As well as the Structural Funds described above, the EU periodically runs various special programmes covering special interest areas.

One example is European Years. The EU allocates a theme for each year and provides resources for work within the theme. 2007 is the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All. Funding will be given to meetings, events, awareness campaigns and research projects and around €15 million is available for this year. The UK’s share is being administered by The Commission for Equality and Human Rights. 2008 is likely to be designated the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue, with dialogue between religions as a main topic.

Another example is EU funding for Culture. A wide range of culture programmes run with the aim of promoting cultural co-operation across Europe. Examples include literary translation projects, the EU Prize for Cultural Heritage and the EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture, European cultural ambassador projects and promoting vocational training for artistes. These initiatives have to be carried out in several EU member states. EUCLID provides information on EU funding programmes for the culture sector. See the ‘Key resources’ section for the EUCLID website.