September 24, 2026

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The European Post

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Rights Groups Test the EU Civil Society Strategy as Pressure MountsJudges Weigh EU Staff Nationality Quotas in Parliament Hiring CasePatents Could Unlock Startup Loans Under the European Innovation ActHungary EU Funds Move Closer as Commission Lifts Rule of Law FreezeMinisters Debate Chips Act 2.0 as Europe Pushes for More Chip OutputMontenegro Waits on a Dutch Vote as the EU Enlargement Sprint StallsGlobal Green Bond Initiative Bets on Private Money for PartnersEurope Draws a Line on Strait of Hormuz Tolls as Iran Talks ResumeStrasbourg Lets the European Defence Fund Pay for Tests in UkraineCSAM Regulation Talks Hinge on Scanning Private MessagesGoogle GDPR Fine of €403 Million Puts Location Data on TrialMFF 2028-2034 Talks Stall as Ministers Hold Their Red LinesBanks Contest Key Parts of the EU Banking Competitiveness PlanEMFAF Amendment Offers Fishers Simpler Rules and a Quota Cut CushionTeachers Trail Pupils as AI in Education Reports Expose a Training GapMacron Presses Brussels to Relax EU Fuel Quality Rules Before WinterEurostat Fuel Prices Jump 23.8 Per Cent as Diesel Leads August RiseData Centre Rating Scheme Puts Energy and Water Use on the EU RecordEU Indo-Pacific Security Partnerships Move From Paper to the SeaEU Thailand Free Trade Agreement Heads to Phuket for Its Final ThirdRights Groups Test the EU Civil Society Strategy as Pressure MountsJudges Weigh EU Staff Nationality Quotas in Parliament Hiring CasePatents Could Unlock Startup Loans Under the European Innovation ActHungary EU Funds Move Closer as Commission Lifts Rule of Law FreezeMinisters Debate Chips Act 2.0 as Europe Pushes for More Chip OutputMontenegro Waits on a Dutch Vote as the EU Enlargement Sprint StallsGlobal Green Bond Initiative Bets on Private Money for PartnersEurope Draws a Line on Strait of Hormuz Tolls as Iran Talks ResumeStrasbourg Lets the European Defence Fund Pay for Tests in UkraineCSAM Regulation Talks Hinge on Scanning Private MessagesGoogle GDPR Fine of €403 Million Puts Location Data on TrialMFF 2028-2034 Talks Stall as Ministers Hold Their Red LinesBanks Contest Key Parts of the EU Banking Competitiveness PlanEMFAF Amendment Offers Fishers Simpler Rules and a Quota Cut CushionTeachers Trail Pupils as AI in Education Reports Expose a Training GapMacron Presses Brussels to Relax EU Fuel Quality Rules Before WinterEurostat Fuel Prices Jump 23.8 Per Cent as Diesel Leads August RiseData Centre Rating Scheme Puts Energy and Water Use on the EU RecordEU Indo-Pacific Security Partnerships Move From Paper to the SeaEU Thailand Free Trade Agreement Heads to Phuket for Its Final Third
September 24, 2026

