The FFU application cycle is suspended
The draft Finance Bill for 2016 – FFL16 – has been published. FFL16 is still a draft; the bill now has to be negotiated and ultimately enacted through agreement by a majority in the Danish parliament.
In the draft FFL16, an amount of DKK 100 million has been reserved for FFU projects in 2016. For the three subsequent years, i.e. 2017-2019, the budget figures for a range of budget lines including all development research budget lines have been put on a reserves account. This decision has been taken in light of the intention by the government to undertake a thorough investigation of the strategic focus of Denmark’s foreign policy over the coming 10-15 years. The investigation is expected to be finalised by May 2016, and it will provide an input to the political discussions regarding the long term future of the Danish foreign policy including the long term priorities for the Danish support to development cooperation.
The decision implies that the government’s priorities regarding development research for 2017 and beyond will be known in connection with the negotiations and approval of the finance bill for 2017, i.e. around the middle of 2016.
At the same time, due to a combination of the Danish government’s intention to reach 0,70% of the GNI for the development cooperation budget, and an extraordinary refugees situation, a downwards adjustment in the finance bill for the remaining part of 2015 has implied that the budget originally planned for development research projects in 2015 is no longer available. Instead, subject to approval of the draft FFL16 the Ministry plans to utilise the appropriation of 100 million DKK that has been reserved by the government for FFU projects in 2016 to fund applications from the 2015 application cycle. There are thus no funds reserved for new FFU projects in 2016.
Based on the above the Ministry has decided to suspend the FFU application cycle pending a clarification of the funding situation for 2017. As indicated, this clarification is expected in the middle of 2016.
Further inquiries in relation to the above can be directed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Technical Advisory Services Department (att. Lasse Møller (lassmo@um.dk) and Jeppe Søndergaard Pedersen (jepped@um.dk)).
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