In March 2014, the European Commission adopted a package of over 120 measures for simplifying the rules of using European funds for the business sector, science, NGOs, cities and regions.
Next to adopting the multi-annual financial framework 2014-2020 and the sectoral financing programmes, a series of objectives was reached on facilitating the access to EU funds for future beneficiaries. However, the EU institutions and member states should continue the simplification by adopting the necessary implementation and technical measures.
“As of 2014, EU funds will be easier to access without compromising the monitoring of using EU funds. The simplification needs a continuous action applied by EU institutions and Member States. Around 80% of the EU budget is implemented by Member States and, therefore, efforts can prove successful in the EU, if simplification measures are adopted at national, regional and local level. We are inviting Member States to follow this example by further reducing the administrative problems of beneficiaries”, declared European Commissioner for Budget Janusz Lewandowski.
The simplification efforts have been sometimes prevented by the divergent positions of the member states which triggered the introduction of several derogations and by too many detailed rules (such as financing through structural funds).
Regarding the simplification examples, there should be “a simplified procedure to get reimbursement in research: single reimbursement rate for all participants to a project (“one project-one funding rate”) and a flat rate for indirect costs; shorter deadline for payments to beneficiaries (90 days) in cohesion policy; E-cohesion: electronic systems for beneficiaries to submit data, to use existing databases and to store documents in cohesion policy”, according to the official web page of EC. Also, “a shorter duration to preserve documents: beneficiaries would need to keep documents related to EU funded projects for maximum three years”, is another example of simplification mentioned by EC.
“Too much bureaucracy disheartens potential beneficiaries in the application for funds and this is unacceptable in a crisis period. Excessive bureaucracy is responsible for most of the EU budget and it also slows down access to funds. Smaller grants require simple procedures. Funds should be allocated much faster, especially emergency cases. (…) The quality and efficiency of projects should be more important criteria than the location (member state) where it is managed”, said Lewandowski.
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