Brussels, 27/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - In a resolution on simplifying and improving the effectiveness of cohesion policy 2014-2020, adopted by a comfortable majority (562 votes to 10, 41 abstentions) on Thursday 26 November, MEPs call on the European Commission to introduce detailed guidelines on simplification to make member states and regions aware of their task of eliminating or at least significantly reducing the administrative burden.
MEPs ask the Commission to provide the member states and their regions with a roadmap for streamlining and simplifying control, monitoring and reporting activities, including for recipients. This matter was discussed by ministers responsible for regional policy earlier in the month (see EUROPE 11433).
Parliament calls on member states to abide by the deadline of 31 December 2015, as provided for in Article 122(3) of the common provision regulation, for switching to e-cohesion, which allows information to be exchanged electronically between recipients and authorities in charge of regional programmes, to bring about a significant reduction in the application-to-grant time.
Finally, in another perennial request, MEPs call for increased use of the multi-fund approach, which allows recipients to make use of more than one fund for a single project, in line with the provisions of cohesion policy 2014-2020. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)