Brussels, 09/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - The work being done by the high-level group on simplification is beginning to bear fruit and, consequently, implementing its proposals and recommendations will be the next major challenge to be met, said Regional Policy Commissioner Corina Cretu in a speech at the University of Babes-Bolyai, Romania, on Thursday 5 May.
Cretu also noted that the European Commission is now getting down to the work of transposing the group's first recommendations. She said that some of these recommendations could be applied swiftly but others will need amendments to be made to the regulations. She highlighted Regulation 1303/2013 laying down common provisions on the European structural and investment funds (ESI funds).
For the commissioner, things are looking good at present, as simplification has been put at the top of the member states' priorities and also of the European institutions'. She paid tribute to the work done by the European Parliament, in particular by the regional development (REGI) committee and especially by its chair, Iskra Mihaylova (ALDE, Bulgaria). Mihaylova is particularly active on the issue of simplification and was the prime mover on a resolution on speeding up implementation of cohesion policy 2014-2020 which will be put to the vote in plenary session on Wednesday 11 May.
The group on simplification, which was launched in July 2015 on the initiative of the commissioner (see EUROPE 11356), has presented or is currently drafting recommendations on online governance (e-governance), simplifying access to funding, especially financial instruments, for SMEs, and introducing greater flexibility in audits. It is due to present its final report in 2018, a date seen by a number of MEPs as too late in the preparation of the new, posr-2020, cohesion policy (see EUROPE 11491). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)