On Wednesday 28 June, the Council Ministers of the EU gave the Presidency a mandate to start talks with the European Parliament on the proposal to simplify the budgetary rules of the EU (see EUROPE 11810).
The draft 'omnibus' regulation will amend the financial regulation as well as 15 sectoral legislative acts, covering agriculture and cohesion policy, amongst other areas.
“The Council wants to simplify life for both beneficiaries and administrators of EU funds”, a press release states.
In its negotiating position, the Council supports the option to base EU payments on results rather than on the reimbursement of costs incurred. This would save beneficiaries and authorities a great deal of time and money in implementing EU funding. This, in turn, would reduce the risk of error.
The new rules would also allow for easier use of lump sums. For instance, researchers could spend more time in their laboratories and less in documenting their travel expenses.
In an effort to reduce the number of controls, the Council also supported the idea of allowing the Commission to rely as far as possible on existing audits, assessments or authorisations. The aim of this is to cut red tape and allow beneficiaries and the Commission to spend more time on other tasks rather than administrative formalities.
The Commission's proposal dates back to September 2016 and was presented as part of the mid-term review of the EU's multi-annual financial framework (MFF) 2014-2020. Trialogue discussions between the Presidency of the Council and representatives of the Parliament and the Commission will start in the coming weeks. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)