Supporting free, fair and inclusive electoral processes

CERV-2026 is an EU call under the CERV programme funding projects that strengthen free, fair and inclusive electoral processes with a focus on electoral information, candidate safety, responsible AI use and political advertising transparency. The topic has an indicative envelope of €10,000,000 (€6,000,000 for CSO-focused actions and €4,000,000 for national public bodies) and a minimum grant per project of €75,000, financed through CERV lump-sum grants. Eligible applicants include non-profit private legal entities or public universities leading transnational consortia for Sub-priority 1.1 and national public bodies (alone or in consortia) for Sub-priority 1.2, with activities carried out in EU Member States and associated countries. Proposals must be submitted electronically via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal by 29 April 2026, 17:00 CET, and will be evaluated on Relevance, Quality and Impact with an overall threshold of 70/100 (and minimum 25/40 on Relevance).

Supporting free, fair and inclusive electoral processes

Call at a glance

CERV-2026-CITIZENS-CIV-ENGAGEMENT-ELECTIONS

What it funds: Projects that increase citizens’ awareness of elections and electoral rights, strengthen integrity and resilience of electoral processes (including candidate safety, transparency of political funding, responsible use of AI and compliance with the Political Advertising Regulation), and improve access to election information for mobile EU citizens. Activities include awareness campaigns, trainings, risk assessments, tools and platforms, election observation and capacity building for public electoral bodies.

Type of action:CERV Lump Sum Grants (CERV-LS), single-stage call; lump-sum financing based on predefined work packages and participant-based event tranches ¹.

1. 1Deadline: 29 April 2026, 17:00 Brussels time (submission via Funding & Tenders Portal).
2. 2Minimum grant request: €75,000; project duration normally 12–24 months.
3. 3Total indicative call budget: €30,000,000 across three priorities; Topic 1 (Elections) indicative budget €10,000,000 (sub-priority split below).
4. 4Applicants must submit electronically; proposals limited to the Portal templates and page limits.

Who can apply

Lead applicant and consortium rules (essential): for Sub-priority 1.1 (main focus CSOs) the lead must be a non-profit private legal entity or a public university; co-applicants must be non-profit bodies or international organisations. For Sub-priority 1.2 the lead must be a national public body competent in electoral matters. Projects are generally transnational: at least two applicants from two different eligible countries are required (sub-priority 1.2 can be national or transnational). Eligible countries: EU Member States and countries associated to CERV (check call document for full list).

Key eligibility & compliance notes:Lead applicants cannot submit more than one proposal under this call; activities must respect Member States’ competences on organising elections, comply with EU values and ethics rules, and avoid political campaigning. Public bodies applying under sub-priority 1.2 are strongly encouraged to provide a Letter of Support from the national contact point of the European Cooperation Network on Elections (ECNE).

Evaluation and award basics

Award criteria: Relevance (40 pts, min 25), Quality (40 pts), Impact (20 pts). Overall pass score 70/100. Indicative timetable: evaluation May–October 2026; information to applicants October 2026; grant signature from January 2027.

How to apply

Prepare and submit the Application Form Part A (online), Part B (PDF technical description using the Portal template) and Part C (KPIs) via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. Follow admissibility, eligibility and page/layout rules in the Call Document. Register organisations in the Participant Register (PIC) before submission.

1. 1Register organisation(s) in the Participant Register and obtain PICs.
2. 2Use the Portal Submission System to fill Part A and upload Part B (PDF) and annexes.
3. 3Ensure consortium composition meets sub-priority requirements and include mandatory supporting documents (e.g. list of previous projects, Letters of Support if applicable).

Practical resources and templates (call document, application templates, lump-sum rules and Model Grant Agreement) are provided on the Funding & Tenders Portal; read them carefully before preparing the proposal ¹.

Footnotes

1. 1Call page and official documentation (call fiche, call document, templates and guidance) are available on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal: CERV-2026-CITIZENS-CIV-ENGAGEMENT-ELECTIONS.

Supporting free, fair and inclusive electoral processes — CERV-2026-CITIZENS-CIV-ENGAGEMENT-ELECTIONS

Opportunity type: Call for Proposals under the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme (CERV) — Citizens’ engagement and participation 2026 (CERV-2026-CITIZENS-CIV). Managing authority: European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Type of action: CERV-LS (Lump Sum Grants). Model Grant Agreement: CERV Lump Sum Grant [CERV-AG-LS]. Opening date: 03 March 2026. Deadline: 29 April 2026, 17:00 Brussels time. Submission model: single-stage via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal.

Primary sources:Official topic page EU Funding & Tenders Portal topic page and the full Call Document (Version 1.0, 2 March 2026) Call fiche PDF ¹.

