EIPA flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

ERDF

European Regional Development Fund; finances infrastructure, innovation, SME support and urban development under cohesion policy, and is one of the main ESIF funds under shared management.

Partnership Agreement

Strategic document agreed between the Commission and a Member State that sets out investment priorities and the programming of ESIF funds for the 2021–2027 period.

RRF milestones and targets

Qualitative and quantitative indicators in a Recovery and Resilience Plan; each must be fulfilled satisfactorily before the Commission releases the linked instalment to the Member State.

De minimis aid ceiling

Aid of up to €300,000 per single undertaking over any three-year period under Regulation (EU) 2023/2831, deemed not to distort competition and exempt from notification.

Altmark conditions

Four cumulative tests for public service compensation: a clear public service mandate, objective parameters fixed in advance, no overcompensation, and either a public tender or benchmarking.

Standstill period

A minimum of 10 days (15 if non-electronic means are used) between notifying the contract award decision and signing the contract, enabling unsuccessful bidders to seek review.

Competitive dialogue

Procurement procedure used for complex contracts in which the contracting authority discusses possible solutions with selected candidates before inviting them to submit tenders.

Ordinary legislative procedure

Article 294 TFEU procedure in which the European Parliament and the Council adopt legislation jointly on a Commission proposal, through up to three readings and conciliation.

Qualified majority voting

Council voting rule requiring 55% of Member States, at least 16, representing at least 65% of the EU population; a blocking minority needs at least four Member States.

Trilogue

Informal tripartite negotiation between Parliament, Council and Commission representatives that produces a provisional compromise, which is then formally adopted under the legislative procedure.

Yellow card procedure

Within eight weeks of a draft legislative act, one third of national parliaments may issue reasoned opinions on subsidiarity, obliging the Commission to review and justify the proposal.

Delegated act

Article 290 TFEU act adopted by the Commission to supplement or amend non-essential elements of a legislative act, subject to possible veto by Parliament or Council.

Council Presidency trio

Three Member States holding the six-month rotating Council Presidency in succession for eighteen months, jointly agreeing a strategic programme for that period.

CAF enablers

The five Common Assessment Framework criteria covering what an organisation does: leadership, strategy and planning, people, partnerships and resources, and processes.

SECI knowledge model

Nonaka's four knowledge conversion modes: socialisation from tacit to tacit, externalisation from tacit to explicit, combination from explicit to explicit, and internalisation from explicit to tacit.

Tacit knowledge

Knowledge rooted in personal experience, intuition and context that is difficult to codify, typically transferred through mentoring, shadowing and communities of practice rather than documents.

PDCA cycle

Plan–Do–Check–Act loop underpinning quality management standards and CAF self-assessment, used to drive continuous improvement of processes, enablers and results.

After-action review

Structured debrief held immediately after an activity asking what was expected, what actually happened, why the difference arose and what should be improved next time.

Constructive abstention

CFSP mechanism letting a Member State abstain while accepting that a decision binds the Union; the decision fails if abstentions exceed one third of weighted votes.

Global Gateway

EU investment strategy launched in 2021 to mobilise up to €300 billion in partner countries by 2027 across digital, climate and energy, transport, health, education and research.

Common commercial policy

Exclusive EU competence under Article 207 TFEU covering tariffs, trade agreements and trade-related rules; the Commission negotiates and the Council authorises signature and conclusion.

Copenhagen criteria

1993 accession conditions: stable institutions guaranteeing democracy, rule of law and human rights; a functioning market economy; and capacity to assume the obligations of membership.

Direct effect

Principle established in Van Gend en Loos (1963) that sufficiently clear and unconditional EU provisions create rights individuals can invoke directly before national courts.

Directive

Article 288 TFEU act binding Member States as to the result to be achieved while leaving the choice of form and methods; it must be transposed by a stated deadline.

NIS2 notification deadlines

Under Directive (EU) 2022/2555 covered entities must send an early warning within 24 hours, a full incident notification within 72 hours, and a final report within one month.

GDPR breach notification

Controllers must notify the supervisory authority within 72 hours of becoming aware of a personal data breach, unless it is unlikely to result in a risk to individuals.

Schengen acquis

Body of EU law abolishing internal border controls and covering external border management, visas, police and judicial cooperation, with opt-outs for Ireland and Denmark.

Preliminary ruling

Article 267 TFEU mechanism by which national courts ask the Court of Justice to interpret EU law or assess validity; courts of last instance are obliged to refer.

AI Act risk tiers

Four regulatory categories: unacceptable risk (prohibited), high risk (conformity assessment and registration), limited risk (transparency duties) and minimal risk (no substantive obligations).

GPAI systemic risk threshold

General-purpose AI models trained with more than 10^25 FLOPs of compute are presumed to carry systemic risk, triggering model evaluation, adversarial testing and serious-incident reporting duties.

European AI Office

Unit established within the Commission in 2024 that enforces AI Act rules for general-purpose AI models and coordinates the European AI Board, scientific panel and advisory forum.

Prohibited AI practices

Since 2 February 2025 the Act bans social scoring, manipulative techniques, exploiting vulnerabilities, emotion recognition at work or school, untargeted facial scraping and most real-time public biometric identification.