This document is an excerpt from the EUR-Lex website
Document C2022/203/04
Call for contributions (No IX-2023/01) ‘CONTRIBUTIONS TO EUROPEAN POLITICAL PARTIES’ 2022/C 203/04
Call for contributions (No IX-2023/01) ‘CONTRIBUTIONS TO EUROPEAN POLITICAL PARTIES’ 2022/C 203/04
Call for contributions (No IX-2023/01) ‘CONTRIBUTIONS TO EUROPEAN POLITICAL PARTIES’ 2022/C 203/04
OJ C 203, 20.5.2022, pp. 17–29
(BG, ES, CS, DA, DE, ET, EL, EN, FR, GA, HR, IT, LV, LT, HU, MT, NL, PL, PT, RO, SK, SL, FI, SV)
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20.5.2022 |
EN |
Official Journal of the European Union |
C 203/17 |
Call for contributions (No IX-2023/01)
‘CONTRIBUTIONS TO EUROPEAN POLITICAL PARTIES’
(2022/C 203/04)
CONTENTS
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A. |
Introduction and legal framework | 18 |
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B. |
Objective of the call | 19 |
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C. |
Purpose, category and form of funding | 19 |
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D. |
budget available | 19 |
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E. |
admissibility requirements for Funding applications | 19 |
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F. |
Criteria for evaluation of funding applications | 20 |
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F.1 |
Exclusion criteria | 20 |
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F.2 |
Eligibility criteria | 20 |
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F.3 |
Award criteria and distribution of funding | 20 |
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G. |
shared control by European Parliament and authority | 21 |
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H. |
Terms and conditions | 21 |
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I. |
timing | 21 |
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J. |
Disclosure and Processing of personal data | 22 |
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K. |
Other information | 22 |
A. INTRODUCTION AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK
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1. |
Under Article 10(4) of the Treaty on European Union, ‘political parties at European level contribute to forming European political awareness and to expressing the will of citizens of the Union’. |
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2. |
In accordance with Article 224 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the European Parliament and the Council lay down the regulations governing political parties at European level and in particular the rules regarding their funding. These rules are laid down in Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2014 on the statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations (1), as subsequently amended. |
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3. |
Pursuant to Article 17(1) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014, a European political party which is registered in accordance with the conditions and procedures of the regulation and represented in the European Parliament by at least one of its members, and is not in one of the situations of exclusion referred to in Article 136(1) of the Financial Regulation, may apply for funding from the general budget of the European Union, in accordance with the terms and conditions published by the Authorising Officer of the European Parliament in a call for contributions. |
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4. |
Hence, the European Parliament is launching this call for contributions with a view to awarding contributions to European political parties (‘call’). |
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5. |
The basic legal framework is defined in the following legal acts:
The European Commission has presented on 25 November 2021 a proposal (7) (recast) for the revision of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014. The Council and the European Parliament may approve the amendments to the regulation before or during the 2023 financial year. The entry into force of the new regulation before or during the year 2023 may trigger relevant changes in the basic legal framework for the 2023 funding, which may require a technical corrigendum to this call. |
B. OBJECTIVE OF THE CALL
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6. |
The objective of this call is to invite registered European political parties to submit applications for funding from the Union budget (‘funding applications’). |
C. PURPOSE, CATEGORY AND FORM OF FUNDING
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7. |
The purpose of the funding is to support the European political party’s statutory activities and objectives for the financial year from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023 under the terms and conditions set out in the contribution agreement to be concluded between the beneficiary European political party and the European Parliament. |
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8. |
The category of the funding is the contribution to European political parties, pursuant to Title XI of the Financial Regulation (‘contribution’). The contribution takes the form of a reimbursement of a percentage of reimbursable expenditure actually incurred. |
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9. |
The maximum amount paid to the beneficiary by the European Parliament shall neither exceed 90 % of the reimbursable expenditure indicated in the estimated budget nor 90 % of the reimbursable expenditure that were actually incurred. |
D. BUDGET AVAILABLE
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10. |
The foreseen funding for the financial year 2023 under Article 402 of the European Parliament’s budget ‘Funding of European political parties’ amounts to EUR 46 000 000 as adopted by the European Parliament in its draft estimates. The available appropriations to be distributed will be established by the budgetary authority in the final approved budget for the year 2023. |
E. ADMISSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR FUNDING APPLICATIONS
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11. |
Funding applications will be admissible if they
Applications’ documents have to bear either handwritten signatures or qualified electronic signatures (QES), the latter in compliance with the Electronic Identification and Trust Services (eIDAS) Regulation (8). If applications are electronically submitted and where certain pieces of documentation bear handwritten signatures, the applicant shall keep and produce any original, in whole or in part, upon request of the European Parliament’s services and send those originals to the following physical address:
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12. |
Where, pursuant to Article 4(2) of the Bureau Decision of 1 July 2019, the applicant is invited by the authorising officer by delegation to submit original supporting documents or clarifications in paper form as regards the application, the former shall use the physical address indicated in paragraph 11. Electronic documents signed with the qualified electronic signature are also accepted and shall be sent to the functional mailbox: fin.part.fond.pol@europarl.europa.eu.