Objectives and scope

This topic supports initiatives that strengthen democratic institutions and electoral integrity in the EU by empowering citizens, civil society and competent public bodies. Priority 1 targets free, fair and inclusive electoral processes, with a strong focus on access to information about elections and electoral rights (especially for mobile EU citizens), the integrity of campaigning and political advertising, and responsible, transparent use of digital technologies and AI in electoral contexts. All actions must fully respect Member States’ competence in organising elections.

What the call funds under Priority 1 (split into two sub-priorities)

• Sub-priority 1.1 — Main focus CSO (civil society organisations): awareness on electoral rights and participation (with a focus on young people and mobile EU citizens); safety of political candidates and elected representatives (online/offline), with particular attention to women and groups at higher risk and to local politicians; responsible use of new technologies and AI in electoral processes (including tools to detect AI-generated or manipulated content; support to compliance with the Political Advertising Regulation); transparency and accountability of political funding (including crypto-assets, paid political advertising and influencers); compliance tools for the Political Advertising Regulation; election observation including training of election observers.
• Sub-priority 1.2 — Main focus public bodies at national level competent in electoral matters: measures to ensure fairness and integrity of electoral processes and resilience to risks (e.g. foreign interference, cyber-attacks), including protection of election infrastructure, risk assessments, incident monitoring (including AI-generated content), responsible AI to support voter information, cybersecurity reinforcement for electoral IT (registration, voting, tabulation); training for election officials on standards, risk management and preparedness; exchanges among authorities; training and exchanges on the scope, obligations and implementation of the Political Advertising Regulation. Applicants from EU Member States are strongly encouraged to secure a Letter of Support from the National Contact Point(s) of the European Cooperation Network on Elections (ECNE); applicants from non-EU participating countries are strongly encouraged to secure a Letter of Support from the national public authority competent in electoral matters. Letters are annexed and assessed under the Quality criterion.

Expected impacts for Priority 1:Greater awareness of electoral rights (especially for mobile EU citizens); improved participation by young people, elderly, women in all their diversity, persons with disabilities and marginalised groups; safer political environment for candidates and elected representatives; responsible and transparent use of AI and other technologies in elections; higher transparency and accountability in political funding; more resilient electoral processes; increased awareness of and support for the application of the EU Regulation on political advertising.

Strategic and policy alignment (mandatory relevance focus)

Projects should prioritise implementation of the European Democracy Shield (2025) and related initiatives, notably: the Political Advertising Regulation (EU) 2024/900; inclusive and resilient electoral processes; media freedom and safety from SLAPPs; EU citizenship rights including free movement and electoral participation; accessibility and inclusion (e.g., participation of persons with disabilities); and responsible use of AI in the information space. Proposals may reference additional EU strategies where relevant, but these should complement rather than replace the core initiatives.

Eligibility and participation

Eligible applicant types

• For Sub-priority 1.1 (CSO focus): Lead applicants must be non-profit private legal entities or public universities. Co-applicants must be non-profit legal entities (public or private) or international organisations.
• For Sub-priority 1.2 (national public bodies focus): Lead applicants must be national public bodies competent in electoral matters. Co-applicants must be non-profit legal entities (public or private) or international organisations.
• Natural persons are not eligible. International organisations are eligible and not bound by the eligible country rules. EU bodies (except the European Commission JRC) cannot participate.

Consortium composition and transnationality

• Sub-priority 1.1: Minimum 2 applicants from 2 different eligible countries (transnational).
• Sub-priority 1.2: Single-applicant proposals are allowed; both national and transnational projects are eligible.
• The same lead applicant (coordinator) cannot submit more than one application across all CIV26 topics; multiple submissions by the same lead will result in rejection of all their proposals.

Geographic eligibility and place of activities

Applicants must be established in an EU Member State (including OCTs) or in a country associated to the CERV Programme (or in negotiations where the agreement enters into force before grant signature). Activities must take place in eligible countries.

Project duration and budget thresholds

• Duration: typically 12 to 24 months (extensions possible via amendment if duly justified).
• Minimum EU grant requested: €75,000. No maximum grant amount; the awarded grant may be lower than requested.
• Financial support to third parties is not allowed.

Funding model and budget

Form of support: Lump Sum Grants. The grant reimburses a fixed lump sum amount per work package, based on predefined parameters and the estimates in the application. For the Citizens’ engagement and participation strand, work packages are structured as “events”, and the lump sum is calculated primarily on the number of direct participants and countries per event. Projects should be built around multiple work packages/events that gather citizens and/or stakeholders (in-situ or online). EU officials may participate but are not counted towards participant thresholds for lump sum calculations.

Co-funding:The grant is a lump sum contribution. The exact funding rate and maximum grant amount are fixed in the Grant Agreement during grant preparation. The call documentation does not specify a universal co-funding percentage for this topic; applicants should plan other resources to ensure a balanced budget and sound financial management and expect that co-funding may be required depending on the final lump sum determination.

