A study by the Conference of Peripheral and Maritime Regions (CPMR), published on Thursday 15 July, shows that the delay in the programming of European structural funds has never been so marked compared to the two previous Multiannual Financial Frameworks.
“The fate of the film ‘Groundhog Day’ seems to hang over the new programming period for the cohesion funds”, the organisation comments ironically in its study. The same pattern of delay that marked the start of the previous periods (2007-2013 and 2014-2020) is being repeated in the current period.
The organisation questions the length of the translation process for the cohesion policy package, which has taken “an unusually long time”. Furthermore, the CPMR believes that the time needed to deploy the Next Generation EU Recovery Plan has also had an impact on delays.
Finally, a third reason is apparently that several Managing Authorities have to cope with the additional programming under the REACT-EU initiative. This, combined with the administrative burden of the full closure of the 2014-2020 programmes, is slowing down the programming for 2021-2027.
In the long term, for the CPMR, the main risk would be undermining the post-2027 negotiations on the future of cohesion policy, whose critics could exploit the delays observed.
For the full study: https://bit.ly/3wFaVmd (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)