The call for proposals for the Phare Small Projects Programme (Europe Aid/115503/C/G/Multi) is aligned with the European Commission's objective to support activities aimed at obtaining a closer and greater involvement of citizens in the activities of the European Union.

Within the process of enlargement , the objective of closer European integration needs to be reinforced. In this context, the Small Projects Programme has been set up by the European Commission to support the efforts of the candidate countries to join the European Union.

By helping different actors to be better prepared for and informed about accession matters, the call in 2003 for Small Projects Programme is intended to facilitate the enlargement process, through events such as conferences, seminars, congresses, symposiums, fairs, or workshops, related to the enlargement of the European Union and more particularly to the implementation and enforcement of the Internal Market acquis (Accession criteria defined by the European Council in 1993 in Copenhagen and the 31 chapters of the Accession negotiations)

Projects are within European Union territory or within one of the ten countries eligible for projects funded by the Phare programme, i.e.: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia. Some specific actions of the project are to be also extended to the other accession countries in the Mediterranean area, ie.: Malta, Cyprus and Turkey.

Presentation

Within that framework, Instituto de Fomento, Regional Development Agency in Murcia region (Spain) has designed and submitted a project proposal which is aimed to facilitate the comprehension, implementation and enforcement of the internal market acquis in the ten eligible candidate countries as well as to better position the Regional Develoment Agencies (RDAs) in such countries as providers of added value services to their business communities, notably Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) on matters related to the Enlargement and Internal Market.

Thus, a number of selected RDAs in the ten eligible candidate countries have joined the project as partners of RDA Murcia. A number of specific actions aimed to raise awareness on the business communities in CEEC will prepare the celebration of a three days International Forum in Murcia where delegates of partner RDAs and invited representatives of the Ministries in charge of Internal Market in the ten eligible candidate countries will upgrade their profesional skills through training and practical study visits on issues related to Internal Market, exchange of experiences and RDA benchmarking, etc. Technical assistance and cooperation initiatives between the partners will provide some follow-up before the finalisation of the project.

Objectives

The present project will set in motion a showcase of events, actions, information and assessment services for a number of Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) from the Candidate Countries which provides support services to small and medium-size companies of their respective areas about the business opportunities offered by the Enlargement process in general and the Internal Market within an enlarged Union in particular.

To this end, the project is oriented towards the attainment of the general objectives set out in the Guidelines and others adapted to the particular situation of the target beneficiaries:

• To raise awareness on European integration and the Enlargement process in the candidate countries of Central and Eastern Europe:

  • To emphasise the new business opportunities which the Enlargement and the offers to companies.
  • To improve the RDAs and their regional companies' access to useful information enabling them to design management strategies as part of the "culture of business innovation and service provision".
  • To bring together public officials of National Ministries and RDA practitioners of the member states (Murcia) and the ten Phare candidate countries.
  • To facilitate knowledge and understanding about other business cultures.
• To support and publicise the efforts of these candidate countries to join the European Union:

  • To reinforce the position of the RDAs as a reference point about the EU Enlargement and Internal Market for their respective business communities.
  • To embark on formative actions which facilitate the capacity building and a practical learning for the partner RDAs and Ministries in charge of internal market in CEEC.
  • To broadcast the services given by public organisations oriented towards the promotion of business competitiveness of companies in the target regions
  • Linkage of a broad circle of RDAs both from Murcia and CEEC to develop tools that will assist the development of cooperation initiatives between participant RDAs and their companies in the future.
• To increase the visibility of the European Union as:
  • The major pre-accession financial donnor
  • The most important trading partner of all candidate countries,
  • The technical support provided by Community institutions on Internal Market affairs
  • And leasons drawn from similar organisations and networks in the member states