Brussels, 25/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - “The Commission and member states have not sufficiently shown what has been achieved in relation to the rural development policy objectives and there is a lack of assurance that the EU's budget has been well spent”: this was the damning verdict of the Court of Auditors, in a report published on Friday 22 November on the rural development policy, which was worth €100 billion over the period 2007-2013.
The Court assessed whether the Commission and the member states can demonstrate that the budget allocated by the EU to the rural development policy has been well spent.
The Court noted that: - the objectives set for rural development expenditure were not sufficiently clear; - given the lack of information and communication regarding the results, it was impossible to determine the extent to which the objectives set had been achieved, and whether the EU budget had been spent efficiently; - the monitoring and evaluation information available had not sufficiently been used to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the rural development expenditure.
The Commission's proposals for the period 2014-2020 (which have already been adopted by the EP) are more results-focused, the Court says. “This increased focus does not require new legislation; it can and should start now to ensure that the EU's budget is spent well, particularly as the end of the 2007-13 programming period approaches and the risk increases the remaining budget is spent hastily to meet the 2015 cut-off date for payments”. (LC/transl.fl)