European Partnership Help Center

Welcome to the ERA-LEARN Help Center for European Partnerships. Here you will find a collection of frequently asked questions and answers from our webinars and events. More questions and answers will be added over time. If you have any partnership related questions, please send them to office@era-learn.eu and we will add them to the Help Center.

Could you clarify whether other sources of EU funding (than Horizon Europe funding) can be used as source for the phasing-out scenarios?

Yes. The phasing-out strategy must include at least one credible scenario without FP funding, but this does not exclude the possibility of drawing on other EU programmes or instruments, where relevant and feasible.
One of the options that the guidelines identify is to use EU funding programmes other than Horizon Europe. Some of these depend on other DGs. Are other DGs open to this option?

Exploring feasibility is part of the scenario development. Partnerships may indeed identify opportunities in other EU programmes, if relevant and realistic. The exercise does not imply prior commitment from those programmes but aims to identify promising pathways to be further explored.
If the EU budget is cut, European synergies are likely to be affected first. Should we elaborate on how individual Member States will react to this “EU budget cut”?

European Partnership have a defined and limited duration. Not renewing a partnership does not constitute a budget cut to the currently existing partnership. Phasing-out strategies are not about describing reactions to non-renewal, but about identifying proactive, solution-oriented ways to preserve what has been achieved: how to make the most of what was built together. It is a strategic exercise to define how the partnership can evolve beyond FP funding, maintain collaboration, and secure its legacy and impact.
What is the actual rationale of the creation of the phasing-out strategies? How can we carry on what we do with no more budget to do it?

Not with no budget, but with no Framework Programme budget. This exercise prepares partnerships for the eventuality of not receiving further funding from future Framework Programmes. There are finite resources and evolving priorities, no continuation can be guaranteed. The purpose is to ensure that valuable assets, knowledge, and collaborations built over time are not lost. For activities and results identified as essential, there should be interest in maintaining and developing them beyond Framework Programme support.
In some calls, there is a widening phase between the first and second stages, meaning that consortia can add partners at the full proposal stage. Therefore, the consortia at the pre-proposal stage may differ from those that are funded. Could the difference in composition of the consortia at the pre-proposal stage cause a problem in the system? If so, how should the data be handled?

In the event of any modifications, partnerships may upload an updated version of the file containing the latest data. For instance, a new partner can be added into the participants' sequence, without changing the order numbers of those already involved.
Is it possible to have a testing and validation tool for XML files before submission?

There are many readily available tools that allow XML vs XSD validation (e.g. notepad++) and that have proved to be effective for partnerships