Memorandum by Professor John Bachtler
Following the evidence session, the Committee
asked:
What would you introduce if the Funds did not
exist and you were designing the Funds from scratch today?
If the Funds were being designed from scratch, the
emphasis would have to be on rationalising and simplifying the
current approach, in two main ways.
First, a more coordinated and coherent approach
would be required, avoiding the split between two different Funds
under Cohesion policy and a third (rural development) under the
CAP, each with separate regulations and administrative requirements.
One Fund per objective could be a starting point.
Second, much of the complexity of Structural
Funds arises from the separate implementation requirements for
Cohesion policy, especially in the fields of financial management
and control and audit, due to the Commission's obligation to be
accountable for EU spending. This leads, for example, to multiple
levels of audit for individual programmes. Despite this, the Commission
has to take criticism for spending irregularities which are primarily
caused at Member State level. There is a need to re-examine the
accountability for Cohesion policy spending and reliance on the
use of Member State administrative systems wherever possible,
where these can be shown to be sufficiently reliable to meet EU
requirements.
25 February 2008
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