1.5 Eligible authorities

The following authorities may apply for support to undertake the EUI-IA:

• First category: Any urban authority of a local administrative unit defined according to the degree of urbanisation (DEGURBA) of Eurostat[1] as city, town or suburb (corresponding to DEGURBA code 1 or DEGURBA code 2 of Eurostat) comprising at least 50 000 inhabitants.

• Second category: An association or grouping of urban authorities with legal status of organised agglomeration composed by Local Administrative Units, where the majority (at least 51%) of inhabitants lives in Local Administrative Units defined according to the degree of urbanisation (DEGURBA) of Eurostat as cities, towns or suburbs (corresponding to DEGURBA code 1 or DEGURBA code 2) and where the total combined population is at least 50 000 inhabitants.

• Third category: An association or grouping of urban authorities without legal status of organised agglomerations where all the urban authorities involved (Main Urban Authority – hereinafter: MUA, and Associated Urban Authorities – hereinafter: AUA) are Local Administrative Units defined according to the degree of urbanisation (DEGURBA) of Eurostat as cities, towns or suburbs (corresponding to DEGURBA code 1 or DEGURBA code 2) and where the total combined population (MUA and AUA) is at least 50 000 inhabitants.

Only eligible urban authorities as defined above can submit an Application Form in the framework of EUI-IA Call for Proposals.

The definition of Local Administrative Units[2] as well the classification according to the degree of urbanisation and the figures on the number of inhabitants are based on information provided in the EUI-IA Correspondence table[3] (“Correspondence table LAU – NUTS 2021, EU-27 and EFTA / available Candidate Countries. Year 2021”). This table will be used as the main reference document for the Eligibility Check. Applicants are invited to refer to Correspondence table to verify their eligibility and provide information on the Local Administrative Units included in their administrative borders and the figures concerning the number of inhabitants. Carrying out an eligibility self-assessment (based on the abovementioned Correspondence table) before filling in the Application Form is strongly recommended. In case of gaps, inconsistencies or doubts concerning the interpretation of the data included in the Correspondence table, applicants are advised to contact the Permanent Secretariat before filling in and submitting the Application Form. During the selection procedure the Permanent Secretariat will perform its Eligibility Check exclusively on the basis of the information filled in the Application Form. In cases where the applicant's status as eligible candidate is uncertain, the Permanent Secretariat will liaise with all relevant partners, including Eurostat, to determine the eligibility. It is expected that, over the duration of the Initiative, Eurostat will publish updated versions of the Correspondence table. In case an updated version will be used by the Permanent Secretariat as main reference for the Eligibility Check, the information will be duly communicated in the specific Terms of Reference of the Call for Proposals and on the EUI website. Additional detailed information on the eligibility of urban authorities is provided in the following sections.

• Municipality/city councils/districts whose administrative borders correspond to a single Local Administrative Unit. In this case the Local Administrative Unit shall be classified as city, town and suburbs according to the degree of urbanisation (code 1 and/or 2 in the Correspondence table – column Degree of Urbanisation) and have at least 50 000 inhabitants.
• Municipality/city councils whose administrative borders include several Local Administrative Units. This is the case for municipalities/city councils in Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Malta and Latvia where the Eurostat definition of Local Administrative Unit does not correspond to municipalities/city councils but to infra-municipal units (parishes) or statistical units (electoral wards). In this case the municipality/city council can be eligible only if it has a total of 50 000 inhabitants and if the majority (at least 51% of the inhabitants) live in Local Administrative Units classified as cities, towns or suburbs according to the degree of urbanisation (code 1 and/or 2 in the Correspondence table – column Degree of Urbanisation).

Organised agglomerations which are an association/grouping of urban authorities fulfilling the following criteria:

• To be officially recognised as a tier of local government (different from the regional and provincial level) by national law with the obligation for municipality/city councils to join the supra-municipal organisation (therefore in this category are not included associations that are composed on a voluntary basis, for a specific purpose and/or with a limited duration).
• To be composed only by municipality/city councils (therefore in this category are not included associations involving other institutions such as universities, chambers of commerce, etc.).
• To have specific competences, fixed by national law, delegated by the municipalities involved for policy areas relevant for the EUI-IA project. Associations are invited to provide precise reference to the national legal framework. Organised agglomerations shall have exclusive competences for the design and implementation in policy areas relevant for the EUI-IA project.
• To have a specific political (with indirect representation of the municipalities involved) and administrative (dedicated staff) structure.

Examples of eligible organised agglomerations in the framework of the EUI-IA are:

• France: Métropoles, Communautés Urbaines, Communautés d’Agglomération, Etablissements Publics Territoriaux (EPT) and Communautés de Communes.
• Italy: Città Metropolitane and Unione di Comuni only. Please note that Consorzi, Gruppi di Azione Locale (GAL), Convenzione dei Comuni or any other organised agglomeration that are not considered local authorities by the Italian national legislation (Testo Unico degli Enti Locali) are not eligible.
• Germany: Landkreis.
• Spain: Mancomunidades and Area Metropolitana Barcelona. Please note that “Diputaciones provinciales” (provincial governments) are considered as provincial bodies and therefore they are not recognized as eligible organised agglomerations.
• Portugal: Comunidades Intermunicipais (CIMs).