Key dates and process

Submission:Electronic submission only via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal topic page. Select CERV Lump Sum Grants [CERV-LS], CERV Lump Sum Grant [CERV-AG-LS]. Login, register the organisation (PIC), complete Part A, Part B, Part C and mandatory annexes, and submit before the deadline.

Evaluation and award

Single-stage evaluation by an evaluation committee (with external experts). Admissibility, eligibility, operational capacity and exclusion checks apply. Proposals are scored on Relevance, Quality and Impact and ranked within the topic/sub-priority budget envelopes.

Ex aequo resolution: priority to higher Relevance; then higher Quality; then higher Impact. Invitation to grant preparation is not a commitment to fund; legal entity validation, financial capacity and exclusion checks follow. Projects must comply with EU ethics, values, data protection, gender equality and non-discrimination requirements.

What activities can be funded (illustrative, non-exhaustive)

• Information and awareness campaigns on electoral rights and participation (especially targeting mobile EU citizens and young people), including dissemination of official information on electoral organisation, modalities and participation.
• Capacity building, training, coaching, workshops, helplines/contact points, support structures and referral networks that improve safety and resilience of political candidates and elected representatives; ethical commitments and pledges; democracy education; peer-to-peer networks; targeted support to women and other groups at heightened risk, and to local politicians.
• Tools and measures for responsible use of new technologies and AI in electoral processes (detection of AI-generated/manipulated content; transparency and accountability tools; support to AI-powered tools for public bodies to increase inclusiveness and resilience; compliance support for the Political Advertising Regulation).
• Transparency and accountability actions for funding in politics (crypto-assets, paid political advertising, paid influencers), including awareness-raising, observer support, development/use of tracking tools and transparency platforms.
• Development of compliance tools, templates and IT solutions to support application of the Political Advertising Regulation.
• Election observation, including design and delivery of training modules for observers.
• For competent national public bodies: table-top exercises; comprehensive risk assessments; incident monitoring systems; cybersecurity reinforcement for electoral IT (registration, voting, tabulation); human-centred responsible AI for voter information; training of election officials on standards, risk management and preparedness; exchanges of standards, good practices and tools including for political advertising regulation.

Admissibility, documentation, and page limits

• Proposals must be submitted before the deadline and include all parts and mandatory annexes.
• Part B page limit: maximum 70 pages; pages beyond the limit will not be evaluated.
• Mandatory annexes and supporting documents include: list of previous projects (key projects for the last 4 years; not applicable to newly established organisations); for entities implementing activities involving children: child protection policy (private entities) or declaration of honour/CPP (public entities).
• Sub-priority 1.2: strongly encouraged Letter of Support from ECNE National Contact Point(s) (EU MS) or from the competent national electoral authority (non-EU participating countries).

Compliance, ethics and EU values

• Projects must comply with highest ethical standards, Article 2 TEU values and Article 21 EU Charter, GDPR and applicable EU/national laws.
• Gender equality and non-discrimination mainstreaming is required; sex-disaggregated and where possible disability- and age-disaggregated data are expected.
• Activities supporting specific political parties or proselytising are not funded.
• EU restrictive and conditionality measures apply (e.g., entities subject to EU sanctions or conditionality measures are not eligible).
• Programme Contact Points may apply if they can demonstrate segregation of functions and cost separation through analytical accounting.

Financial and legal set-up (lump sum specifics)

• One lump sum equals one work package equals one event (covering one or several activities within a defined timeframe).
• Eligibility of a work package/event depends on minimum direct participant and country thresholds defined in the CERV lump sum decision; double counting of direct participants is not allowed across overlapping work packages.
• Mandatory deliverables: report on implementation for each work package/event (Event description sheet template).
• Mandatory milestone: EU Survey on Justice, Rights and Values for event attendees.
• Prefinancing typically 60% of maximum grant (may vary); balance paid after final grant amount calculation based on achieved results and verified deliverables.
• Consortium agreement recommended for multi-beneficiary grants.

Categorisation answers (structured extraction)

Eligible Applicant Types:Nonprofit, university (public), public body (national electoral authorities for Sub-priority 1.2), research institute if non-profit, NGO, international organisation. Large enterprise, SME, startup, individual, investor are not targeted; natural persons are ineligible.

Funding Type:Grant (lump sum grant under CERV-LS).

Consortium Requirement:Sub-priority 1.1 requires a consortium of at least two applicants from two different eligible countries (transnational). Sub-priority 1.2 allows single applicants or consortia; projects can be national or transnational.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility):EU Member States (including OCTs) and non-EU countries associated to CERV or in ongoing association negotiations with agreements entering into force before grant signature. Activities must occur in eligible countries.

