The current discussion about the over-complexity of the implementation system of Cohesion policy

The expansion of Cohesion policy (CP) in terms of funds, thematic and geographic scope is quite unique in European policies. €347bn is budgeted to be spent under a management system shared between Member States and the EC during the current 7-year period. CP is often criticised for being overly complex, with ponderous administrative procedures and bureaucracy - for being too slow, too procedurally heavy, too rigid, and insufficiently flexible in terms of the types of projects and its ability to accept changes over time. Despite all its controls, suspicions about opaque allocation of funds and improper spending persist. Audits reports find allegedly high level of financial errors, while monitoring and evaluation efforts have not provided satisfactory indicators of impacts and results. The EC is critical about implementation in some Member States that do not comply with CP implementation rules - and do not adequately report outcomes and results, whereas MS complain about overly heavy procedures. Both Member States and the EC criticise Cohesion Policy as being overly complex, and keep calling for its simplification. These demands have given rise to several reforms, each of which, from the first in 1994, has sought to simplify the system. Member States frequently complain that each subsequent "simplification" has in fact given rise to additional layers of complexity. Despite the broad political agreement on the need to simplify CP, there would appear to be real barriers to achieving this goal. This paper examines simplification from several different perspectives. It begins by looking at the complex nature of a system such as Cohesion policy, then marries this analysis with research findings to finally outline some conclusions.