Postdoc Fellowships Collision I recently won a 2-year postdoc fellowship in a prestigious EU university (funded by the university itself). I also applied a few months ago for a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship selecting as host istitution the same university. 

If I would win the Marie Curie (I will get the notification in February), I would be in the position where I should decide whether to quit the current fellowship and take the Marie Curie, or to refuse the Marie Curie. (I could also decide to delay the acceptance of the University fellowship and decide in February). The salary of the University fellowship is a bit higher than the Marie Curie, but the rest would be pretty much the same, especially regarding the research team and research project. 

I would like to analyze the pro and cons of such decisions. Namely: 


Will the Marie Curie program offer me some benefit in terms of visibility, networking, etc...?
There will be differences in saying on the CV that I worked for 2 years funded by University X rather than by the EU Commission with a Marie Cure Individual Fellowship?
Isn't already a good thing saying that you won a Marie Curie (even if you refused the fundings?) Or there is any concrete difference for an evaluator between winning and taking the funding?
Could refusing the fundings be seen as a 'bad' thing by the EU commission?


It is quite likely that I will not get the Marie Curie, but it is better to start thinking beforehand how to deal with this situation if it will occur.
I think this is a situation where you should try to 'have your cake and eat it', that is try to do both. 

If you get the Marie-Curie it usually comes with the stipulation that you should start it at some point in the next 12 months, chosen at your convenience. So you have some flexibility there but presumably not quite enough to just start it at the end of the university fellowship. The university on the other hand could be more flexible and should also be willing to be so as a Marie Curie fellow is prestigeous for the university as well. So if you do get the Marie Curie, I would suggest to go to the funding office of the university and ask them whether you can pause your university grant for the duration of the Marie Curie fellowship. It seems quite likely to me that they will accept such a proposal. 

Best of luck with the fellowship applications.