Brussels, 25/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament has put Corina Cretu up against the wall with regard to the accumulated delays involving implementation of programmes financed through European Structural Funds. The European Commissioner for Regional Development provided assurances on Monday 24 November that no money was going to waste but that she was just as concerned as the MEPs about unpaid invoices.
The chair of the EP's regional development committee, Iskra Mihaylova (ALDE Bulgaria) asked for information regarding the timetable for adopting the operational programmes that will be financed during the 2014-20 programming period. She indicated that barely one out of three hundred programmes would be adopted this year. Iskra Mihaylova wanted to know what would happen to the commitments made for the programmes that will not be adopted by the end of the first year and said “the 2014 commitments can only be maintained by re-budgeting the amounts not committed for 2014, which would involve revising the multiannual financial framework”. She also asked what measures would be taken by the Commission to ensure that, “2014 is not a year in which European investments are lost”.
Cretu admitted that it was “physically impossible” to adopt all the programme by the end of the year and that the priority would be on the most advanced projects. Half of the programmes are expected to be approved by the end of the year and the remainder by March at the latest, explained the Commissioner. She confirmed that given spending has been possible since January 2014, member states must not wait for the programmes to be adopted to begin action. The Commission will put forward a revised budget in February 2015 in order to reallocate funds that were not spent in 2014. She is hoping that the proposal will be adopted in May 2015 at the latest. Mihaylova also referred to the accumulation of unpaid invoices over the 2007-13 period. The Commissioner explained that delayed payments was not expected to have an impact on the new 2014-20 programming period. A resolution on the subject will be adopted on Thursday 27 November by the EP. (MD)