For the new cohesion policy, the European Commission is considering not earmarking a portion of the budget at the start of the programming period, thus building in some wiggle room in the event of unforeseen needs, a source consulted on Monday 7 November has said.
Two of the main complaints against cohesion policy are the slowness of implementation and results (see EUROPE 11549) and its lack of flexibility, even though the Commission has brought in some peripheral changes in the programming of funds to cope with the influx of refugees and new arrivals (see EUROPE 11584). Making only part of the budget available for programming would give the Commission a “flexibility reserve”.
Shared management. Among the other points discussed by the Commission is shared management, which applies in cohesion policy though not in other programmes (Horizon 2020, Connecting Europe Facility or the Juncker plan). Shared management sometimes comes in for criticism for its complexity. One possibility under consideration is budget support to the member states. The Commission appears, however, to want to maintain this form of management which is felt to be best able to address specific regional conditions.
Audit and monitoring differentiation. The Commission would appear to be increasingly inclined towards differentiated audits and checks (see EUROPE 11626), working from the position that some regions are more prone to errors and fraud than others and should, consequently, face closer scrutiny than those where the administrative system is more robust.
Ex ante conditionalities. The Commission will definitely continue ex ante conditionalities, for example, in line with the European semester, EUROPE been told. Ex ante conditionalities appear to be well liked by the regions (see EUROPE 11661 and 11644), notably as part of smart specialisation.
Simplification. DG Regional Policy would seem to want to move towards a single regulation for the five funds currently under shared management in order to cut red tape.
Timescale. A public consultation on the future of cohesion policy is expected to be launched in March or April and to run until June 2017, followed by a forum on the issue, probably towards the end of June. A report on the new cohesion policy could then be presented in September or October of the same year, with legislative proposals being tabled in the first half of 2018.
Earmarking only a portion of the budget at the start of the programming period is one option among others. Lightening the procedure for designating managing authorities could speed up the implementation of cohesion policy, EUROPE's source suggested. For this, one of the possibilities would be to make revision easier in the course of the programming period, rather than setting credits aside for the needs of regional and local authorities. More generally, flexibility, while necessary, worries a number of regions since it could potentially result in a lessening of transparency and a loss of budgetary security in the long term. Introducing greater fungibility, which would allow a managing authority to use funding for expenditure not planned in the programme also raises fears, many seeing in it the risk of transfers from the economic, social and territorial cohesion heading of the budget (heading 1b) to other European budgets facing more immediate pressure.
The European Commission is currently working internally to prepare avenues for reflection on the future of cohesion policy after 2020. Last week, the peripheral maritime regions adopted a position on the future of cohesion policy (see EUROPE 11661). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)