Target Sector:Democracy and governance; elections; civic participation; media and information integrity; security/cybersecurity; artificial intelligence and digital technologies in electoral contexts; transparency of political finance; civic tech; education and awareness-raising.

Mentioned Countries:European Union (region). Specific mentions in the call text include Hungary (in reference to conditionality measures for certain public interest trusts) and Russia (as an example of hostile actors in disinformation/FIMI context). Note: these mentions do not affect general geographic eligibility except where conditionality applies.

Project Stage:Implementation and delivery of activities such as awareness campaigns, capacity building, training, development/deployment of tools, observation, risk assessment, and institutional strengthening; not research-intensive R&D.

Funding Amount:Indicative budget for this topic is €10,000,000 (€6,000,000 for Sub-priority 1.1 and €4,000,000 for Sub-priority 1.2). Minimum EU grant per project is €75,000. No explicit maximum per project; final lump sum per proposal depends on work packages/events and participant/country parameters and on grant agreement determination.

Application Type:Open call; single-stage; electronic submission via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal.

Nature of Support:Money (lump sum grants). Non-financial support includes access to guidance, online manuals, info sessions, and NCP advice, but the primary instrument is financial.

Application Stages:1 stage (submission) followed by a one-step evaluation.

Success Rates:Not specified in the call documentation. Applicants should assume a competitive process within each sub-priority envelope.

Co-funding Requirement:The call uses lump sum grants; co-funding arrangements are fixed in the Grant Agreement case-by-case based on the approved lump sum. The documentation provided does not state a fixed co-funding percentage for this topic. Applicants should plan to contribute other resources and ensure a balanced budget; no-profit and no-double-funding rules apply.

Mandatory templates and how to apply

Submission package (all via Portal):Part A: Administrative data for all participants and the Lump-Sum Budget (Work packages and Beneficiary Calculation Sheet), completed online. Part B: Technical description (template downloaded from the Submission System, completed and re-uploaded as PDF; max 70 pages). Part C: KPI tool with additional project data (online). Annexes: list of previous projects (template in Part B; not applicable to newly established organisations); Child Protection Policy or declaration where relevant; Letters of Support for Sub-priority 1.2 as strongly encouraged; any other mandatory annexes as listed in the Submission System.

Part B structure (to guide applicants):1) Relevance: background, general objectives; needs analysis and specific objectives; complementarity and European added value. 2) Quality: concept and methodology; consortium setup; teams/staff and outside resources; management and decision-making; project management, quality assurance, monitoring and evaluation (with gender/disability/age-responsive indicators); cost effectiveness and financial management (not applicable to prefixed lump sums); risk management. 3) Impact: ambition and expected results; communication, dissemination, and EU visibility; sustainability and continuation. 4) Workplan: work packages, activities, resources and timeline. For CERV Lump Sum grants, 1 work package equals 1 event; each WP must include objectives, tasks, milestones, deliverables, due months, and a report per event. 5) Other: Ethics and EU values; Security (if applicable). 6) Declarations: double funding and, if relevant, financial support to third parties (not allowed here). Annexes: detailed lump sum calculator (if required), CVs (if requested), annual activity reports (if requested), list of previous projects, and any call-specific annexes.

Formatting and constraints:Part B maximum 70 pages for this call; Arial minimum 9pt; A4; margins at least 15 mm; hyperlinks should not replace essential content. Excess pages are disregarded. Ensure readability, accessibility and printability.

Evaluation tips aligned to award criteria:Relevance: demonstrate direct alignment with Priority 1 and with the European Democracy Shield and Political Advertising Regulation; define target groups clearly (including youth, mobile EU citizens, women, persons with disabilities, marginalised groups) and present a robust, data-based needs assessment. Quality: present a coherent methodology linking problems to solutions; incorporate gender equality and non-discrimination; detail risk management (including cybersecurity, AI transparency, and safety of political actors); for Sub-priority 1.2, provide the strongly encouraged Letter of Support. Impact: specify concrete, measurable outcomes; credible dissemination to citizens, stakeholders and policymakers; sustainability and multiplier effects beyond funding; link to policy uptake and practice change (e.g., improved compliance with Political Advertising Regulation, improved electoral resilience).

Administrative and compliance essentials

• Participant registration: All beneficiaries and affiliated entities must have a PIC and undergo legal entity validation; financial capacity check applies primarily to coordinators except public bodies and international organisations.
• Exclusion grounds apply as per EU Financial Regulation; entities under EU sanctions or conditionality measures are ineligible.
• No-profit and no double funding rules are strictly enforced; distinct, non-overlapping actions are required if combining with other EU funds.
• Use of generative AI in proposal drafting is allowed only with full verification, proper source listing and transparency; applicants remain responsible for all content.

