Remembering democratic transitions, the (re-)building of democratic institutions, and strengthening society based on the rule of law, democracy, and f...

Grant type:CERV Lump Sum Grants (CERV-LS). Payments are output-based lump sums tied to work packages/events 1.

Funding range and limits:Call budget for all European Remembrance topics €28,000,000; this topic (TRANSITION) indicative envelope €4,000,000. Per project minimum request €50,000; maximum award €500,000 1.

Evaluation uses standard award criteria:relevance, quality and impact. Projects must respect EU values, gender and non-discrimination mainstreaming, and ethics rules. Lump-sum amounts are calculated using predefined output parameters; beneficiaries do not submit detailed cost claims but must demonstrate the deliverables and participant outputs required to trigger payments 1.

Call title:European Remembrance - 2026. Topic code: CERV-2026. Programme: Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme (CERV). Type of action: CERV-LS CERV Lump Sum Grants under the CERV Lump Sum Grant Model Grant Agreement CERV-AG-LS. Call opening date: 21 October 2026. Single-stage submission. Deadline date: 24 February 2027, 17:00 CET (Brussels time). Planned publication of call: 1 October 2026. The call will be managed by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). For full rules, annexes and templates consult the Call document and Application Form templates Call document.1

Deadline and Timetable:Opening for submission: 21 October 2026. Deadline for submission: 24 February 2027 at 17:00 CET. Evaluation period: February 2027 – August 2027. Information to applicants: August 2027. Signature of grant agreements: August 2027 - November 2027.

Objective:Support projects that remember and analyse democratic transitions, the (re-)building and consolidation of democratic institutions, and actions that strengthen societies on the basis of the rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights. The topic covers historical research, remembrance and education related to authoritarian and totalitarian regimes (including communist and fascist dictatorships), acts of resistance and opposition, transitional justice (trials, restitution, amnesty, restorative justice), and societal resilience in the face of foreign interference, manipulation or falsification of historical facts. Projects should connect past transitions to contemporary threats to democracy, promote media literacy, critical thinking and citizen engagement, and foster societal healing and resilience.

Eligible themes and foci include:(a) comparative and national studies of democratic transitions and consolidation; (b) remembrance and education about suppression of fundamental rights under past regimes; (c) visibility of acts of resistance and organised opposition; (d) historical justice and restorative justice; (e) countering historical distortion and foreign interference; (f) promoting media literacy and civic engagement; (g) intergenerational exchanges, digitisation of testimonies and archives; (h) teacher training and capacity-building for multipliers such as judges, journalists and civil servants; and (i) inclusive approaches addressing minorities, gender and intersectional perspectives.

Expected impacts:Strengthened public trust in democratic processes and institutions; increased awareness of European historical experiences and their relevance for present-day democracy; improved recognition of the contribution and suffering of minorities and victims; digitised testimonies and archival material for education; enhanced transnational cooperation and networks; improved capacities in media literacy, critical thinking and countering historical distortion; and reinforced implementation of EU policies on anti-racism, antisemitism, Roma inclusion, LGBTIQ+ equality and gender equality.

Lead applicant (coordinator):must be a non-profit legal entity (public or private) or an international organisation. Co-applicants: non-profit or for-profit legal entities (public or private). For-profit organisations may apply only in partnership with public entities or private non-profit organisations or international organisations. Natural persons are NOT eligible except self-employed persons where the company has no separate legal personality. International organisations are eligible. EU bodies (except the Commission's Joint Research Centre) are not eligible as beneficiaries. Programme Contact Points may act as coordinators/beneficiaries if they can demonstrate cost separation and analytical accounting allowing segregation of project costs from other activities.

Minimum consortium composition:at least two applicants (coordinator + at least one co-applicant) that are not affiliated entities or associated partners. Projects can be national or transnational; transnational projects are particularly encouraged. Beneficiaries and affiliated entities must be registered in the Participant Register and validated by the Central Validation Service before grant signing.

Eligible countries and geographic scope:Eligible applicants must be established in an eligible country: EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories) and countries associated to the CERV Programme or countries in ongoing negotiations for association where the agreement enters into force before grant signature. Activities must take place in eligible countries. See the call document for the definitive list of participating countries and special cases.

