In a speech on the future of cohesion policy delivered in Bratislava on Thursday 15 September, Regional Policy Commissioner Corina Cretu acknowledged that implementation of cohesion policy was not as fast as it should be and she expressed concern at the possible consequences of such a situation just as talks are opening to chart the future course of the policy.
The commissioner could not have been clearer in the opening sentences of her speech: cohesion policy will be put under great pressure, “it will be criticised; many will argue that it is time to move beyond it”. In her view, the current slowness of implementation of the operational programmes could carry “reputational risks” for the policy at a time when “we are entering a difficult discussion on the future of the EU budget”.
Cretu highlighted what had been done during her term to simplify delivery of funds, increase the use of simplified cost options (see EUROPE 11491), simplify articulation of structural and investment funds (ESIF) with the European fund for strategic investment (EFSI) (see EUROPE 11615) and Horizon 2020, and the setting up of the high-level group on simplification (see EUROPE 11481). For the current period, the commissioner was clear on the room for manoeuvre available: the limit has been reached “within a system, whose foundations have not changed radically for more than 25 years”.
Possible pathways for the future of cohesion policy after 2020. Commissioner Cretu is of the view that the time has come for radical change. She repeated the idea of a variable audit and monitoring system, reflecting the administrative and institutional structures in the various member states and the results achieved. The Commission could, in future, even take a hands-off approach where administrations can prove that they have robust, reliable audit systems in place, she said.
The commissioner said she wants to put an end to “gold-plating”, the overload of national, regional and local rules (see EUROPE 11571). Cretu proposed a single set of rules for shared management funds.
She also broached the issue of how to strengthen the support of cohesion policy for structural reform, without compromising the targets set in the treaties, and building on the successful introduction of ex-ante conditionalities introduced for the 2014-2020 period.
Cretu lastly used this opportunity to announce some of the next stages. In October, an evaluation of the preceding period is expected to be presented. An impact assessment exercise will be launched in 2017 to prepare for the future policy and a cohesion forum will be held in June of next year, she said. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)