PPPA – Pilot Projects and Preparatory Actions – 2021-2027

Pilot projects (PP) and Preparatory Actions (PA) are important tools for the formulation of political priorities and the introduction of new initiatives that might turn into standing EU activities and programmes (having their own budget lines). The sustainability and durability of the results produced by a PP-PA, therefore, are key elements for assessing the success of a pilot project or a preparatory action.

Objectives

• A Pilot Project is an initiative of an experimental nature designed to test the feasibility of an action and its usefulness and lasts not more than two years
• A Preparatory Action – normally the successor of a successful pilot project on the same matter – is designed to prepare new actions like EU policies, legislation, programmes etc. with funding for not more than three years

Structure

• Pilot projects (PP) and Preparatory Actions (PA) calls for proposals can be either or both:
  • Pilot projects (PP) call for proposals
  • Preparatory Actions (PA) calls for proposals

Specificities of this programme

• As this programme allows to start completely new initiatives, there is a derogation to the usual EU grant procedure
  • Standard process: Any EU expenditure requires a dual legal basis: entry in the EU budget and, as a general rule, prior adoption of an act of secondary legislation authorizing the expenditure in question. PP-PAs are an exception to this rule
  • PPPA process: Article 54 (2) of the Financial Regulation provides for their legal basis, i.e. a derogation to the principle under which appropriations can only be entered in the EU budget if a legal act has been adopted previously; in the case of PP-PAs, and by way of exception, a budgetary decision is, therefore, taken prior to any legislative decision.

This specific procedure entails that the list of funded PPPA is envisaged annually in the Drat general budget of the European Commission for the related financial year.

It also entails that there is no specific general contact for PPPA but that each DG could launch and manage a PPPA calls for proposals.

As regards the ceilings, the institutions limit the total amount of appropriations for pilot schemes to 40 million per budget year. They also limit to 50 million the total amount of appropriations for new preparatory actions per budgetary year, and to 100 million the total amount of appropriations actually committed for preparatory actions, which leads to a maximum annual budget of 140 million euro for all PPPAs.