Total indicative call budget across all European Remembrance topics:€28,000,000 for 2026. Indicative topic allocation specifically for CERV-2026: €4,000,000. The grant is provided as a lump sum grant. Minimum eligible request per project: €50,000. Maximum eligible grant per project: €500,000. The funding rate and final lump sum per project will be fixed in the Grant Agreement and is derived from the lump sum calculation included in Part A of the online application (Lump Sum Calculator).

Form of funding and budget rules:This call uses lump sum financing. One lump sum equals one work package/event. The lump sum calculation is based on the number of direct participants and the number of eligible countries per event. Eligible cost categories that can be covered by lump sums include personnel, subcontracting, travel and subsistence, equipment (depreciation), other goods and services, and financial support to third parties if authorised by the call. Indirect costs are covered by the lump sum and should be reflected in the applicant’s estimate for the work package.

Prefinancing:normally a prefinancing is paid after grant signature, typically 60% of the maximum grant amount unless otherwise specified. Prefinancing guarantees may be required and are set in the Grant Agreement. Payments are made to the coordinator and may be lowered to offset outstanding EU debts of beneficiaries. Final payment is subject to verification of deliverables and milestones and compliance checks.

Expected project duration:normally between 12 and 24 months. Projects must not have been completed prior to submission (completed projects are ineligible). Retroactive starting dates may be exceptionally allowed but never earlier than the proposal submission date.

Expected activities:research, digitisation of testimonies and archives, exhibitions, public debates, non-formal education, school and teacher training, development of educational materials, intergenerational exchange activities, documentation of transitional justice processes, policy recommendations, capacity-building for judiciary and law enforcement, media literacy programmes, commemoration activities, awareness-raising campaigns, cultural and artistic memory projects, and policy engagement actions. Activities must involve direct participation of target groups and be verifiable for lump sum calculations.

Application templates and where to find them:Standard Application Form (CERV) templates are available in the Submission Service under Start Submission. The lump sum calculator is included in Part A of the online form. Model Grant Agreement (Lump Sum MGA) and Annotated Model Grant Agreement (EU Grants AGA), Work Programmes, CERV Regulation and EU Financial Regulation are provided as reference documents in the Portal.

Submission and evaluation:single-stage submission and one-step evaluation. Proposals undergo admissibility and eligibility checks, then evaluation by an evaluation committee assisted by external experts. Successful proposals will be invited for grant preparation. Invitation to grant preparation is not a formal funding commitment; legal checks such as legal entity validation, financial capacity checks and exclusion checks will apply before signature.

Award criteria, scoring and thresholds:Award criteria (total 100 points): Relevance (40 points) with individual threshold 25/40; Quality (40 points); Impact (20 points). Overall pass score: 70/100. Proposals must pass the Relevance threshold and the overall threshold to be considered for funding. Evaluators assess needs analysis, target groups, contribution to EU policy initiatives, transnational dimension, methodology, feasibility, consortium capacity, dissemination and sustainability.

Ranking and tie-break:ex aequo proposals are prioritised by scores in Relevance, then Quality, then Impact. All applicants will receive evaluation result letters. Complaints procedures and deadlines are specified in the evaluation result letter.

Ethics and EU values:Projects must comply with highest ethical standards, EU values (Article 2 TEU and Article 21 EU Charter) and applicable law including GDPR. Gender mainstreaming and non-discrimination must be integrated across project design, implementation, monitoring and communication. Projects involving children require child protection policies for private entities and a declaration of honour or CPP for public entities. Projects must avoid unintended harm and integrate inclusive participation and accessibility.

Operational and financial capacity:Applicants must demonstrate stable and sufficient resources and operational capacity to implement the project. Financial capacity checks are typically required for coordinators unless public bodies or the project grant is below €60,000. Where financial capacity is inadequate, the granting authority may require prefinancing guarantees, phased prefinancing, enhanced liability, or other measures.

Exclusion and integrity:Entities subject to EU exclusion decisions, sanctions or conditionality measures are ineligible. Applicants involved in bankruptcy, fraud, corruption, serious professional misconduct, criminal activity, or significant deficiencies in previous EU contracts are excluded. Misrepresentation during procedures leads to rejection. The call includes provisions for conflict of interest prevention and the need to declare any prior involvement in call preparation.

