The EU's CfP 2021 under the M4EG was announced in spring 2021, and selected applicants were announced at the end of 2022
The call for proposals was divided into two geographic lots and one horizontal lot.
The specific objectives of Lot 1 and Lot 2:
Invest in local comparative advantages to stimulate business development; investments in strategic options for business development or to strengthen the resilience of local economic models.
Invest in hard (physical) and soft infrastructure to improve the business environment; exploring new business opportunities (i.e. platform economies) that can have a catalytic and systemic effect.
Attract external investment, increase local access to finance, and increase attractivenessof local authorities for innovative/diverse sources of finance.
The specific objectives of Lot 3:
Disseminate and communicate the results and lessons learnt from existing Local Economic Development Plans, as established under the first phase of M4EG.
Monitor, follow up on, and increase the sustainability of the existing projects.
For all lots, proposals had to address all three priorities of the call:
- social inclusiveness;
- greening of cities
- prosperity and innovation.