Brussels, 14/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - As it is about to complete the adoption of all the operational programmes, the European Commission presented a report on Monday 14 December on the outcomes of the negotiations with all member states on partnership agreements and structural and investment fund programmes under the terms of Article 16 of the regulation on the funds (1303/2013).
According to a European source reacting to the findings of the report, the main obstacles to the smooth operation of use of funding currently remains financial resources and the lack of qualified staff in national and regional administrations. The difficulty is not simply the management of payments but also lies upstream, when projects are being prepared, an important stage since projects have to fit into an overall strategy, with ex-ante conditions to be met.
Irregularities and fraud remain an important area for action for the Commission which organises workshops on how to tackle corruption with some member states, including Hungary. Recently, following on from a report on irregularities from the European Court of Auditors (see EUROPE 11389), the Commission published guidance (see EUROPE 11422). Furthermore, the Commission has made available a mass of information so that areas at risk can be determined. “Monitoring is already differentiated by region”, said an institutional source when asked by EUROPE about the German proposal to adjust monitoring in line with the level of threat of corruption (see EUROPE 11433).
The figures put forward are considerable. European structural and investment (ESI) funds represent close to €454 billion over the period from 2014 to 2020 and form the EU's main investment instrument. The figure rises to €637 billion when national joint financing is included. ESI funding is expected to account for an average of 14% of total public investment, though in some states, it could reach up to 80%. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)