A cooperation project is carried out jointly by several entities, with one of them acting as the lead partner and bearing the contractual relationship with the provider. The other partners have their own part of the budget and their own activities, but the output is assessed as a single whole. This form is used where a single applicant does not have sufficient capacity, or where cooperation is a direct condition of the call – typically in cross-border cooperation programmes, in research, and in education. The key document is the partnership agreement, which divides responsibility for expenditure, sets rules for communication, and addresses what happens if one of the partners withdraws. The risk is clear: a failure by one partner can mean a reduction in the contribution for the entire project, so it is worth introducing joint document checks even before the payment request is submitted.
See also: Consortium in a European project, Partnership Agreement, Cross-border project.