European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) whose partnerships are composed only of urban authorities (as defined above) and with specific competencies for policy design and implementation relevant for the EUI-IA Call are considered as organised agglomerations and therefore they can apply in the framework of EUI-IA Calls for Proposals as MUA or AUA. EGTCs whose partnerships include other organisations (e.g.: Member States, regional authorities, associations, universities, etc.) are not considered as organised agglomerations and cannot apply as MUA or AUA but they can join as Delivery Partners in a proposal submitted by an eligible urban authority.

In the framework of the EUI-IA, organised agglomerations are considered as a single urban authority representing all the municipality/city councils involved. For this reason, in a project proposal submitted by an organised agglomeration, this shall be indicated as a MUA. To verify the eligibility of organised agglomerations, the Permanent Secretariat will check that the total number of inhabitants is at least 50 000 and that the majority (at least 51% of inhabitants) live in Local Administrative Units involved in the agglomeration that are classified as cities, towns or suburbs according to the degree of urbanisation.

Any association of urban authorities (national/regional associations of urban authorities, territorial pacts, development districts, etc.) as well as individual urban authorities without formalised cooperation agreements but willing to jointly apply, can apply identifying a MUA among the municipalities/city councils involved and list the others as AUA.

To be eligible, all urban authorities involved (MUA and AUA) shall be recognised as Local Administrative Units and be classified as cities, towns or suburbs according to the degree of urbanisation of Eurostat (DEGURBA code 1 or DEGURBA code 2). In case of urban authorities whose administrative borders include more than one Local Administrative Unit, the same rules for the definition of the degree of urbanisation described under section 1.5.1 of the present section apply. The relationship between the MUA and the AUA does not need to be formalised at the time of submitting the Application Form. In case the proposal is approved and supported, the relationship will have to be formalized in a form of the Partnership Agreement[4] (for more details on the roles and responsibilities of all the Project Partners please refer to the Chapter 2.1 “Partnership for the European Urban Initiative – Innovative Actions”).

Previous experiences show that single projects delivered by associations or grouping of cities without a status of organised agglomeration, comprising more than 3 urban authorities (MUA and AUA) without territorial contiguity, risk losing coherence and having difficulties in delivering meaningful results. As such, it is recommended that associations and/or groupings of urban authorities (without a status of organised agglomerations) who wish to apply should be territorially contiguous and seek to limit the number of AUA involved.

In addition to the principles outlined above for each specific category of eligible urban authorities, the following principles apply to all eligible urban authorities in the framework of the EUI-IA:

• All urban authorities shall be located in an EU Member State.
• Only eligible urban authorities as defined above may submit an Application Form in the framework of the EUI-IA Call for Proposals. An Application Form submitted by a Delivery Partner will be declared ineligible.
• Urban authorities (as defined above) can be listed in a project proposal only as MUA and/or AUA. The category of Delivery Partners is reserved only to institutions and/or organisations that are not recognised as urban authorities in the framework of the EUI-IA.
• If innovative solutions require an urban-rural interface or functional area approach, it is possible to include Local Administrative Units defined as rural according to their degree of urbanization (DEGURBA code 3 of Eurostat) as Delivery Partners. Please note that their number of inhabitants does not count to reach the minimum eligibility threshold of 50 000. The reason for including Local Administrative Units defined as rural must be clearly presented and justified in the Application Form.
• An urban authority or an organised agglomeration can be involved in only one project proposal in the framework of each Call for Proposals (even if these project proposals are submitted under different topics in the same Call for Proposals). The rule applies also to the AUA (a municipality can be involved in only one project proposal whether it is as a MUA or as an AUA).
• [Applicable for EUI-IA Call 1 and EUI-IA Call 2] Urban authorities already supported in an approved project by the EUI-IA in the framework of a previous Call for Proposals cannot submit a new Application Form on the same topic over the entire duration of the Initiative. [Applicable for EUI-IA Call 3] Urban authorities already supported in an approved project by the EUI-IA in the framework of a previous Call for Proposals cannot submit a new Application Form.
• Urban authorities must comply with the requirements on exclusion from access to funding (see Chapter 3.3 “Exclusion criteria for grant applicants”).

Agencies and companies (e.g.: in the field of energy/waste management, economic development, touristic promotion, etc.) fully or partially owned by the municipality/city council are not considered as Local Administrative Units and therefore cannot be recognised as eligible urban authorities. Nevertheless, these organisations can be involved in the Partnership as Delivery Partners (more details on the roles and responsibilities of Delivery Partners are provided in the Chapter 2.1.2 ”Typology of the European Urban Initiative – Innovative Actions Partners”).