Adjustment of annual pre-financing for the years 2021 to 2023

Key points:

The EESC

• believes that pre-financing primarily supports Member State cash-flow in order to launch the implementation of programmes co-financed by European funds and avoid excessive delay in their completion. Pre-financing is a useful and necessary instrument. It should be borne in mind that, in order to launch a programme financed by European funds, the Member States must advance the resources to the public and/or private actors who are directly responsible for the programme's implementation;

• does not consider the reasons given by the Commission for reducing the pre-financing percentages in the final stage of implementation of the 2014-2020 MFF to carry sufficient weight to justify this action;

• thinks that the Commission possesses adequate instruments to monitor the proper use of European funds, including pre-financing, by the Member States: it would of course support any reforms that enhance this capacity;

• urges the Commission to reconsider its proposal to reduce pre-financing percentages and to retain the percentages set out in the current Common Provisions Regulation for European funds under the 2014-2020 MFF;
• calls on the Commission to revise the pre-financing provisions in its proposal for a Common Provisions Regulation for European funds for the 2021-2027 MFF in line with the arguments set out in the present opinion.