Apply for funding for investments by financially weak municipalities

You as a local authority or its public-law association have submitted a funding application to an EU fund-based funding program or are part of such an application. If you can only bear approx. 15% of the costs, apply for co-financing.

As a financially weak municipality and its public-law associations, you can apply for funding from certain EU funds or be a cooperation partner in the application of a third party. However, these EU funds do not guarantee full financing of a project. This means that there may be a difference between the 15% contribution that must be made by the local authority and the main grant. The funding resulting from the co-financing grant can make it possible to finance this difference. A co-financing grant amounts to a minimum of 25,000 euros and a maximum of 500,000 euros.

• Specifically, the co-financing guideline refers to the funding periods 20142020 and 2021-2027 and only covers the following EU funds or directives that use resources from these funds
  • European Regional Development Fund (ERDF); including programs for European Territorial Cooperation (Interreg) and the European Urban Initiative (EUI) program; Urban Innovative Action (UIA) - only funding period 2014-2020
  • European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD)
  • European Social Fund Plus (ESF+); European Social Fund (ESF) - 2014-2020 funding period only
  • European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF)

Co-financing can be granted by the granting authority after reviewing your documents, provided that you as a local authority meet all the requirements and are deemed eligible for funding. The eligibility of your application is determined on the basis of various quality criteria, such as tax revenue or the demographic indicator, for which points are awarded. The granting authority decides on the basis of its discretionary powers by comparing applications from all over Lower Saxony. The municipalities with the most points receive the funding. There is no entitlement to the grant.

not specified

Offices for Regional State Development Weser-Ems, Lüneburg, Leine-Weser and Braunschweig

not specified

• The measure planned by the municipality must be supported by one of the EU funds specified in the co-financing guideline. This applies to direct funding from the funds as well as to funding from directives based on these EU funds. Federal guidelines are an exception to this.
• Funding from the main funding provider must not have been approved at the time of application.
• The local authority must be able to provide its own contribution of at least 15% of the eligible expenditure of the main procedure.
• The amount of possible co-financing after deduction of the funding in the main procedure and the 15% own contribution to the total costs of the project must not be less than the minimum funding of €25,000.
• The municipality must be entitled to apply for co-financing because it is considered financially weak within the meaning of the co-financing guidelines.
• An application for funding in the main procedure and a financing plan must be submitted.
• The eligibility of the application must be given and is assessed on the basis of five criteria: below-average tax revenue, demographic indicator, contribution to regional development, cooperative approach, status as a needs-based municipality or similar.

Action before the administrative court

You can apply for co-financing for financially weak municipalities in writing or electronically. The procedure depends in many respects on the funding in the main procedure.

• You are a municipality or a public-law association of this municipality.
• The municipality submits an application or plans to submit an application for funding to one of the four funding guidelines for EU funds. Or it is involved as a cooperation partner in the application of a third party.
• The local authority checks whether it can raise its own contribution of 15% of the total amount of the project.
• It also checks whether the amount of possible co-financing exceeds the minimum funding amount of € 25,000.
• If this is not the case and there are also several indications that your municipality is financially weak, the application can be submitted to the responsible approval authority.
• The approval authority will check the application for completeness.
• If necessary, information from the application must be clarified.
• The granting authority will check whether the application meets the requirements and is eligible for funding.
• In the case of non-advanced notifications, the approval authority can approve the co-financing grant on the basis of the funding decision from the main procedure. Alternatively, the granting authority can issue an early decision and subsequently adjust it to the final decision in the main procedure.
• The amount of the co-financing grant is determined on the basis of a scoring and the available funds. The grant amounts to a minimum of 25,000 euros and a maximum of 500,000 euros.
• If the necessary requirements are not met or the application is rejected at our discretion, there may be a hearing and, if necessary, a rejection notice.
• If the application is approved, a funding decision will be sent by the approval authority.
• Once the approval of the co-financing has become legally binding, the approved funding can be requested by means of a call for funds.
• Changes to the funding in the main procedure may also result in changes to the approval of the co-financing.
• As a local authority, you must submit the proof of use and the audit result in the main procedure to the approval authority.

• In the event of incorrect or incomplete information or failure to report changes to the application, failure to submit proof of use within the specified deadline or misuse of the grant, the grant may be reclaimed by the approval authority.
• Co-financing is dependent on the funding in the main procedure. Changes to the main procedure therefore usually result in a change to the co-financing. The approval authority must therefore be informed immediately of any changes to the main procedure.

not specified

not specified