On 30 December 2009 the European Commission has published in the Official Journal of the EU a call for proposals under the programme Europe for Citizens (2007-2013) for the implementation of Actions 1, 2 and 4 " Active citizens for Europe "," Active civil society in Europe "and" Active European Remembrance ". To accomplish this, the call has a budget of more than 20 million.

The Europe for Citizens Programme has the following specific objectives:

• Bringing together people form local communities across Europe to share and exchange experiences, opinions and values, to learn from history and to build for the future.
• Fostering action, debate and reflection related to European citizenship and democracy, shared values, common history and culture through cooperation within civil society organisations at European level.
• Bringing Europe closer to its citizens by promoting Europe's values and achievements, while preserving the memory of its past.
• Encouraging interaction between citizens and civil society organisations from all participating countries contributing to intercultural dialogue and bringing to the fore both Europe's diversity and unity, with particular attention to activities aimed at developing closer ties between citizens from Member States of the European Union as constituted on 30 April 2004 and those form Member States which have acceded since that date.

The aim of Call 2009 of Europe for Citizens Programme is to implement the following actions of the programme: 

Action 1 - Active Citizens for Europe

Measure 1. Town twinning

This measure is aimed at activities that involve or promote direct exchanges between European citizens through their participation in town-twining activities.

• Measure 1.1. Town twinning citizens' meetings. (Deadlines for submission: 1 February 2010, 1 June 2010 and 1 September 2010).
• Measure 1.2. Networks of twinned towns. (Deadlines for submission: 1 February 2010 and 1 September 2010).

Measure 2. ‘Citizens' projects’ and ‘Support measures’

This measure addresses a major challenge of the European Union today: how to bridge the gap between citizens and the European Union. It aims at exploring original and innovative methodologies capable of encouraging citizens’ participation and stimulating the dialogue between European citizens and the institutions of the European Union.

The support measures are a tool to develop the quality of projects submitted within Action 1 ‘Active Citizens for Europe’.

• Measure 2.1. Citizens' projects. (Deadline for submission:1 June 2010).
• Measure 2.2. Support measures. (Deadline for submission:1 June 2010).

Action 2 - Active civil society in Europe

Measure 3.  Support for projects initiated by civil society organisations. (Deadline for submission: 15 February 2010).

The aim of this measure is to support concrete projects promoted by civil society organisations belonging to different participating countries. These projects should raise awareness on matters of European interest and contribute to foster mutual understanding on different cultures and to identify common values through cooperation at European level.

Action 4 - Active European Remembrance (Deadline for submission: 30 April 2010)

The aim of projects supported under this action is to keep alive the memory of the victims of Nazism and Stalinism and to improve the knowledge and understanding of present and future generations about what took place in the camps and other places of mass-civilian extermination, and why.

To reach these objectives, the call has a total budget of 20,4 M Euros for 2010, distributed as follows: 

• Town twinning citizens’ meetings - EUR 7 000 000
• The thematic networking of twinned towns - EUR 5 165 000
• Citizens’ projects - EUR 1 500 000
• Support measures - EUR 1 535 000
• Support for projects initiated by civil society organisations - EUR 3 400 000
• Active European Remembrance - EUR 1 800 000

Applications must be sent to the following address:
EACEA
Unit P7 Citizenship
Applications — ‘Town Twinning Citizens’ Meetings’
Avenue du Bourget 1 (BOUR 01/17)
1140 Bruxelles/Brussel
BELGIQUE/BELGIË

The detailed conditions for submitting projects proposals and the application forms can be found in the Europe for Citizens Programme Guide on the Directorate-General for Education and Culture website and in the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency website.