Brussels, 16/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 16 February, the Chairman of the high-level cohesion policy simplification group, Siim Kallas, informed MEPs from the Regional Development Committee that the first e-governance report would be published by the end of February.
According to this former Commissioner, who held a number of different portfolios under the Barroso Commission, e-governance is one of the areas where it is possible to take swift action. The group considers that many challenges still need to be met, such as the question of data protection, storage difficulties, as well as the lack of end-users' skills. In this connection, Kallas is proposing the development of specialist training but also recognised that such an initiative would incur a cost. He believes that the single European point of contact project is unrealistic.
Another dossier that is expected to be the subject of a report shortly, without any precise date being specified for it, involves the simplified cost options, introduced during the previous period and which aims to reduce charges relating to financial management, inspections and audits at all the different levels. In this respect, Kallas thinks that further clarification is necessary and should also be provided through legislation, in order to speed up procedures, whilst ensuring a more robust guarantee for beneficiaries.
Kallas also tackled the question of SMEs' access to finance, the complexity of financial instruments and the exorbitant number and increasingly rigid nature of guidelines that seek to clarify European legislation, as well as the question of the sometimes-excessive number of inappropriate audits and inspections. In this connection, he would like to raise the ceiling on the number of errors deemed acceptable.
The work that he has undertaken received an overall positive response from MEPs. Nonetheless, some of them, following on from Lambert van Nistelrooij (EPP, Netherlands) and Rosa D'Amato (EFDD, Italy), had questions regarding the substance of the high level group's mandate and asked whether the group sought to put forward concrete legislative proposals. The former Commissioner said that the primary aim of the group was to listen to end users, rather than to propose any legislative amendments.
Derek Vaughan (S&D, United Kingdom) regretted that MEPs were unable to take part in this group. At a more general level, many MEPs expressed concern that the activities of the group would make the use of the rules more complex rather than simplify them. The former Commissioner provided assurances that he sought to get to grips with the “regulatory jungle”, in keeping with the better regulation programme. He also believes that the main problem can be located in the multiplicity of guidelines published by the Commission, which are sometimes more restrictive than the basic regulation. Matthijs van Miltenburg (ADLE, Netherlands) considers that less precise rules at a European level create an overproduction of rules at national and local levels.
Andrey Novakov MEP (EPP, Bulgaria) regretted that the publication of the final group report is planned for 2018, which he believes is too late. The Commissioner replied that “We have to begin at the beginning” and pointed out that the group had only been working since October. The group on simplification was effectively launched last July (see EUROPE 11356). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)