2023-10-05 04:23:52
It is one minute to midnight for Belgium to claim the last part of the European funds granted to it, warns the European Court of Auditors. Nearly a quarter (24%) of European Structural and Investment Funds still need to be “absorbed” by the end of the year, or 723 million euros.
As part of the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI), Belgium was allocated an investment of 2.28 billion euros over the period 2014-2020. Once the funds are accepted, the Member State must submit a file for the funds to be disbursed. A three-year deadline is granted for most of this expenditure, meaning that Belgium must submit a request for payment of all these funds before the end of 2023.
How can we explain this poor absorption of European funds? “In some cases, the Member State does not have enough civil servants to submit the file. During infrastructure or construction projects, for example, it happens that the permit is not granted, or that the project is not complete“, explained Annemie Turtelboom, member of the Court of Auditors.
Belgium is not very efficient in this area. “Since my arrival at the Court in 2018, I must note that Belgium has enormous problems absorbing European funds“, noted Annemie Turtelboom. Belgian institutional complexity might play a role. For the entire European Union, ESI funds amounted to nearly 500 billion euros for the period 2014-2020, of which 396 billion were paid, or 80.4%.
Ireland obtains the best results. The country has already requested 91% of the funds. Denmark is the worst performing, at 67%.
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