[{"bbox": [72, 121, 687, 154], "category": "Section-header", "text": "# 4. IMPLEMENTATION ARRANGEMENTS"}, {"bbox": [109, 184, 391, 215], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 4.1. Financing Agreement"}, {"bbox": [83, 254, 980, 281], "category": "Text", "text": "In order to implement this action, it is envisaged to conclude a financing agreement with the GoG."}, {"bbox": [109, 299, 519, 330], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 4.2. Indicative Implementation Period"}, {"bbox": [83, 370, 1146, 450], "category": "Text", "text": "The indicative operational implementation period of this action, during which the activities described in section 3 will be carried out and the corresponding contracts and agreements implemented, is 36 months from the date of entry into force of the financing agreement."}, {"bbox": [83, 451, 1145, 503], "category": "Text", "text": "Extensions of the implementation period may be agreed by the Commission's responsible authorising officer by amending this Financing Decision and the relevant contracts and agreements."}, {"bbox": [109, 547, 711, 578], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 4.3. Implementation of the Budget Support Component"}, {"bbox": [146, 591, 778, 620], "category": "Section-header", "text": "### 4.3.1. Rationale for the Amounts Allocated to Budget Support"}, {"bbox": [89, 655, 336, 681], "category": "Section-header", "text": "#### Role of the budget support"}, {"bbox": [83, 681, 774, 707], "category": "Text", "text": "The amount allocated for the budget support component is EUR 60 million."}, {"bbox": [83, 734, 1146, 882], "category": "Text", "text": "Since 2007, the EU has been supporting the education sector in Greenland, with an allocation of EUR 217.8 million for 2014-2020 and around EUR 194 million for the period 2007-2013 mainly through budget support²⁵. No other Official Development Aid donors have supported the education sector, but large private foundations, mostly based in Denmark, have supported projects in the Greenlandic educational sectors over the years with significant amounts; notably the Velux Foundation, the A.P. Møller Foundation, the Hempel Foundation and the Oak Foundation."}, {"bbox": [83, 903, 1146, 1083], "category": "Text", "text": "Overall, the EU budget support to the education sector of Greenland constitute about 3.3% of the total GoG budget revenue (2020). The combined impact of the external budget transfers, including the significant block grant from the Danish state as well as the EU fishery licenses, constitutes a stabilising factor for the open economy of Greenland making the social and societal impact of any type of economic shock less severe. An important overall significance of budget support, in addition to the policy dialogue, is therefore to ensure a stable and continued financing environment as basis for a steady development of the education strategy."}, {"bbox": [83, 1103, 1146, 1466], "category": "Text", "text": "Another important virtue of the EU budget support relates to the fact that Greenland possesses all characteristics of a small territory. Greenland is not only characterised by the modest size of their population, but has also the lowest population²⁶ density in the world, implying long and costly transport distances, and a strongly specialised production structure. These economies are typically disadvantaged by diseconomies of small scale in their public service production, which tends in the direction of a larger public sector and larger unit cost in e.g. provision of public education. The diseconomies of scale therefore make provision of education comparatively more costly than in other territories. Accordingly, the so-called economic clusters linked to towns and suburban areas and close linkages (by land or sea) between towns are not an option in Greenland. As such, the difficulty of benefiting from economies of scale is a fundamental term of trade in Greenland. The budget support has provided financial assistance to the development of the Greenland education sector by compensating for the inherent disadvantages linked to small state characteristics and diseconomies of scale by providing a financial basis for the GoG to focus more on quality aspects of education than would otherwise be the case without the provided budget support."}, {"bbox": [83, 1485, 1146, 1566], "category": "Text", "text": "Finally, another aim of the budget support is to strengthen ties and enhance cooperation between the EU and Greenland. A general goal is to increase sustainability by diversifying Greenland's economy with an explicit political ambition to ensure policy dialogue on global issues of common interest. Education is by all actors and stakeholders"}, {"bbox": [72, 1612, 304, 1635], "category": "Footnote", "text": "²⁵ Action Document, 2018."}, {"bbox": [72, 1635, 578, 1661], "category": "Footnote", "text": "²⁶ *Countries By Density 2021* (worldpopulationreview.com)"}, {"bbox": [1040, 1661, 1158, 1685], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 27 of 35"}]