Effectiveness of the European Union grants to civil society in the Baltic states: an evaluation of the EU program ‘Europe for Citizens’ (2007-2020)

Abstract

The aim of this article is to evaluate the effectiveness of the European Union’s ‘Europe for Citizens’ program by analyzing the situation of the Baltic states in the context of the overall EU level, as well as comparing Latvia with neighboring Estonia and Lithuania. Within the frameworks of the two actions (‘European Remembrance Projects’ and ‘Civil Society Projects’) in the ‘Europe for Citizens’ program for the two periods (2007-2013) and (2014-2020), both the financial support of the European Union to the most active groups of civil society (top-down) and a very high activity of civil society by project application have been examined. Under approved projects, various activities were developed, promoting public participation both at the local level and among the citizens of various European Union countries, thus starting to influence the processes at the EU level (bottom-up) as well. The data show that the population of all three Baltic states has a high sense of belonging to the European Union, well above the EU average.