There is certainly no organization in the field of civil society that has experience in the field of EU funds and that is not familiar with the Annual Plan for the publication of calls for the submission of project proposals of the OPULJP "published by the Ministry of Labor and Pension System. The aim of the mentioned publication plans, at least in theory, is to inform the public and enable the timely preparation of project proposals of potential applicants, so that they can actually plan applications for ESF tenders, as well as their work in the coming period. But the reality is somewhat different, and in practice they serve more as a source of misinformation and creating a false impression for potential applicants. Although the governing body states during the publication that it is indicative plans, the said publications do not actually meet any of the prerequisites of a serious plan that civil society organizations should include in the planning and writing of the project, thus pointing to another serious systemic problem of intermediary bodies in the implementation of EU projects .

The aforementioned is confirmed by GONG's recently published analysis and recommendation for a different approach towards civil society, entitled "STATE ATTACKS ON CIVIL SOCIETY supported by EU funds", where astonishing statistical data are presented that show in more detail the disparity between planned, announced calls and those actually announced.

The table shows the processing of the published six annual plans for the publication of calls for submission of project proposals as part of the Operational Program Effective Human Resources 2014-2020. in the period from 2015 to 2020 relevant for CSOs as acceptable applicants.

The presented devastating data, i.e. the percentages of actually realized plans from the initially set plans, thus call into question the very meaning of the publication of the Annual Plans of Publications and then the reliance and planning of applications based on them. In addition to the conclusion that the annual plans for the publication of tenders contain information, most of which will not be implemented, it is also clear that they do not help civil society organizations in planning their work, resources and capacities. On the contrary, they are presented with an inaccurate picture, they are exhausted by waiting and demotivated in their work, thus calling into question their ability to perform quality and constructive work based on timely planning of activities through EU funds.

Finally, GONG raises the question of the very reasons for the discrepancy between announcements and announcements of public calls and states that the main problem lies in the technical and political spheres: "Technically, due to the lack of capacity of the bodies in charge of program management, planning, coordination and implementation of public calls , and then approved projects (something that is not tolerated by applicants to public calls). But can the lack of capacity be a justified reason for all six years of the Program?"

So, in the end, the irrelevance and unreliability of the Annual Plans for the publication of calls for project proposals can be established, but no justified reasons can be found for the mentioned problems, nor can the illusion be created that the mentioned plans will really justify their purpose in the coming period.

For more information visit the following link: analysis of the state of civil society and recommendations.