Support and guidance

• Topic page, Online Manual, Portal FAQ and Topic Q&A on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal.
• Non-IT questions: CERV National Contact Point of your country or EACEA-CERV@ec.europa.eu (subject line: CERV-2026-CITIZENS-CIV).
• Info-session materials: Online Info Session for Applicants, 12 March 2026 — slides available via EACEA event page.

What this opportunity is about — summary

This CERV 2026 topic finances practical, impact-oriented actions that help make EU elections and electoral processes more transparent, inclusive and resilient. Two distinct pathways are available: one for civil society and universities to mobilise and equip citizens, candidates and observers, and one for competent national electoral authorities to strengthen institutional capacity, cybersecurity, risk management and compliance with EU electoral integrity rules such as the Political Advertising Regulation. Activities can include citizen-focused information campaigns on electoral rights, safety and empowerment measures for candidates (with attention to women and other at-risk groups), training and observation, tools to detect and counter AI-generated manipulation, transparency initiatives for political funding and influencer advertising, and public authority tools and exercises to harden election systems. Projects are funded as lump sums organised around events that gather and engage citizens and stakeholders. Budgets scale with participants and participating countries, with a minimum project size of €75,000 and a total topic envelope of €10 million. Applicants must demonstrate strong alignment to the European Democracy Shield and related EU policy instruments, deliver measurable outcomes for participation, safety and transparency, and plan for meaningful dissemination and sustainability. Electronic single-stage submission is required by 29 April 2026, with evaluation through autumn 2026 and grant agreements targeted for January 2027.

Footnotes

1. 1Full call documentation: Call fiche CERV-2026-CITIZENS-CIV (Version 1.0, 2 March 2026) CERV call fiche PDF. Topic page: EU Funding & Tenders Portal topic page. CERV lump sum decision: Decision authorising lump sums for CERV.

Funding Opportunity Analysis: CERV-2026-CITIZENS-CIV-ENGAGEMENT-ELECTIONS

Opportunity Overview

The CERV-2026 is a European Union funding opportunity under the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) Programme. The call supports projects aimed at fostering free, fair and inclusive electoral processes with particular emphasis on information about elections and electoral rights, especially for mobile EU citizens. This priority operates within the broader Citizens' engagement and participation strand of the CERV programme, which seeks to empower citizens and strengthen democratic participation across the European Union. ¹

Call Reference and Call Opening Details:Call reference: CERV-2026. Opening date: 3 March 2026. Submission deadline: 29 April 2026 at 17:00:00 CET (Brussels time). This is a single-stage call for proposals with one-step evaluation.

Funding Amounts and Budget Distribution

The estimated total available budget for the entire CERV-2026-CITIZENS-CIV call is €30,000,000. The electoral processes priority (Priority 1) has been allocated €10,000,000 from this total budget.

Minimum grant per project: €75,000. No maximum grant amount is specified in the call documentation, though the granting authority reserves the right not to award all available funds or to redistribute budgets between call topics depending on the proposals received and evaluation results.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligible Applicants and Organizational Requirements

Sub-priority 1.1 (CSO Main Focus) requires the lead applicant (coordinator) to be a non-profit private legal entity or public university from an eligible country. Co-applicants must be non-profit legal entities (public or private bodies) or international organisations. ² Sub-priority 1.2 (Public Bodies Main Focus) requires the lead applicant to be a national public body competent in electoral matters. Co-applicants must be non-profit legal entities or international organisations.

Eligible Countries

Applicants must be established in and conduct activities in one of the following eligible countries: EU Member States including overseas countries and territories (OCTs); non-EU countries associated with the CERV Programme or in ongoing negotiations for association agreements where the agreement enters into force before grant signature. Currently, eligible non-EU countries include Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Ukraine. ³

Consortium Composition

Sub-priority 1.1 requires minimum two applicants (lead applicant and at least one co-applicant, not being affiliated entities or associated partners) from two different eligible countries. This ensures transnational project implementation. Sub-priority 1.2 permits both single applicants (national projects) and consortia of at least two applicants from two different countries (transnational projects). A lead applicant cannot submit more than one application under this call across all priorities; multiple proposals from the same lead applicant will be rejected entirely without evaluation.

Project Duration and Implementation Timeline

Standard Project Duration:Projects should normally range between 12 and 24 months. Extensions are possible if duly justified and approved through a grant amendment during implementation.

Call and Evaluation Timeline:Call publication and opening: 3 March 2026. Submission deadline: 29 April 2026 (17:00:00 CET). Evaluation period: May to October 2026. Communication of evaluation results: October 2026. Grant agreement signature: January 2027. Project implementation start date will be fixed in the Grant Agreement, normally after grant signature and typically within 6 months.

