Brussels, 10/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - Just a tenth of the operational programmes (OPs) have been adopted by the European Commission, a long way from the half promised for the end of the year by Corina Cretu, the European Commissioner for Regional Development. The pace should pick up speed over the next two weeks.
300 operational programmes submitted by the member states must be approved by her services in order to enjoy co-funding under the structural and investment funds, in the framework of the financial programming for 2014-2020. With the first year of the cycle drawing to a close, this is the case for only around 30 of them (including German, Lithuanian, Latvian, Slovenian, French, Dutch and British OPs). Given the impatience of the member states, members of the European Parliament and beneficiaries, the new Commissioner has pledged to make sure that 100 to 150 of them get their green light by the end of the year.
The total is therefore still way off the mark, but the Commission has not given up hope of being able to keep its word. 25 operational programmes are expected to be approved next week and no fewer than 75 the week after. “It all depends on the Commissioner and whether she decides to analyse all of them in detail”, explained a European source close to the dossier. However, it appears that some member states may lose out, as certain Belgian, Italian, Maltese, Swedish and Romanian operational programmes are still missing. (MD)