1.8 Funding principles

EUI follows the total costs principle. This means that whilst the project receives ERDF co-financing up to 80% of the eligible costs, every Partner (MUA and AUA, Delivery Partners and Transfer Partners) receiving ERDF needs to secure 20% at least of public or private contribution to complete its budget either from its own resources or from other sources (but not from another EU funding source). The Partners contribution can be in the form of cash and/or in-kind.

EUI-IA payment scheme is mainly based on the principles of advance ERDF payments and ultimately of reimbursement of costs that were actually incurred:

• A first ERDF (advance) payment corresponding to 50% of the ERDF grant is made to the MUA within 90 days from the successful completion of the Initiation Phase. This first advance payment also covers the two lump sums for Work Package Project Preparation and Initiation Phase. This overall lump sum of EUR 100 000 total eligible costs (corresponding to EUR 80 000 ERDF) consists of the lump sum of EUR 25 000 (corresponding to EUR 20 000 ERDF) for project preparation and the lump sum of EUR 75 000 (corresponding to EUR 60 000 ERDF) for the Initiation Phase.
• A second ERDF (advance) payment corresponding to 30% of the ERDF grant is made to the MUA after the submission and approval of a Financial Claim (hereinafter: FC) 1 that includes project expenditure validated by the First Level Control (hereinafter: FLC). Prior to the validation by the FLC, the reported expenditure must reach at least 35% of the total project budget. In case the project expenditure validated by the FLC falls below 35% of the total eligible costs, the second ERDF advance payment is paid on a pro-rata basis.
• A third ERDF payment corresponding to maximum 20% of the ERDF grant is made to the MUA after the approval of the (final) 4th Annual Progress Report (hereinafter: APR), the approval of the Final Qualitative Report (hereinafter: FQR), and the validation of project expenditure in the FC2 by the FLC. The final APR shall be submitted at the latest 1 month after the Implementation phase, and the (final) FC2 shall be submitted together with the FQR at the end of the Administrative Closure phase. In case the project expenditure validated by the FLC falls below 100% of the total eligible costs of the project, the third ERDF payment is paid on a pro-rata basis. It is important to note that the third payment is no more based on the principle of advance payment but on the principle of reimbursement of incurred and paid costs. Therefore, Project Partners need to pre-finance their expenditure during the last phase of project implementation (not covered by the 80% of advance payment received). The third payment also covers the lump sum of EUR 20 000 total eligible cost (corresponding to EUR 16 000 ERDF), which covers the project Administrative Closure phase.