IP/09/1594 Brussels, 28 October 2009 Commission efforts to strengthen controls over structural funds is paying off The European Commission has today adopted a progress report on the implementation of its action plan to strengthen the shared management of the EU structural and cohesion funds. The report, presented by Commissioners Pawe ł Samecki (Regional Policy) and Vladimir Špidla (Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities), highlights measures taken to improve financial controls in Member States and to reduce errors that can result in incorrect payment claims from the EU budget.  Pawe ł Samecki, Commissioner for Regional Policy, said: " The Commission attaches the highest importance to achieving improvements in management and control systems. We put in place the action plan, with the support of Member States, to ensure reliable and rigorous certification of expenditure. This will in turn help us to reduce the error rate in the long term and protect taxpayers' money. Today we can see that our joint efforts are bearing fruit: the Commission and Member States are committed to taking proportionate action when errors are brought to light. We are also making progress in our efforts to simplify the funding regulations."  Vladimir Špidla, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities said: "The Commission has worked hard with Member States to ensure that taxpayer's money is used efficiently and EU money serves EU citizens. Simplification is particularly important for smaller project promoters, which is why we introduced some accounting simplifications for the reporting of indirect costs at the start of the current programming period. The Commission has actively promoted the use of this simplification on the ground, and I am pleased to report that good progress is being made as most Member States have informed the Commission in recent months of schemes they are introducing for all or part of their programmes." Tougher measures to reduce errors The Commission adopted a 37-point action plan on 19 February 2008 . This was designed as a practical response to recommendations by the European Parliament and the European Court of Auditors to strengthen management and control systems in Member States and reduce the risk of errors in payment claims. The Member States are principally responsible for detecting and dealing with errors: the role of the Commission is to see that this objective is achieved. The action plan aims to ensure that national authorities thoroughly check the eligibility of structural funds' expenditure before submitting payment claims to the Commission.  If they fall below standards, there are stringent measures in place to halt payments or claw back money through financial corrections (see  MEMO/09/481 ). Today's report highlights that the tougher measures introduced by the Commission are already demonstrating concrete results. So far this year the Commission has clawed back €629 million and estimates that a further half a billion euro will be recovered by the end of 2009. The report also shows that Member States are increasingly making their own financial corrections – doing so gives them more freedom to make payment claims for alternative eligible projects. The action plan also aims to assist Member States in their preparations for the 'closure' of the accounts for the 2000-2006 structural fund programmes, and to ensure the effective verification of Member States' audit strategies and financial control systems for the 2007-2013 budgetary period. Simplifying the funding rules The Commission and Member States are making significant progress in simplifying the funding regulations. Errors often result from complex rules that are not correctly understood or applied. The simplifications aim to reduce red-tape but without weakening financial controls. Recent changes include measures to allow the use of flat-rate payments and lump sums to reduce the administrative burden on beneficiaries. The Commission also offers training and guidance to the managing authorities responsible for running structural funds' programmes. A major seminar was organised in Brussels in June, and two further training sessions for national audit authorities are scheduled this year. Note for editors The EU cohesion policy has helped to create around 600 000 jobs since 2000. The policy will invest €347 billion in 2007-2013 in the 27 Member States, which represents 35% of the total Community budget for the same period (€975 billion). More information on European cohesion policy is available at:    http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/index_en.htm       http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=325&langId=en   (European Social Fund)