Funding Mechanism and Grant Structure

This call uses lump sum grants (CERV Lump Sum Grants - CERV-LS) rather than reimbursement of actual costs. The lump sum amount is fixed by the granting authority based on pre-defined variables and beneficiary estimates. For this call, lump sum calculations are based on two parameters: the number of direct participants and the number of eligible countries per work package or event. Projects must be structured around the organisation of several work packages or events gathering citizens and stakeholders. ⁴

A lump sum equals one work package equals one event and may include one or several activities such as conferences, workshops, trainings, seminars, debates, webinars, or surveys. Events can take place either in-situ or online. EU officials are not counted for lump sum calculation purposes, though they may participate; the intended target group is citizens and civil society actors. Double funding is not permitted; direct participants can be counted only once for the whole work package even if they participate in multiple activities.

Prefinancing and Payment Arrangements

After grant signature, applicants will normally receive a prefinancing payment of approximately 60 percent of the maximum grant amount. This payment is made 30 days from the entry into force of the grant agreement or from provision of any required financial guarantee, whichever is latest. Payment of the final balance occurs at project completion after the granting authority calculates the final grant amount. If earlier payments exceed the final amount, the difference must be repaid by the coordinator. All payments are made to the coordinator. Payments may be automatically reduced if the applicant or consortium members have outstanding debts towards the EU. ⁵

Eligible Activities and Project Scope

Sub-priority 1.1: Civil Society Organisations Main Focus

• Supporting awareness of citizens about their electoral rights, notably under EU law, with a focus on young people through awareness-raising, communication campaigns, and tools. Activities may include dissemination of official information on electoral organisation and participation modalities in accessible ways reaching citizens of all ages and socio-economic categories, both online and offline, in urban and rural areas.
• Supporting the safety of political candidates and elected representatives online and offline through capacity-building, awareness-raising about common threats, toolkits on procedures and remedies, training, peer-to-peer networks, and creation of support structures such as helplines or contact points. Particular attention should be paid to women and groups at heightened risk of discrimination, and to local politicians.
• Promoting the responsible use of new technologies, particularly Artificial Intelligence, in electoral processes by enhancing transparency and accountability. Activities include developing tools to detect AI-generated or manipulated content in electoral contexts, awareness-raising about AI impacts on electoral processes, and support for compliance with the Political Advertising Regulation.
• Supporting transparency and accountability of funding in politics, focusing on new developments such as cryptocurrencies, paid political advertising, and paid influencers through awareness-raising and development or use of tracking tools and transparency platforms.
• Developing compliance tools to support application of the Political Advertising Regulation, including IT tools and templates.
• Conducting election observation, including training activities for election observers.

Activities must support democratic participation by stimulating and organising reflection, debates or other activities. They should propose practical solutions implementable through European-level cooperation or coordination, support sharing of good practices, and ensure a practical link with the policymaking process.

Sub-priority 1.2: Public Bodies at National Level Main Focus

This sub-priority targets national public bodies competent in electoral matters. Applicants from EU Member States are strongly encouraged to obtain support from the National Contact Point of the European Cooperation Network on Elections (ECNE), which will be assessed under award criterion 2 (Quality). Applicants from non-EU participating countries are encouraged to obtain support from the national public authority competent in electoral matters. This support is demonstrated through a Letter of Support attached to the application.

• Activities ensuring fairness and integrity of electoral processes, resilient to risks such as foreign interference and cyber-attacks, including protection of election-related infrastructure through table-top exercises, comprehensive risk assessments, tailored training on election-related risk-management, developing or using IT tools to detect and monitor incidents and risks including AI-generated content, and reinforcing cybersecurity of IT tools used in electoral processes.
• Training in management of electoral processes for election officials, including on electoral standards, good practices, risk-management and preparedness, and exchanges among Member States on election standards and good practices.
• Training activities and exchanges of best practices on the Political Advertising Regulation, its scope of application, and obligations based on European Commission guidelines and relevant documents.

Ineligible Activities

Activities that support specific political parties or proselytising activities will not be funded, regardless of their grounds for applying or objectives. Activities must respect Member States' competencies in organising elections while strengthening democracy, building resilient societies, empowering citizens' participation, and supporting independent journalism and free, fair and inclusive elections.

Expected Impact and Results

Projects funded under Priority 1 are expected to achieve the following impacts:

• Increased awareness about electoral rights, notably rights under EU law for elections to the European Parliament, with particular focus on mobile EU citizens in municipal and EU elections in Member States other than their own.
• Strengthened democratic participation with special focus on including young people, the elderly, women in all their diversity, people belonging to marginalised groups or at risk of discrimination, mobile EU citizens, and persons with disabilities, as well as reaching citizens not active in democratic participation.
• Safer political environment for candidates and elected representatives, particularly women and members of groups at heightened risk of discrimination, and local politicians.
• More responsible use of new technologies, notably Artificial Intelligence, in electoral processes.
• More transparent and accountable funding in politics.
• More resilient electoral processes robust against foreign interference and other risks.
• Increased awareness about and support for the application of the Regulation on political advertising, thereby contributing to election integrity.