Any other correspondence as regards the application shall follow by using the functional mailbox indicated above. |
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13. |
Applications assessed as incomplete may be rejected. |
F. CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION OF FUNDING APPLICATIONS
F.1 Exclusion criteria
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14. |
Applicants shall be excluded from funding procedure, if they are:
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F.2 Eligibility criteria
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15. |
In order to be eligible for Union funding, applicants must satisfy the conditions laid down in Articles 17 and 18 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014, i.e. the applicant
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16. |
Moreover, in accordance with Article 17(3) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014, membership of a Member of the European Parliament in several European political parties will result in considering the Member concerned as a member of only one European political party, which shall, where relevant, be the one to which his or her national or regional political party is affiliated on the final date for submission of funding applications. |
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17. |
Member parties of European political parties are encouraged to include information on gender balance on their websites. |
F.3 Award criteria and distribution of funding
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18. |
In accordance with Article 19 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014, the respective available appropriations shall be distributed annually. They shall be distributed among the European political parties whose applications for funding have been approved in the light of the eligibility and exclusion criteria, on the basis of the following distribution key:
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G. SHARED CONTROL BY EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND AUTHORITY
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19. |
Article 24(1) and (2) (11), of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014 foresee shared control between the European Parliament and the Authority. |
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20. |
Where, pursuant to Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014, the Authority is competent for controlling compliance with the provisions of that Regulation, the European Parliament will forward the funding applications to the Authority. |
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21. |
At all stages of the [award] procedure, applicants continue to be required by Article 24(4) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014 to provide, upon request of the Authority, any information necessary for the purpose of carrying out the controls for which it is responsible. This may include in particular documentation or clarifications additional to the funding applications, to be submitted in the format specified by the Authority. |
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22. |
The Authority will communicate to the European Parliament the result of its controls and verifications. |
H. TERMS AND CONDITIONS
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23. |
Applicants are obliged to notify the European Parliament of any changes as regards the documents submitted or any information referred to in the application within two weeks of such a change. Failing such notification, the authorising officer may decide on the basis of the information available, notwithstanding any information provided at a later stage or published through other channels. |
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24. |
In respect to the condition that the applicant continues to fulfil the criteria for funding, the burden of proof rests with the applicant. |
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25. |
The terms and conditions as regards Union funding to be awarded under this call are laid down in Annex 1a to the Bureau Decision of 1 July 2019. |
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26. |
Each applicant shall accept the terms and conditions referred to in paragraph 25 of this call, by signing the declaration form which is annexed to the present call. These terms and conditions bind the beneficiary to whom the funding is awarded and are stipulated in the contribution agreement. |
I. TIMING
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27. |
The deadline for submitting the funding applications is 30 September 2022. |
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28. |
The Authorising Officer of the European Parliament shall adopt a decision within three months after the closure of the call for contributions. Following that decision, individual decisions signed by the President of the European Parliament are notified to the applicants. |
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29. |
It is foreseen that successful applicants will receive in January 2023 the draft contribution agreement to be signed by them and that rejected applicants will be informed at the same time. The contribution agreement could be signed by qualified electronic signature (QES).The payment of the pre-financing shall take place within 30 days following the subsequent signature of the contribution agreement on behalf of the European Parliament. |
