The Essentials Exam certifies that a candidate can: understand the specific nature of EU-funded projects and the difference between grants and other implementation logics, recognise the structure of EUPM² across governance, lifecycle, processes, artefacts, and mindsets, follow the flow of a project from call for proposals through designing, preparing, executing, closing, and monitoring & control, identify the main roles, responsibilities, documents, and decision points used in an EUPM² project.