EUROMED HERITAGE II

 

Euromed Heritage II, the MEDA Regional Programme for cultural heritage, supports the development of Euro-Mediterranean cultural store and target san increase of Mediterranean agents ability to manage and enhance their heritage. It was designed to be a process of learning and exchange of experience and know-how for all the participants, national institutions and international organisations of the 15 European Union and the 12 Mediterranean countries who ratified the Treaty of Barcelona in 1995.

It specifically aims to create various sources of knowledge from which local societies can autonomously obtain information and so set up favourable conditions for the conservation and enhancement of their heritage, in a regional framework. The ultimate objective is to succeed in developing the idea of a common Euro-Mediterranean heritage integrating various traditions and customs and seeking to highlight the visible and invisible links among them, so as to build a tool for a policy of openness, tolerance, peace and stability in the region.

The second phase of the Euromed Heritage programme targets three specific areas of intervention in the field of cultural heritage:

(a) knowledge,

(b) human resources, and

(c) development.

To this purpose, the program offers:

ü      Financial resources;

ü      channels for disseminating knowledge;

ü      frameworks for exchanges of experience;

ü      parameters for the identification of new components and dimensions of the cultural heritage;

ü     new perspectives for the development of the cultural heritage.

 

The overall grant earmarked for EUROMED HERITAGE II is 30 million Euro (EU contribution).

The call for the submission of proposals took place at the beginning of2001 and consequently, by the end of April 2001, a total of 106 proposals were submitted, 77 of which were considered eligible. After evaluation, 10 proposals were approved by the European Commission for financing.