Brussels, 07/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - The expansion of online trade has undeniably benefited from the support of European subsidies as part of cohesion policy. The European Court of Auditors (ECA), however, regrets that the scale of this aid is difficult to quantify. European Commission follow-up is subject to question in an audit report published on Wednesday 7 January.
The European Court of Auditors has closely examined around 30 different projects involved in the digital economy and online businesses, which are partly funded through the European Regional Development Fund in Italy, Greece, Poland and the United Kingdom between 2007 and 2013. It transpires that the aid granted to SMEs as part of these projects working in the information technology field, helped to increase the number of online commercial services but nothing suggests how the objectives specifically pursued were carried out. According to the ECA, it would appear that too much importance has focused on the absorption of available funds but not enough on obtaining results during both project selection and follow-up. This therefore led the member of the European Court of Auditors responsible for the report, Oskar Herics, to suggest that the European Commission should do better when attempting to ensure that member states monitor the impact of subsidies on the development of small businesses and establish links between payments and results. He added that, “using information motorways is a good thing but we still need to know where we're going”.
The ECA's recommendations highlight the need to produce reliable and coherent information in the member states about financing programmes, what needs to be done during selection procedures and what should be put in place with regard to the impact follow-up of subsidies by programme managers in member states.
The European Commission has formally taken note of the conclusions and comments made by the European Court of Auditors and states that the real challenge is one of, “establishing links between ERDF payments in favour of e-commerce and the results obtained”. (MD)