J. DISCLOSURE AND PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA
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30. |
The European Parliament and the Authority shall publish, including on the internet, information pursuant to Article 32 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014. |
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31. |
Any personal data collected in the context of the present call shall be processed in accordance with the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC (12) and pursuant to Article 33 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014. |
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32. |
Such data shall be processed for the purpose of evaluating the funding applications and safeguarding the financial interests of the Union. This is without prejudice to the possible transfer of this data to the bodies responsible for carrying out verification and audit tasks in accordance with Union law, such as internal audit services of the European Parliament, the Authority, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), the European Court of Auditors, or the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). |
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33. |
On the basis of a written request, any natural person related to the beneficiary may obtain access to his or her personal data and rectify any inaccurate or incomplete data. The request concerning the processing of his or her personal data may be submitted to the European Parliament’s Directorate-General for Finance or the European Parliament’s Data Protection Officer. The person concerned may, at any time, lodge a complaint to the European Data Protection Supervisor concerning the processing of his or her personal data. |
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34. |
Personal data may be registered in the Early Detection and Exclusion System by the European Parliament, should the beneficiary be in one of the situations mentioned in Article 136(1) and 141 of the Financial Regulation. |
K. OTHER INFORMATION
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35. |
Any questions relating to this call should be sent by e-mail, quoting the publication reference, to the following functional mailbox address: fin.part.fond.pol@europarl.europa.eu |
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36. |
The basic legislation specified in paragraph 5(b) of this call and the funding application form annexed to this call are available on the European Parliament’s internet site (http://www.europarl.europa.eu/tenders/invitations.htm)
Annex: Funding application form, including the financial identification form, the declaration on the terms and conditions as well as the exclusion criteria, and the model of estimated budget |
(1) OJ L 317, 4.11.2014, p. 1. Two amendments were published in OJ L 114 I, 4.5.2018, p. 1, and in OJ L 85 I, 27.3.2019, p. 7.
(2) OJ C 249, 25.7.2019, p. 2.
(3) OJ L 193, 30.7.2018, p. 1.
(4) OJ L 333, 19.12.2015, p. 50.
(5) OJ L 318, 4.12.2015, p. 28.
(6) European Parliament’s Rules of Procedure of September 2021.
(7) COM(2021) 734 final, 2021/0375(COD)
(8) Regulation (EU) no 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market and repealing Directive 1999/93/EC (OJ L 257, 28.8.2014, p. 73).
(9) Established pursuant to Article 6 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014.
(10) Unless the applicant was not subject to the control under Article 23 of the Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014 (for example: newly created)
(11) Article 24(1)-(2) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014 - General rules on control:
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‘1. |
Control of compliance by European political parties and European political foundations with their obligations under this Regulation shall be exercised, in cooperation, by the Authority, by the Authorising Officer of the European Parliament and by the competent Member States. |
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2. |
The Authority shall control compliance by European political parties and European political foundations with their obligations under this Regulation, in particular in relation to Article 3, points (a), (b), and (d) to (f) of Article 4(1), points (a) to (e) and (g) of Article 5(1), Article 9(5) and (6), and Articles 20, 21 and 22. |
The Authorising Officer of the European Parliament shall control compliance by European political parties and European political foundations with the obligations relating to Union funding under this Regulation in accordance with the Financial Regulation. In carrying out such controls, the European Parliament shall take the necessary measures in the fields of the prevention of and the fight against fraud affecting the financial interests of the Union.’
ANNEX a
FUNDING APPLICATION FORM
CONTRIBUTIONS (1) TO EUROPEAN POLITICAL PARTIES
FOR FINANCIAL YEAR [INSERT]
COMPOSITION OF FUNDING APPLICATION
The following table is intended to help you prepare your funding application. It can be used as a checklist to make sure that you have included all the requisite documents.
