In an analysis document (https://aeur.eu/f/hfx ) published on Thursday 19 June, the EU’s Court of Auditors draws lessons from the past to help the EU improve its cohesion policy, which starts in 2028.
In a month’s time, the European Commission will present its proposal for the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028-2034, said Alejandro Blanco Fernández, the member of the Court who drafted the document.
“I want to highlight that in this review we draw lessons from our previous audits and identify issues for the Commission and the co-legislators to consider when devising their proposals for future cohesion policy support and designing its implementation”, he said.
According to Alejandro Blanco Fernández, EU cohesion policy has provided approximately “€1 trillion in funding between 1989 and 2023, with an additional €400 billion planned between now and 2027”.
The Court’s report highlights a number of opportunities for improvement post-2027:
- when defining the future objectives of cohesion policy, it is necessary to take into account the development needs of the regions as well as the strategic focus;
- the partnership principle must be fully applied, while respecting the roles of the Member States and the regions when negotiating future support under cohesion policy;
- cohesion policy has very often strayed from its original objectives (the Common Provisions Regulations have been amended 16 times and many of the 400 national and regional programmes have been adjusted to allow resources to be reallocated).
“This suggests a need for more flexibility, especially in the programming of the funds, where different studies have proved that one size does not fit all”, defended Alejandro Blanco Fernández. The current rules on thematic concentration do not leave sufficient room for manoeuvre to respond to changing needs or crises that do not affect all regions and Member States in the same way. For the Valencia region, in particular, support for the reconstruction of basic infrastructure has become a priority, with digital technology and ecology a distant second.
While the provisions of EU cohesion policy are important for ensuring that funds are used in line with policy objectives and deliver value for money, they are often considered complex by managing authorities and beneficiaries. Cutting red tape can be achieved by eliminating disproportionate rules and requirements, but also by making greater use of Simplified Cost Options, according to the Court.
One way of encouraging good performance is to use the non-cost related funding model. However, in the case of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), “we have concluded that the application of this model does not make the RRF an entirely performance-based instrument”. If performance-based funding is used in future cohesion policy, it must be clearly linked to results, concluded Alejandro Blanco Fernández. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)