The capacity of absorbing and using EU structural and investment funds is limited to a certain extent by the organizational capacity of national and regional authorities in the member states. The European Commission launches new action aimed at extending the competences, the capacities and the operational instruments in the member states in order to invest the structural and investment funds and to enhance the quality of expenses.
The “invisible” barriers in the path of using the vast resources available in terms of structural and investment funds include the lack of competences and instruments necessary at the level of national and regional administrations. It is widely known that many issues related to the implementation of funds derive from the capacity of national and regional authorities in the member states to manage them. Investing significant financial resources implies a high level of organisation, competences and commitment. In order to achieve a high degree of absorption of structural and investment funds and to ensure reduced rates of implementation errors, a well-targeted effort for the creation of the adequate capacity is necessary, mentions Panoramio, a publication edited by DG REGIO.
Within the EU there are in fact considerable differences in terms of performance related to the capacity, effectiveness and efficiency of structural and investment funds absorption. Basically, the performance evaluation must concern the entire life cycle of investments, from the overall management of programmes until the programming, implementation, evaluation/monitoring, financial management and control phases. The success of each phase in the implementation life cycle depends on three interdependent factors, namely the organizational structure, human resources and systems/instruments.
The intermediaries of the investment pro-cess are the national and regional public administrations and there is no standard formula as regards the optimal operation mode of this process. The approach must be adapted, proportionate, appropriate and effective. There are many good examples showing that a significant contribution can be made to the management of funds by improving governing structures, implementing appropriate strategies in terms of human resources and developing effective instruments.
European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Johannes Hahn, declared that “a good institutional capacity for planning and using EU funds is essential to ensure an effective cohesion policy and, therefore, extremely important for the economic recovery and growth. In the absence of adequate fund management architecture that should be based on stability and continuity and that should be led by the most capable persons having the most appropriate instruments and systems, the cohesion policy could not produce results at its entire capacity. Without an adequate administrative capacity, absorption rates are low, error rates are high and the total impact of the investment is lower than it should be. And in these times of financial difficulty, no one can accept that public funds are not used in a way as effective as possible, offering Europe and its citizens the chance to return to a growth path”.
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