Further to the referred parliamentary question, a meeting was indeed organised at the end of January between the European Commission services and representatives of associations working on behalf of the deaf and hard of hearing to discuss the difficulties they encounter when taking part in European projects and the options for granting additional support.

Following the meeting, the Commission provided full information on funding granted in recent years to organisations and projects in the field of education, training, culture and youth concerning the deaf and hard of hearing community.

In 2012, the Lifelong Learning Programme will fund, among others, the project ‘Signs2Cross: Linguistic mobility for Deaf people in Europe,’ presented by Hochschule Magdeburg-Stendal, for an amount of approximately EUR 325 000.

The Multilateral network ‘Spread the sign,’ for the dissemination in Europe of vocational sign language, was also selected for funding in June. The contract has not yet been signed, but the grant requested is close to EUR 600 000.

Finally, the European Forum of Sign Languages Interpreters (EFSLI) will receive the second annual operating grant for approximately EUR 122 000.