Brussels, 03/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - The specific measures for agriculture in favour of the outermost regions of the European Union and the smaller Aegean islands were deemed effective by the European Court of Auditors. These measures were implemented to take into account the regions' structural, social and economic situation. The European Court of Auditors assessed the effectiveness of the specific measures after their reform in 2006. The Court explained that the reform involved a shift towards greater regional participation, and to decentralisation and flexibility in decision-making, on the basis of programmes presented by member states for approval by the European Commission. In general, the Court noted that the specific measures were effective and extremely important for agriculture in the regions concerned. However, the Court identified a number of weaknesses in the management of the arrangements, which provide room for further improvements in the specific measures. The Court concludes that the new bottom-up, decentralised approach introduced by the 2006 reform of the specific measures has not been sufficiently applied in order to improve the effectiveness of the existing measures. During the programming and approval phase of the programmes, over a period of only six months, the Commission gave priority to the task of monitoring the compliance and consistency of the programmes rather than assuming its role as a manager, and thus actively contributing to the design of the programmes so as to ensure they were effective. This finding also applies to the procedure for modifying the programmes for subsequent years. As regards the implementation of the programmes, the Court identified measures or actions, which are likely to be at best partly effective as a result of their design. In addition, the existing control systems in the member states concerned are not always suited to the diverse nature of the specific measures. It mainly confines itself to evaluating the measures over a five-year period. The annual implementation reports provided by the member states are not harmonised enough to constitute a management information system for the Commission. (B.C./transl.fl)