Brussels, 10/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - There is still some uncertainty as to the effectiveness of the European Commission's 'task force' to facilitate the absorption of the European structural funds 2007-2013.
This cell, which was launched in November 2014 by Corina Cretu, the European Commissioner for Regional Policy, will aim to help the eight countries (Slovenia, Croatia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Italy) which are struggling the most to absorb as much European money as possible by the end of 2015 (see EUROPE 11224).
The work of this 'task force' will translate into an action plan for each of these countries - a plan submitted by the national authority following discussions with Community experts, and then cleared by the Regional Policy services of the Commission. The first problem, however, is that it will take time to draft and approve these plans, and 2015 is already well underway. In late March, the Commission said that only the plans of Slovenia and Croatia had already been approved. Hungary's plan had not yet been submitted, and the other plans were being assessed (see EUROPE 11284). As regards Slovakia, a source working on the issue told EUROPE that the Commission's response was expected for September. The Commission has made no comment on the length of time the procedure is taking. One Commission source put this down to the administrative processes, but another implied that there were problems of substance in a number of cases.
The second problem is that towards the end of a period, the number of actions possible to improve the absorption is limited. These include the submission of new projects, transferring operational programmes within a priority line and making changes to the operational programmes (which requires the Commission's approval). The Commission is also laying great emphasis on the use of the financial instruments.
For their part, the member states are reluctant to give much away about the details of their plans. The only exception is the Permanent Representation of Italy, which told EUROPE that the Italian plan submitted consisted largely of updating the current monitoring programme. This programme was set in place in 2012, and contained interim absorption objectives in the run-up to December 2015. According to the data available on the website 'Opencoesione.gov.it', these interim targets are: 85% by around April 2015, 95% by November and 100% in December. The Czech Republic told EUROPE that specific measures were indeed being discussed, but “there has been no official action plan submitted”.
The Italian Permanent Representation also said that Corina Cretu's visit to Italy, planned for 22 to 25 April, could be delayed. Graziano Delrio, the under-secretary to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers with responsibility for the European funds, stepped down last week and his replacement has not yet been announced. A final decision about the visit is to be taken next week. (Jean Comte)