the INTI programme will contribute effectively to the development of successful integration policies enhancing the empowerment of migrants"

Under this call for proposals preparatory actions promoting the integration of third-country nationals in the EU Member States will be funded. In particular, they will pursue the following three specific objectives:

To support the setting up of trans-national co-operation networks or pilot projects designed to identify, exchange and evaluate good practices and new approaches in the field of integration To increase knowledge base for the development of integration policies EU-wide To support trans-national dialogue and awareness on integration issues and its impact on society

The minimum grant per project is 100.000 euros. The maximum grant per project is 500.000 euros. The deadline for the submission of the proposals is 20 October 2006

To give the programme a truly transnational dimension, partners from at least five Member States must participate in INTI projects.

Under the INTI programme for 2005, the Commission received 139 grant applications and last March selected 15 projects to be co-financed. These projects, that will be run by NGOs and public authorities, will cover a wide range of different issues, as for example:

tackling the problem of lack of clear and comparable information and improving the quality of immigrant integration policies, by proving a tool to evaluate current policies, and a platform to discuss solutions improving the quality of the action of regional and local stakeholders when participating in the design and implementation of policies concerning the integration of third country nationals exchanging experiences about policies for the promotion of citizenship and coexistence in areas with a high concentration of non-EU immigrants collecting and distributing best practise examples on integration through sports addressing the specific situation of migrant women in order to facilitate their contact with the host country and the native citizens

This will be the last call for proposals under the INTI programme: from 2007 onwards, the European Fund for the Integration of Third-Country will cover the needs in this area, consistently with the priorities determined by the Common Basic Principles for integration adopted by the Council and expanded on in the Commission communication on a common agenda for integration (COM(2005) 389 final), with a substantially increased budget:

Information on the INTI programme and the documents related to this call for proposals, as well as the INTI guidelines, are available at:

http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/funding/inti/funding_inti_en.htm