Evaluation and Award Criteria

All proposals undergo a formal evaluation process by an evaluation committee assisted by independent outside experts. Proposals are first checked for admissibility (correct format, required documents) and eligibility (meeting call requirements). Admissible and eligible proposals are then evaluated against award criteria and operational capacity requirements, then ranked by score.

To pass evaluation, proposals must score at least 25 points in Relevance AND achieve an overall score of at least 70 points out of 100. Proposals meeting both thresholds will be considered for funding within available budget limits. ⁶

For proposals with identical scores within the same priority, a priority order is determined first by Relevance score, then by Quality score if Relevance is equal, then by Impact score if Quality is equal.

Financial and Operational Capacity Requirements

Lead applicants and all consortium members must demonstrate stable and sufficient financial and operational capacity to successfully implement the project and contribute their share. Organisations participating in multiple projects must have sufficient capacity to implement all projects simultaneously.

Financial Capacity Assessment:Financial capacity checks are normally conducted for coordinators, except for public bodies, international organisations, or proposals where the requested grant does not exceed €60,000. The check is based on submitted documents such as profit and loss accounts, balance sheets, audit reports, and business plans. Analysis considers financial indicators including dependency on EU funding, deficit and revenue trends, and stable resources. If financial capacity is deemed unsatisfactory, the granting authority may require enhanced financial responsibility, instalment-based prefinancing, prefinancing guarantees, or request replacement of the applicant. ⁷

Operational Capacity Assessment:Applicants must demonstrate know-how, qualifications, and resources for successful project implementation, including sufficient experience in comparable projects. Capacity is assessed through the Quality award criterion evaluation using staff qualifications, consortium participant profiles, and lists of previous projects (key projects from the last 4 years). Public bodies, Member State organisations, and international organisations are exempted from operational capacity checks.

Exclusion Criteria and Compliance Requirements

Applicants subject to an EU exclusion decision or in exclusion situations are not eligible. Exclusion grounds include: bankruptcy, insolvency or similar proceedings; breach of social security or tax obligations; grave professional misconduct; fraud, corruption, links to criminal organisations, money laundering, terrorism-related crimes, child labour or human trafficking; significant deficiencies in complying with main obligations under EU contracts or grants; irregularities as defined in EU Regulation 2988/95; creation under different jurisdiction to circumvent legal obligations; and intentional resistance to investigations or audits by EU authorities, OLAF, the EPPO, or the European Court of Auditors. ⁸ Applicants will also be rejected if they misrepresent required information during the award procedure or if they were involved in call preparation causing distortion of competition.

Ethics and EU Values Compliance

Projects must comply with the highest ethical standards and EU values based on Article 2 of the Treaty on the European Union and Article 21 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Projects must respect all applicable EU, international and national law, including the General Data Protection Regulation. ⁹

Projects must seek to promote gender equality and non-discrimination mainstreaming. Activities should contribute to equal empowerment of women and men in all their diversity, ensure they achieve full potential and enjoy the same rights, seek to reduce discrimination against particular groups and those at risk of multiple discrimination, and improve equality outcomes for individuals. Proposals should integrate gender and non-discrimination considerations in design and target gender-balanced representation in project teams and activities. Data collected should be disaggregated by sex, disability and age whenever possible.

Private entities conducting activities involving children must provide a child protection policy (CPP) covering four areas described in the Keeping Children Safe Child Safeguarding Standards. The policy must be publicly available and transparent, include clear information on staff recruitment with background checks, include clear procedures, rules and training for staff. Public entities must provide either a declaration of honour or their child protection policy if they have one.

Application and Submission Process

All proposals must be submitted electronically via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System before the call deadline of 29 April 2026 at 17:00:00 CET. Paper applications are not accepted. Submission is a two-step process: first, participants must create an EU Login user account and register their organisation in the Participant Register to obtain a 9-digit participant identification code (PIC); second, proposals must be submitted through the Portal Electronic Submission System.

Proposals must be submitted in four parts: Part A (administrative information about participants and lump-sum budget, filled online); Part B (technical description of project, downloaded template completed as PDF); Part C (KPI tool with additional project data, filled online); and Annexes (mandatory supporting documents as PDF). Part B is limited to maximum 70 pages; excess pages will be disregarded by evaluators. All documents must be uploaded to correct categories in the Submission System to avoid being marked as incomplete.

Applications must be complete and contain all requested information, required annexes, and supporting documents. Mandatory annexes include a list of previous projects (key projects for last 4 years, not applicable for newly established organisations with less than 12 months existence). For Sub-priority 1.2, applicants from EU Member States are strongly encouraged to provide a Letter of Support from the ECNE National Contact Point; applicants from non-EU countries should provide a letter from their national electoral authority. For any organisation implementing activities involving children, child protection policies or declarations of honour are required.

