European Union
Cohesion Policy
Technical Meeting on Closure 2000-2006, 11 December 2009
Final Report
Anton Schrag REGIO D1
“Train the trainers”
European Commission seminar for managing and certifying
authorities
11 December 2009
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What we did
• Closure Guidelines from 2006 updated 2008 and
2009
• Closure Seminar on 15 September 2008
covering more than 200 questions
• Additional 200 questions sent afterwards
• No final answers in some cases
• Published as a comprehensive document in
March 2009
• Clarification works ongoing
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• Final Reports (FR) should enable EC to check that
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–
–
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assistance was properly executed
financial management of EC funds was sound (+ Winding-up Decl.)
programme’s objectives have been attained
programme was coherent with EU policies
• EC will assess FR quality within 5 months of receipt for
– Completeness relative to legal requirements (Art 37)
– Consistency and coherence (with financial information and with Winding-up
Declaration)
– Credibility of content (on basis of documentation and data provided)
• FR must be examined & approved by Monitoring Committee (MC) for
2000-2006 period  MS responsible for ensuring quality of FR
(completeness, coherence, etc…)
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• Content and structure of FR
– structure similar to that of Annual Reports (AR),
– updated synthesis of information from previous AR and
completed as appropriate (e.g. as per EC requests)
– add chapter for 2008 and (if appropriate) 2009 AR
– It is an explanation what happened and what did not
happen
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Information to be included (Art. 37.2 of R(EC) 1260/99)
1.
2.
3.
4.
Changes in general conditions of relevance
Physical implementation of priorities and measures
Financial implementation of priorities and measures
Steps taken to ensure quality & effectiveness of
implementation
5. Steps taken to ensure compatibility with EC policies
and to ensure coordination of EC assistance
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• 1 - Important changes in general conditions in the period 20002008 which are of relevance to the implementation of the assistance, in
particular:
– main socio-economic trends;
– changes in national, regional, sectoral policies ;
– changes in the objective 3 policy frame of reference.
• Where applicable, their implications for the mutual consistency of
assistance:
– from the different Funds
– between Fund assistance and that from other financial instruments
(Community initiatives, EIB loans, EAGGF-Guarantee, etc.)
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2
- Physical implementation of priorities &
measures
– Description of achievements in relation to specific
objectives and targets of priorities & measures
– Quantification of the related indicators as in the SPD and
the PC: physical / output; result; impact
– at the appropriate level (programme, priority or
measure).
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4 - Steps
taken by the MA / MC to ensure the quality and
effectiveness of implementation, in particular :
– monitoring, financial control (day-to-day management checks) and
evaluation measures, including data collection arrangements
– summary of any significant problem encountered in managing the
assistance and any measure taken, including actions on
• comments or recommendations for adjustments made by EC following
annual review meetings (Art. 34.2)
• observations or requests for corrective measures (Art. 38.4) made by
EC following the annual audit meeting (+ report Art. 13 of 438/2001) ,
particularly regarding the financial impact of any irregularities detected
• observations or requests made by EC following report Art. 13 of
438/2001 , in particular regarding 5% checks of Art. 10 (cf. Winding-up
declaration)
– use made of technical assistance (incl. to prepare 2007-13)
– Information & publicity of the assistance towards potential
beneficiaries and the general public (Art. 46 + Action Plan pursuant
to 1159/2000 )
– Summary of the results of the main evaluations carried out on the
programme including e.g. thematic evaluations, and any measure
taken to address the recommendations made
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• 5 - Statement by the Managing Authority, noting the problems
encountered and the steps taken to ensure (pursuant to
Art. 12) compatibility with EC Treaty, EC policies (CAP,
CFP…) including the rules on
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–
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competition,
the award of public contracts,
environmental protection and improvement
the elimination of inequalities and the promotion of equality
between men and women
• Steps taken to ensure coordination of all the Community
structural assistance such as CF
• Use of interest earned on advance payments
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Timeline
• 15 months from end of eligibility period deadline for
submission
• First reports were already due
• around 150 due by March 2010
• Majority to be sent by 30/09/2010, some exceptions
(Interreg) until 31 March 2011
• Admissibility check by Commission
• Quality check (including CIS)
• Within 5 months (plus interruption periods) Commission
has to react on report either accept or request additional
information. In case of rejection no admissible report is
deemed present after the deadline expired
• Timing for Winding up declaration not specified
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