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Document number |
Documents to be supplied |
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Documents which must be supplied but are not included in this model of the funding application |
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1. |
Covering letter indicating the contribution amount requested for financial year n signed by the legal representative |
☐ |
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2. |
Letter of a legal representative certifying the authorisation to undertake legal obligations on behalf of the applicant |
☐ |
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3. |
List of the persons having powers of representation, decision-making or control over the applicant organisation, like the President, members of the Board, Secretary-general, Treasurer (2) |
☐ |
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4. |
Proof of registration by the Authority at the date of funding application (only for applicants for which the decision for registration is not yet publicly available, i.e. not yet published on the website of the Authority or in the Official Journal) |
☐ |
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5. |
List of its Members of the European Parliament, with an up-to-date proof of membership and setting out name, country of origin, direct or indirect affiliation to the European political party (3) and name of the relevant national or regional party (if applicable) (4) |
☐ |
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6. |
Evidence demonstrating that its EU member parties have, as a rule, published on their websites, in a clearly visible and user-friendly manner, the political programme and logo of the European political party for a period between 1 October 2021 and 30 September 2022 |
☐ |
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7. |
Only in case of a new applicant who could not fulfil the conditions set by Article 23(1) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 1141/2014: the most recent audited financial statements prepared by a professional accountant |
☐ |
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Documents which must be supplied and are included in this model of the funding application |
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8. |
Financial identification form (only in case of a new applicant, or in case of changes of name, address or bank account) |
☐ |
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9. |
Declaration on general terms and conditions as well as exclusion criteria |
☐ |
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10. |
Balanced estimated budget |
☐ |
FINANCIAL IDENTIFICATION FORM
DECLARATION ON GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS AS WELL AS EXCLUSION CRITERIA
I, the undersigned, the legal representative of [insert applicant’s name] certify that:
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— |
I have read and agree to the General Terms and Conditions as stipulated in the model contribution agreement, |
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the applicant is not in one of the situations referred to in Article 136(1)(*) and 141(*) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council (‘Financial Regulation’) (5), |
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— |
the applicant is not subject of any of the sanctions provided for in Article 27(1)(*) and in points (v), (vi) and (vii) of Article 27(2)(a)(*) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6), |
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— |
the information supplied in this application and its annexes is accurate and no information has been withheld, either in full or in part, from the European Parliament. |
Authorised signature:
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Title (Mrs, Mr, Prof...), name and forename: |
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Function in the organisation applying for funding: |
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Place/Date: |
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Signature: |
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(*) |
The Articles listed above are referred to below:
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In accordance with Article 18(2) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014, the applicant may not be the subject of any of the sanctions provided for in Article 27(1) and in points (a)(v), (vi) and (vii) of Article 27(2).
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Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014 - Article 27(1): In accordance with Article 16, the Authority shall decide to remove a European political party or a European political foundation from the Register by way of sanction in any of the following situations:
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Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014 - Article 27(2)(a)(v), (vi) and (vii): The Authority shall impose financial sanctions in the following situations:
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(1) The category of the funding is the contribution to European political parties, pursuant to Title XI of the Financial Regulation (OJ L 193, 30.7.2018, p. 1).
(2) For example with reference to relevant provisions of the statutes of the applicant, where applicable.
(3) For MEPs that are affiliated to a European political party directly on an individual basis, a membership form from each of the MEPs claimed by the applicant has to be provided. For MEPs that are affiliated to European political party indirectly through their member party, the following documents are necessary: a membership form for each member party, signed by a person authorised legally to represent that member party or, in alternative, a proof of payment of the 2022 membership fee in the form of a bank transfer originating from each member party or, in further alternative, a membership form from each of the MEPs claimed by the applicant. Template membership forms for MEPs and member parties can be requested from the Authority.
(4) If a European political party has recently provided part of the documentation identified above to the Authority, the EP will not request the production of that documentation again. It is however incumbent upon each applicant to set out clearly in its application for funding what documentation it provided to the Authority and when.
ANNEX b
ESTIMATED BUDGET
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Expenditure |
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Revenue |
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Reimbursable expenditure |
Budget |
Actual |
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Budget |
Actual |
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n/a |
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Non-reimbursable expenditure
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C. TOTAL EXPENDITURE |
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