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.

Is there a limit to the EU contribution that a Funding Agency may receive within the co-funded partnerships (“juste retour”)?

There is no predefined limit to the EU contribution that a Funding Agency may receive. The distribution of EU contribution among Funding Agencies is defined at consortium level, generally with arrangements that are described in the Consortium Agreement (CA). Some partnerships, for example, agreed that the EU funding for one agency should not exceed twice the amount of its national/regional contribution.
The example partnership implemented three top-up amendments in its co-funded arrangement. There is a request to keep the budget phases separate — how should this partnership report the costs given that the EU Portal treats the partnership as a single project?

Partnerships in these cases need to provide a global cost statement and, if applicable, a Certificate on the Financial Statement (CFS) on the reported costs, including a split across the different budget phases. This can be added in the narrative part of the report. The level of detail that should be provided shall not differ from one partnership to the other. The Executive Agencies will try to make this as consistent as possible.
Which articles govern the Mutual Insurance Mechanism (MIM)?

The Mutual Insurance Mechanism (MIM) is a common fund that protects the EU budget; beneficiaries typically contribute 5% of the maximum grant amount, retained from the pre-financing and cleared at the final payment. Details are provided in the Annotated Grant Agreement. It is meant to set aside an amount to protect the financial interest of the Union and cover potential losses, such as a beneficiary declaring bankruptcy. The MIM also helps protect consortia, as it is used to cover amounts due in case of recoveries, meaning that other beneficiaries are normally not required to cover financial losses unless the MIM is insufficient.
Should the partnership present the costs of additional or "in-house activities" separately in the periodic report?

As with any other cost, they should be reported under the respective cost category set out in the Model Grant Agreement. For example, personnel costs should be reported under the personnel cost category, and purchase-related costs under the purchase cost category.
How and where should additional or “in-house activities" be reported?

"In-house” or additional activities should be reported as normal project costs, in line with the eligible cost categories laid out in the Model Grant Agreement. Of course, only costs incurred when carrying out the action are eligible.
Is it correct that all costs declared in the Financial Statements must comply with the eligibility requirements under HE, considering that the reimbursement rate is 30%?

All costs are indeed reimbursed with the single funding rate, applicable to your action (usually 30% for co-funded partnerships). Only eligible costs can be co-funded.