In a report published on Thursday 11 January, the European Court of Auditors considers that the main objectives, functions and responsibility of the Joint Assistance to Support Projects in European Region’s initiative (JASPERS), launched by the European Commission and the European Investment Bank in 2005, were ill defined.
The study concerns Croatia, Malta, Poland and Romania and covers the period from 2006 to end 2016. The findings are harsh. According to the draftees, assistance provided by the initiative is not sufficiently well targeted due to a lack of clarity in objectives, functions and responsibilities. The institution points out that the initiative was originally temporary and only foreseen for the multiannual financial framework 2007-2013, before being extended for the current budgetary period 2014-2020 without a “clear and measurable objective”.
Thus “significant weaknesses” were found, the report says, mainly at the functional level. Project assessment falls upon the same person who validates the work of the division tasked with independent quality assessment and the division tasked with advisory work. At the end of October 2007, the assessment process was not yet in place, the report states. All these failings cause a “high risk of partiality for the advisory function”.
The Court recognises that the initiative has allowed the Commission to approve major projects more rapidly but that it has not had an effect on the absorption of EU funding. On the whole, the Court notes that JASPERS has not improved administrative capacity.
The Court of Auditors thus recommends: - better planning of aid by taking its temporary nature into account; - reducing risks of partiality in assessments; - improving access to documents in order to verify the quality of procedures; - establishing a complete follow-up system for assessments, and ensuring that spending corresponds to real costs.
The full report can be consulted at: http://bit.ly/2mm9I0T . (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)