Newsletter

The European Post

Policy • Diplomacy • strategic insight

LATEST
Rights Groups Test the EU Civil Society Strategy as Pressure MountsJudges Weigh EU Staff Nationality Quotas in Parliament Hiring CasePatents Could Unlock Startup Loans Under the European Innovation ActHungary EU Funds Move Closer as Commission Lifts Rule of Law FreezeMinisters Debate Chips Act 2.0 as Europe Pushes for More Chip OutputMontenegro Waits on a Dutch Vote as the EU Enlargement Sprint StallsGlobal Green Bond Initiative Bets on Private Money for PartnersEurope Draws a Line on Strait of Hormuz Tolls as Iran Talks ResumeStrasbourg Lets the European Defence Fund Pay for Tests in UkraineCSAM Regulation Talks Hinge on Scanning Private MessagesGoogle GDPR Fine of €403 Million Puts Location Data on TrialMFF 2028-2034 Talks Stall as Ministers Hold Their Red LinesBanks Contest Key Parts of the EU Banking Competitiveness PlanEMFAF Amendment Offers Fishers Simpler Rules and a Quota Cut CushionTeachers Trail Pupils as AI in Education Reports Expose a Training GapMacron Presses Brussels to Relax EU Fuel Quality Rules Before WinterEurostat Fuel Prices Jump 23.8 Per Cent as Diesel Leads August RiseData Centre Rating Scheme Puts Energy and Water Use on the EU RecordEU Indo-Pacific Security Partnerships Move From Paper to the SeaEU Thailand Free Trade Agreement Heads to Phuket for Its Final ThirdRights Groups Test the EU Civil Society Strategy as Pressure MountsJudges Weigh EU Staff Nationality Quotas in Parliament Hiring CasePatents Could Unlock Startup Loans Under the European Innovation ActHungary EU Funds Move Closer as Commission Lifts Rule of Law FreezeMinisters Debate Chips Act 2.0 as Europe Pushes for More Chip OutputMontenegro Waits on a Dutch Vote as the EU Enlargement Sprint StallsGlobal Green Bond Initiative Bets on Private Money for PartnersEurope Draws a Line on Strait of Hormuz Tolls as Iran Talks ResumeStrasbourg Lets the European Defence Fund Pay for Tests in UkraineCSAM Regulation Talks Hinge on Scanning Private MessagesGoogle GDPR Fine of €403 Million Puts Location Data on TrialMFF 2028-2034 Talks Stall as Ministers Hold Their Red LinesBanks Contest Key Parts of the EU Banking Competitiveness PlanEMFAF Amendment Offers Fishers Simpler Rules and a Quota Cut CushionTeachers Trail Pupils as AI in Education Reports Expose a Training GapMacron Presses Brussels to Relax EU Fuel Quality Rules Before WinterEurostat Fuel Prices Jump 23.8 Per Cent as Diesel Leads August RiseData Centre Rating Scheme Puts Energy and Water Use on the EU RecordEU Indo-Pacific Security Partnerships Move From Paper to the SeaEU Thailand Free Trade Agreement Heads to Phuket for Its Final Third

Town Twinning Grants Close on 23 September With 6 Million Left

Magomed Ankalaev
EU Affairs Reporter, Democratic Governance and Rule of Law

Brussels: Local councils across the European Union have until 23 September 2026 to lodge town twinning applications under the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme, the last full-scale call of its kind before the fund reaches the end of its 2021 to 2027 lifespan. The European Education and Culture Executive Agency opened the call on 6 May 2026 and has 6 million euros to award.

The scheme is deliberately small-grained. Individual awards run between 8,455 euros and 50,745 euros, projects last six to twelve months, and the agency pays by lump sum rather than reimbursing receipts. That design puts the money within reach of municipalities with no grants office, which is the point.

The call aims “to promote exchanges between citizens of different countries, in particular through town-twinning,” the Commission’s call document states.

Applicants must build partnerships across borders and anchor their projects in the programme’s stated priorities: active citizenship, social resilience, and awareness of rights and standards that citizens hold as Europeans. A single well-organised twinning committee can carry an application; consortia of several towns belong in the separate Networks of Towns strand, which closed on 16 April 2026 with a 12 million euro envelope.

Town twinning survives as one of the oldest instruments in EU civic policy, born of post-war reconciliation between French and German municipalities and now covering more than 20,000 partnerships. The CERV programme absorbed it in 2021 alongside strands on equality, rights and remembrance.

The wider 2026 CERV package spreads roughly 27 million euros across gender equality, anti-discrimination, Roma inclusion, children’s rights and data protection, and around 76 million euros across citizens’ engagement, European remembrance and democratic participation. Against a seven-year programme envelope of 1.5 billion euros, town twinning takes a modest slice.

Timing matters more than usual this year. The programme runs out at the end of 2027, and the Commission has proposed folding its successor into a larger culture and democracy instrument for the 2028 to 2034 budget. Civil society organisations have spent the summer arguing that grassroots grants risk being squeezed inside a bigger structure, since a merged programme does not guarantee that small municipal projects keep a dedicated door.

Practitioners point to a second problem the money does not solve. Twinning links signed decades ago often survive on paper only, kept alive by ageing volunteer committees, and calls like this one increasingly fund the revival of dormant partnerships rather than the creation of new ones. The executive agency ran an information session on 3 June and published the materials for applicants who missed it.

Councils that intend to apply need a partner municipality already committed, a budget built to the lump-sum categories, and an account on the Funding and Tenders Portal. Three and a half weeks remain.

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