Practical recommendations:register organisations in the Participant Register early to obtain PICs; start the application well ahead of the deadline to avoid IT/system congestion; ensure Part B does not exceed 70 pages; include mandatory annexes in the correct upload slots; bind consortium by formal agreements and clarify roles (beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associated partners, subcontractors); ensure child protection policies where relevant; ensure gender-balanced teams and inclusive outreach; demonstrate complementarity with previous EU-funded projects and national policies; and follow guidance on use of generative AI tools in proposal preparation (applicants remain fully responsible for content and must disclose AI use and verify citations and plagiarism risks).

Part A (admin, online):identification data for participants and affiliated entities; Lump Sum Budget worksheet for work packages and beneficiary calculation sheets; Part C KPI tool. Part B (technical narrative, PDF uploaded): Use the CERV Part B template provided in the Submission System. Main sections required in Part B: Project summary; 1 Relevance (background, needs analysis, specific objectives, complementarity with other actions and EU added value); 2 Quality (concept & methodology, consortium set-up, project teams and capacities, management, quality assurance, monitoring & evaluation, cost effectiveness and financial management, risk management); 3 Impact (ambition, target groups, dissemination & communication plan, visibility of EU funding, sustainability); 4 Workplan and Work Packages (detailed WP descriptions, milestones, deliverables, timing, staffing and subcontracting tables, Gantt/timeline); 5 Other (ethics, security); 6 Declarations.

Part B annexes:CVs of key staff (if requested), list of previous projects (mandatory), child protection policy or declaration where relevant, detailed budget tables for lump sum calculation (automatically populated by Part A Lump Sum Calculator) and any additional mandatory annexes specified in the Topic page. The Part B template includes obligations on page limits, format (A4, Arial 9 min), margins and tagged fields; do not remove template instructions. The Application Form (Part B) must be assembled as PDF and uploaded in the Submission System.

Expected project stage:proposals can address concept and development of new activities through demonstration and implementation phases; typical target maturity ranges from development/validation to demonstration and dissemination. The call emphasises education, memorialisation and civic engagement actions that have demonstrable outputs (events, curricula, digitised resources, training packages) that can be measured and reported as deliverables and milestones.

Success Rates and Competition:Success rates are not published for this specific topic in advance. Funding decisions will depend on the quality of proposals and the outcome of evaluation within the available €4,000,000 topic allocation. The granting authority reserves the right not to award all funds or to reallocate budgets between priorities depending on proposals received.

Co-funding requirement:The grant is co-financed. Applicants must indicate other resources for the action (own resources, financial contributions, in-kind contributions, income generated by the action). The call document states the co-financing rate applicable in each call. Double funding is prohibited: the same costs cannot be declared under two EU grants. Combination with EU operating grants is possible only if costs are strictly separated.

Consortium agreement:recommended to establish internal arrangements for coordination, financial redistribution, intellectual property, liability and conflict resolution. Liability regime for recoveries will be set in the Grant Agreement: common options include limited joint and several liability with individual ceilings, unconditional joint and several liability, or individual financial responsibility.

Support resources:Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual, Topic Q&A (check the specific topic page for updates), IT Helpdesk for Portal technical issues, and CERV National Contact Points for country-specific guidance. For call-specific queries contact EACEA-CERV@ec.europa.eu, indicating clearly the call and topic reference: CERV-2026-CITIZENS-REM.

Mandatory compliance:applicants must respect ethical standards, EU values, data protection rules and child safeguarding for activities involving minors. Projects must avoid glorification of totalitarian regimes and must not be used for propaganda. Publications and outputs must respect human rights, and beneficiaries must make efforts to prevent discrimination and to mainstream gender equality. Projects involving activities in third countries must ensure legality in both the third country and at least one EU Member State.

Essential final note:read the Call document carefully for all admissibility, eligibility, financial, operational, ethical, and legal conditions and required annexes. Use the official templates in the Submission System and do not rely on offline copies for submission. Start consortium registration and validations early and plan the Lump Sum Budget and work packages in Part A precisely according to the lump sum rules.