EEA Grants and Norway Grants

The EEA Grants and Norway Grants have been part of the European Economic Area financial tools since 2004. The EEA contributes to reducing the economic and social differences between EEA countries. This intention is based on the EEA Agreement, which allows three non-EU countries, namely Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, to participate in free trade with EU countries. Their contribution to EEA Grants thus aims at supporting and strengthening cooperation and contacts with the 16 EU member states in Central and Southern Europe. In the Czech Republic, EEA Grants and independent Norway Grants are administered by the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic (MF CR).

Besides other priority programme areas, a programme designated as CZ02 – Biological Diversity and Ecosystem Services /Monitoring and Integrated Planning and Control in the Environment/ Adaptation to Climate Changes has been launched for the period 2009–2014 in the Czech Republic. The Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic (NCA CR) has been the main grant receiver within the programme for 21 projects, of which 17 were included in the sub-programme of the Small Grant Scheme (SGS) entitled Action Plans for Endangered Species II. The MF CR acts as an intermediary in the CZ02 programme, and the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic (ME) acts as the intermediary in the SGSII sub-programme.

The total resources for all projects supported from EEA Grants and carried out by the NCA CR is 86,213,526 CZK, including co-financing from the ME budget, which is 15% for SGSII and 20% for CZ02 of the project sum.