Although a form of European funding, Structural Funds are still considered a State resource as the national government has an influence in how they are spent. Therefore there may be State Aid present. This is important, for example, when dealing with proposed new financial instruments to be provided to SME’s under COSME, Horizon 2020, the EIF and EIB.
Under the Structural Funds Programmes (SFs), it should be noted that there may be State aid present in any of the awards made by public authorities that confer a benefit on an undertaking. (An undertaking is an entity that is involved in economic activity, irrespective of its legal form or how it is financed or whether it has a for profit orientation or not).
First, the status - whether State aid or not - of all public monies involved in SFs projects (that is, both SF and public match funding combined) needs to be considered. To do this the five key State aid tests need to be applied to both the public match funding and SFs.