EXP Legal provides its clients with all necessary advice and assistance in the field of European Union funding, grants and subsidies (direct/indirect).

Specifically, this area includes any form of financing, grant, subsidy or tax credit aimed at financially supporting researchers, farmers and rural businesses, small & medium-sized businesses, young people, public bodies, non-governmental and non-profit organizations.

EU funding comes in many different forms:

• grants – partly funded by the EU and partly from other sources – that usually follow public announcements known as “calls for proposals”;
• subsidies managed by national and regional authorities;
• loans, guarantees and equity as forms of financial assistance to support EU policies and programmes;
• prizes to winners of Horizon 2020 contests.

The first category - Direct funding – include funding managed by the EU usually in the form of grants for specific projects related to EU policies.

The “shared management” is, instead, a system of funding managed in partnership with national and regional authorities, accounting for around 80% of the EU budget. Five main funds are used for this, under the umbrella of the European structural & investment funds:

• European Regional Development Fund – regional and urban development;
• European Social Fund – social inclusion and good governance;
• Cohesion Fund – economic convergence by less developed regions;
• European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development;
• European Maritime and Fisheries Fund.

Last category – Indirect funding – include funding managed by national and regional authorities, not the EU. Also known as subsidies, people can apply for this type of funding at national level (Ministries, State-owned Companies, Regions and/or local Chambers of Commerce).