Division 1 The ESE shall manage Eurostars-2.

The Head of the ESE, as the legal representative of the ESE, shall be in charge of implementing Eurostars-2 by:

1. (a)

   preparing the annual budget for the calls, central organisation of joint calls for proposals and reception of the proposals as single entry point; the central organisation of the eligibility and evaluation of proposals, according to common eligibility and evaluation criteria, central organisation of the ranking and selection of proposals for funding, and project monitoring and follow-up; the receipt, allocation and monitoring of the Union contribution;

2. (b)

   collecting the necessary information from the NFBs for the transfer the Union contribution;

3. (c)

   promoting Eurostars-2;

4. (d)

   reporting to the Eurostars-2 high-level group and the Commission on the Eurostars-2 programme;

5. (e)

   informing the Eureka network about the activities of Eurostars-2;

6. (f)

   signing the delegation agreement with the Commission, the bilateral agreements with the NFBs and the contracts with the experts assessing Eurostars-2 applications;

7. (g)

   adopting the Eurostars-2 annual work plan following the prior agreement of the Eurostars-2 high-level group and of the Commission.