The procedure for programming rural development measures within the CAP needs to be less complex and more results-based in order to limit in the build-up of delays in implementation, the EU Court of Auditors said in a report published on 14 November.
National rural development programmes (RDP) for 20-member states and regional RDPs for the eight others “are long and complex documents with shortcomings that limit the potential to enhance the focus on performance and results”, said the Court of Auditors in its assessment of the adoption procedure of these RPDs following the last CAP reform. Compliance with the considerable content requirements means a significant administrative effort for national authorities – some RPDs extend to over 1,000 pages in length. The Court recommends, therefore, that programming documents should be simplified and the number of requirements reduced, with the focus on results rather than the means employed.
Vicious circle. The EU plans to spend close to €100 billion on rural development policy over the period from 2014 to 2020 through the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). For the moment, however, only 10% of funding has been used because of delays incurred firstly in negotiations on CAP reform and then in processing the long and complex programmes. The last national rural development programme was approved by the European Commission in December 2015 with two years’ delay. “It’s a vicious circle”, said Katarzyna Radecka-Moroz, one of the authors of the report. She pointed out that, if there is a delay in implementation, at the end of the programming period money remains which has to be spent to quickly thus increasing the risk of error. In addition, the mid-term assessments, scheduled for 2019, will be carried out just as the programmes are coming into effect. Furthermore, a European Commission is already preparing its proposals for the next CAP even before “relevant data are available all expenditure and results for the preceding period”.
The Court of Auditors say is that the European Commission should “work with the member states to ensure that reporting for 2019 provides clear and comprehensive information”. Future programmes must define the various indicators more accurately so that proposals for rural development policy after 2020 can be prepared “in good time”.
The link to the report is:
https://www.eca.europa.eu/Lists/ECADocuments/SR17_16/SR_RURAL_DEV_EN.pdf (Original version in French)