Key Deadlines and Important Dates

How to Find Support and Additional Information

Applicants are encouraged to consult the comprehensive call documentation including the full Call document (CERV-2026-CITIZENS-CIV), Application Form templates (Part A, Part B, Part C with KPI tool), Model Grant Agreements (Lump Sum MGA), and the EU Grants AGA (Annotated Grant Agreement). The EU Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual provides step-by-step guidance for proposal preparation, submission and portal processes. ¹⁰

An online information session was held on 12 March 2026 from 10:00 to 13:00 CET, hosted by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) to present funding opportunities, call objectives, priorities, eligibility criteria, and application process. Presentation materials from this session are available on the EACEA website.

Non-IT related questions should be sent to the CERV National Contact Point of the applicant's country (if established) or to EACEA-CERV@ec.europa.eu, clearly indicating the call reference CERV-2026-CITIZENS-CIV in the subject line. For technical questions about the Portal Submission System, contact the IT Helpdesk. Many countries have national contact points to help applicants and beneficiaries; a list is available on the European Commission website.

Key Policy Context and Alignment

This funding opportunity is designed to support implementation of key EU policy initiatives including the 2025 European Democracy Shield (adopted 12 November 2025), the 2023 Defence of Democracy Package, the 2023 EU Citizenship Package, and the 2021 Reinforcing Democracy and Integrity of Elections package. Projects should prioritise alignment with these key policy initiatives as their central focus. The call also supports complementary EU strategies on gender equality, anti-racism, rights of the child, combating antisemitism, LGBTIQ+ equality, and rights of persons with disabilities. ¹¹

Footnotes

1. 1The CERV programme operates under Regulation (EU) 2021/692 and EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509. The Citizens' engagement and participation strand supports civil society organisations and other stakeholders active at local, regional, national and transnational levels to promote democratic participation, civic engagement and rights protection.
2. 2Beneficiaries and affiliated entities must register in the Participant Register before proposal submission and will be validated by the Central Validation Service. Other entities may participate as associated partners, subcontractors, or third parties giving in-kind contributions but will not receive direct EU funding.
3. 3The list of eligible countries and their association status with the CERV programme should be checked regularly on the Funding & Tenders Portal, as status may change during the call period if association agreements are concluded before grant signature.
4. 4Lump sum grants are based on a Commission Decision (C(2013)7180 final of 31.10.2013 and updated via DECISION authorising the use of lump sums for actions under the CERV Programme 2021-2027). This simplified financing system reduces administrative burden for both beneficiaries and the granting authority while focusing on quality outputs and deliverables rather than detailed cost documentation.
5. 5If prefinancing guarantees are required, they must normally be provided in euro from an approved bank or financial institution in an EU Member State. The guarantee will be released at project end according to Grant Agreement conditions. Applicants established in non-EU countries may request to provide guarantees from their country's financial institutions, subject to approval.
6. 6The evaluation committee may request additional information from applicants during evaluation or during grant preparation for legal entity validation, financial capacity assessment, exclusion checks, and bank account validation. Grant preparation involves dialogue to fine-tune technical and financial aspects and may include adjustments to address evaluation committee recommendations.
7. 7Enhanced financial responsibility regimes may include joint and several responsibility for all beneficiaries or joint and several liability of affiliated entities. Prefinancing guarantees are normally requested from the coordinator for the full consortium and must be provided before prefinancing payment can be released.
8. 8Applicants must declare compliance with all eligibility criteria. Each applicant in a consortium must fulfill the criteria; if any one does not comply, they must be replaced or the entire proposal will be rejected. False statements or incorrect information may lead to administrative sanctions under the EU Financial Regulation.
9. 9Projects must respect the fundamental rights and values enshrined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. They must comply with EU and national legal frameworks and specifically with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2016/679 for processing personal data. Projects involving potentially sensitive ethical or security issues must complete ethics and security self-assessments.
10. 10Key reference documents available on the Funding & Tenders Portal include: Call Fiche (full call document in PDF), EU Grants: Application Form (CERV) V3.0, Model Grant Agreements (Lump Sum MGA), EU Grants AGA (Annotated Grant Agreement), CERV Work Programmes 2026-2027, Rules for Legal Entity Validation and Financial Capacity Assessment, and Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual with step-by-step guidance.
11. 11The 2025 European Democracy Shield emphasises three pillars: safeguarding integrity of the information space, strengthening free and fair elections and free and independent media, and supporting societal resilience and citizens' participation. Projects should prioritise alignment with these policy frameworks while also considering complementary EU strategies on equality, rights, non-discrimination and violence prevention as context for their implementation.