ANNEX IISupplementary provisions
ANNEX II GOVERNANCE OF THE EUROSTARS JOINT PROGRAMME The governance system of the Eurostars Joint Programme involves four main bodies: 1. The ‘Eureka High Level Group’ (Eureka HLG) is composed of the persons appointed by the States which are members of Eureka as High Level Representatives, and a representative from the Commission. It is responsible for the admission of non-participating Member States or other non-participating countries into the Eurostars Joint Programme, in accordance with the requirements of Articles 10 and 11 of this Decision. 2. The ‘Eurostars High Level Group’ (Eurostars HLG) is composed of the Eureka High Level Representatives of the participating Member States and other participating countries. The Commission as well as Member States not participating in the Eurostars Joint Programme retain the option to send representatives to its meetings as observers. It is competent to supervise the implementation of the Eurostars Joint Programme, and in particular for the appointment of the members of the Eurostars Advisory Group, the approval of the operational procedures for running the Eurostars Joint Programme, the approval of the call planning and call budget, and the approval of the ranking list of Eurostars projects to be funded. 3. The ‘Eurostars Advisory Group’ is composed of Eureka National Project Coordinators from the participating Member States and other participating countries and is chaired by the Head of the Eureka Secretariat (ESE). The Eurostars Advisory Group shall advise the ESE on the execution of the Eurostars Joint Programme and shall provide advice on the arrangements for its implementation, such as funding procedures, the evaluation and selection process, synchronisation between the central and national procedures, and project monitoring. It shall advise on the planning for the cut-off dates of the yearly call for proposals. It shall also advise on progress in the execution of the joint programme, including progress towards further integration. 4. The ESE shall act as the dedicated implementation structure of the Eurostars Joint Programme. The Head of the ESE shall act as legal representative of the Eurostars Programme. The ESE is in charge of the execution of the Eurostars Joint Programme, and is responsible in particular for: — the establishment of the yearly call budget, central organisation of common calls for proposals and reception of the project proposals (single entry point), — central organisation of the eligibility and evaluation of project proposals, according to common eligibility and evaluation criteria, central organisation of the selection of project proposals for funding, and project monitoring and follow-up, — the receipt, allocation and monitoring of the Community contribution, — collecting the accounts for the distribution of funding by the funding bodies in the participating Member States and the other participating countries to the participants in Eurostars projects, — promotion of the Eurostars Joint Programme, — reporting to the Eureka HLG, the Eurostars HLG and the Commission on the Eurostars Joint Programme, including on progress towards further integration, — informing the Eureka network about the Eurostars Joint Programme activities.