ECAS welcomes the Commission's:

ECAS welcomes the launch by the European Commission on 20 October 2009 of a public consultation “Have your say on EU financial rules” which we and others had demanded.

We urged widespread consultation because “EU funds are rightly open to a wider range of beneficiaries irrespective of their geographical level of operation and are to an increasing extent disbursed on a national and regional basis” (ECAS letter from 20 August 2009). We therefore want to encourage a huge response.

At European events when funding issues are raised, complaints about the cumbersome nature of EU rules are generally greeted by “we are not responsible, it’s the financial regulation”.However, now is a chance to make a difference because the consultation relates precisely to revision of the financial regulation.

The Commission is looking for practical input from beneficiaries about grant conditions and their application, but also raises wider issues: “How to make project management more user-friendly and administratively less burdensome, whilst ensuring strict and adequate monitoring and control of taxpayers’ money by the Commission”.

ECAS hopes the consultation will support the Commission in keeping zero tolerance of fraud and financial mismanagement, whilst allowing for tolerance of risk and flexibility in projects, genuine social experimentation and access for new and innovative organizations. Zero tolerance across the board can kill European civil society. It is making procedures for form filling too cumbersome and requirements for guarantees and co-funding too stringent.

In the economic downturn European funding represents a relatively safe haven with financial perspectives agreed until 2013, but has to become more flexible and user friendly to maximize its impact.

Over the years ECAS has published an annual funding guide for NGOs and there has been an enormous expansion in EU grants and projects covering a wide range of civil society activities. Practically any innovative and genuinely European project can find support somewhere in the EU budget, but can it really in practice?

Please send your contributions to the European Commission before the deadline of 18 December 2009! For more information on how to take part in consultations please visit the web-page of the European Commission, section “Public consultation on the review of the Financial Regulation” or follow this link.