Spanje riskeert het mislopen van steun uit de structuurfondsen (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The European Commission on Friday will present several changes to the use of regional policy funds, but these will not include an expected extension of the use of money from 2007, with Spain set to lose hundreds of millions of euros.
The phrase Spaniards do not want to hear these days is that their country "faces the risk of decommitment," meaning it could lose considerable amounts of its multi-billion EU regional aid by the end of this year.
Under present EU funding rules, which were strengthened in 2007 to prevent fraud and irregularities, member states have to get their national and regional frameworks for EU projects pre-audited and cross-checked by the European Commission, before any actual payments can be made. A small part of funding is given in advance, but most of it comes on a reimbursement basis.
Spain now risks losing hundreds of millions because most of its framework programmes have not been approved yet and claims for 2007 can only be submitted for reimbursement by 31 December 2009. The total amount Spain could claim for 2007 is €6.3 billion.
Madrid had pushed for a one-year extension of this rule, especially since new member states have three years at their disposal to submit reimbursement claims. Up until 2007, Spain also was in the three-year category.
Yet the proposals to be tabled on Friday by the European Commission do not include this change.
"The European Commission is working with Spain and all the member states to finalise this process as effectively as possibly," Dennis Abbott, spokesman for the EU commission told this website. "But we can't cut corners, not with taxpayers' money," he added.
A spokeswoman for the Spanish permanent representation to the EU refused to make any comments until the final proposals were published.
Spain's struggle with the tougher regulations is surprising, as the country has always been considered something of a champion of regional funding for the efficient way it used EU aid to boost its competitiveness and create new jobs.
As of Tuesday (14 July), Spain had submitted 22 of its 23 so-called compliance assessment reports which have to be approved by the commission in order to start the flow of EU money. But 16 regional reports and one national report were sent back for further clarification, since the control mechanisms and the structure of the intermediate bodies was unclear.
Italy and Great Britain are also facing similar problems, although their total amounts are far smaller.
More money for unemployment and housing for the poor
The real purpose of the proposals to be tabled on Friday is to amend current EU legislation on the use of regional funding to temporarily allow member states to get fully reimbursed for social projects aimed at tackling unemployment.
Currently, member states, regions and municipalities have to co-finance the social projects by between 15-50 percent.
The proposals will not extend the full reimbursement measure to the larger regional fund – the so-called European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) disposing of €200 billion in 2007-2014.
The temporary measure will only apply to projects financed from the European Social Fund, which has €70 billion at its disposal.
Big donor states, notably Germany and the Netherlands, were opposed to full reimbursements from all regional funds, stressing that job creation is mainly a task for the social fund.
The commission will also propose extending the scope of the housing projects, currently limited to urban areas. Under the new draft, funding for reconstruction, but also replacement of houses in poor neighbourhoods will also apply to rural areas in the new member states, for instance in Roma communities.