The assurance framework for cohesion policy has certainly helped to lower the overall level of error since 2007, but it has not been effective enough to bring it below the 2% materiality threshold set in the regulations, according to a special report published on Monday 8 July by the EU Court of Auditors on cohesion spending in the 2014-2020 period.
“Our audit results for this period systematically show error levels, both annual and multiannual, above the materiality threshold of 2%,” states the Court’s report. This institution believes that the European Commission is underestimating the level of error.
For the 2014-2020 period, cohesion spending amounted to €409 billion, more than a third of the EU budget.
The managing authorities, as the first line of defence in the insurance model, play a key role at Member State level in ensuring the regularity of cohesion spending. However, their controls do not yet sufficiently mitigate the high risk of error inherent in this expenditure, according to the auditors, who estimate that around half of the additional errors for the 2014-2020 period can be attributed to acts or omissions by the managing authorities.
The Member States’ audit authorities are the second line of defence. The Court of Auditors has noted improvements in their ability to detect irregularities relating to public procurement, but for other types of error, this ability still needs to be strengthened.
Ineligible expenditure and projects were the most common type of error, followed by non-compliance with state aid rules and non-compliance with national and EU public procurement rules.
The auditors found that the level of error exceeds materiality in most of the main Member States benefiting from cohesion funds. Nine Member States (Poland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania, Greece and Germany), which account for more than 76% of cohesion spending, contributed 91% of the estimated level of error for the 2014-2020 period.
Looking at the 2007-2013 and 2014-2020 multiannual budget cycles, the overall level of error in cohesion spending has fallen from 6% to 4.8%, but has exceeded the 2% threshold set in the regulations every year - with a record value of 6.7% in 2022.
The analysis also shows that the number of cases where the residual error rates recalculated by the Commission exceeded the materiality threshold was particularly high for certain Member States: Greece (45% of files for insurance purposes), France (22%), Italy (26%), Lithuania (36%), Portugal (36%) and Slovakia (29%). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)