EU Competitive Programmes are programmes which are financed directly by the European Union΄s budget and are aimed at contributing to the implementation of EU policies. As a general rule, these programmes are transnational, which means that the participation of partners from more than one member states is required for the submission and implementation of a proposal. Proposals are submitted for approval directly to the European Commission, without the intervention of the Institutions of the member state. The proposals submitted compete with proposals from all member states and successful proposals are selected after a comparative evaluation of all proposals submitted.