Brussels, 27/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - It will be necessary to take measures to improve the take-up rate of structural and cohesion funds granted to member states and regions. This was the clear signal given by the European Parliament to the Commission on Tuesday 27 September, when it adopted the report by Michael Theurer (ALDE, Germany) on lessons to be learned with a view to a future EU cohesion policy (accounting for nearly one quarter of the EU budget). According to the latest estimates, the take-up rate of funding for the 2007-2013 programme would rise with great difficulty to 29.2%, but would nonetheless gather pace, according to Commissioner Šefèoviè, responsible for interinstitutional relations and administration.
Lessons learned. Theurer's resolution highlights the most frequent problems that prevent cohesion fund beneficiaries from fully and effectively using the funding attributed to them: over-complicated rules and procedures, insufficient means available to national or regional authorities allowing them to co-fund projects, difficulties in setting up a management or control system, and, of course, the global economic recession with all the budget cuts entailed. As Miroslav Mikolášik (EPP, Slovakia) said: “Unfortunately, the most disadvantaged regions, that have the most need of funding, often lag behind in their absorption capacity due to the lack of co-funding, administrative and human resources.” In order to remedy this low take-up rate, Theurer tabled numerous proposals including: - simplifying and relaxing rules and procedures; penalising fraud; and using a single audit system as a base from the next planning period on. It would be a matter of better applying the principle of proportionality, better preparation of projects and the placing of projects in reserve, as well as having qualified personnel on whom one can count. The multiannual financial framework should be adopted in time, and should allocate a sufficient budget to cohesion policy.
Romanian analysis. In his presentation of his draft resolution on Monday 26 September, the rapporteur was critical of the poor results, and even decline in take-up rates, in founding countries, such as Italy, with Calabria and Sicily, and Greece and also in new member states, such as Romania and Bulgaria. Romanian MEPs of all parties were quick to speak in defence of maintaining the funding and simplifying the rules. “If there was greater simplification, the absorption rate would be better, with greater transparency, fewer errors in submissions and fewer delays in payment”, argued Elena Oana Antonescu (EPP, Romania). Silvia-Adriana Þicãu (S&D, Romania) acknowledged that Romania had a poor take-up rate “but this should not mean a reduction in the funding that Romania can access, and which it desperately needs, in 2014-2020”. Romanian Christian Democrats Elena Bãsescu and Iosif Matula (both EPP) pointed out that Romania had recently set up a Ministry for European Funding which should help better coordinate the work of the various Romanian institutions.
In response to the debate, Commissioner Šefèoviè gave assurances that the information and analyses from the European Parliament would be taken into account in the preparation of the regulation for the period 2014-2020 (see EUROPE 10460). (MD/transl/jl/rt)