Brussels, 28/05/2003 (Agence Europe) - Commissioner Barnier feels that the "basic condition" for better management and simplification of structural funds in the future is "new distribution of responsibility" between Member States and the Commission. He believes that management and controls should be "strongly decentralised" so that Member States have "sole responsibility, unlike the situation at present whereby it is the exclusive domain of the Commission, which is accountable directly to the European Parliament and the Court of Auditors on the part for which they will in future be exclusively responsible". This decentralisation of one management part will be accompanied by a "contractualisation of management and control systems between the Commission and the Member States based on the Commission's need for adequate assurance on use of structural funds in the 25 Member States".
The Commissioner for regional policy was speaking on Monday at a seminar of the European Parliament PES group on the simplification of structural funds. He concentrated on the next programming period, to be launched in 2007. He advocated the "significant simplification of many stages of programming", and "placing performance at the heart of the management process, but as an incentive, rather than using conditionality". He spoke out once again for the end of the validation of the objective 2 zoning regulation put together in Brussels. The Commissioner proposed keeping a platform of common rules, strategic multi-annual programming at regional or national level, partnership and the co-financing.
Commissioner Barnier did, however, reject two options. That of "cheque inpayment" with neither rules nor controls is "out of the question". Neither was he in favour of a "radical change based on the conditionality of the financial allocation on the results of the programmes", based on objectives set out by the Member States and the Commission together. He believes that such a system would be politically and technically difficult to apply.
The issue of simplification of structural funds, already brought to the fore several times in the past, has been put back on the table since the regional informal Council of Namur in July 2001, during which Member States had criticised the Commission for the onerous nature of the current procedure. The subject was raised once more at the regional informal Council of Chalkidiki (EUROPE of 20 May p.11).