Brussels, 26/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - Less than one year after it became operational, EuropeAid, the cooperation office responsible for the management of external Community aid which came about with the reform under way at the European Commission, has moved forward in its work aimed at more effective European cooperation with all regions of the world. The zero edition of the report on its activities has just been published, too soon to be called an annual report, but in time to be examined by the General Affairs Council on Monday, the Development Council on 8 November and the European Parliament, in the context of interinsitutional dialogue.
Presenting the preliminary results of EuropeAid to the press, Giorgio Bonacci, EuropeAid Director General, stressed that the 2001 progress report, the "fruit of the whole Relex family, represents the first attempt to bring all cooperation programmes under one cover", in conformity with the spirit of reform that pursues four objectives: improved quality and adjustability of projects, reduced delays, harmonised and simplified procedures, greater impact and visibility of Union assistance. In his view, progress has been made in the main areas targeted by the reform, but an impact will only be felt on the ground after 2002, once the 2001 planning has been put into effect in the various countries. "There is still, however, a good deal to be done to improve quality and reduce the lapse of time between the commitment phase and the phase when funds are disbursed", he stressed, even if reform "has put an end to the chopping up of responsibilities with regards financial management" of projects. The main progress accomplished so far concerns:
Programming: It is henceforth more strategic (being based on the top Union priorities and resulting from consultation with recipient countries and other donors) and takes assessment into account, which is not only more systematic but also better integrated into the cycle of the project. In Papua-New Guinea, for example, the conclusions of the assessment have led to a greater concentration of aid regarding education, institutional strengthening and the forestry sector. The assessment unit is focused on human rights, governance and democracy, country-by-country programming and economic cooperation. Assessments linked to the reduction of poverty will be undertaken. The monitoring of the effectiveness and the sustainable nature of projects will be extended to all the regions by 2003. The Commission, moreover, has begun to study the feasibility of performance indicators aimed at measuring the overall impact of Community aid, but encounters major methodological difficulties.
Greater suitability between the priority of the policy and the budgetary resources. About ten index cards giving, for each recipient country, the financial assistance allocated by the Community, bilateral assistance of Member States and also their contribution to multilateral assistance, will be ready for end 2001 (in addition to the thirty-odd records already established in 2000). For the first time, a summary has been prepared for each country, commitments for early 2000, new commitments contracted, payments made and the balance to be cleared.
Functioning of EuropeAid. All the management staff is in place and the recruitment of the 170 officials should be complete at the end of the year. The Technical Assistance Offices (TAOs) will continue to work until the end of the year. EuropeAid will then take over and recruit 250 persons by then.
Devolvement of management powers towards Commission delegations. A vast recruitment operation is under way to allow devolution of powers that should take place in 22 delegations, mostly from January 2002, except for ACP delegations because of the delay taken by the Council in mobilising EDF (European Development Fund) interests, that must finance the recruitment of external staff.
Urgent measures aimed at eliminating earlier or dormant commitments. In order to reduce the difference between the sums engaged and the payments made, and to rationalise budgetary implementation, EuropeAid has attempted to share out operations more equally over the whole of the year. The commitments on 31 September 2001 are more than EUR 980 million above those at the same date in 2000, but payments have also increased by EUR 230 million. At the end of 2001, the gap should be even smaller with commitments of around 3,700 million and payments 3,300 million.
Contractual procedures in the context of tenders have been simplified and harmonised (from 46 to 8 thanks to a practical guide), and budgetary lines, reduced from 64 to 55 in 2001, should fall again to 46 in 2002.
Commitments were an urgent response to the urgent problems at the end of 2000 in Serbia (aid for transporting fuel and the democratic process), in Palestine (direct budget aid following the freezing of Palestinian customs and VAT revenue collected by the Israelis but which they are refusing to transfer to the Palestinians), in Ukraine (to finance electricity generation after the Chernobyl reactor was shut down), in Colombia (supporting the peace process) and in Uganda (direct budget aid for universal education).