COCOF Meeting 24th March 2009 Regional governance in the context of globalisation Kai Böhme SWECO ADT Consulting (FR), Archidata (IT), AUREX (SK), Berman Group (CZ), BGI Consulting (LT), ECORYS (NL), E-Cubed (MT), EPRC (IR, UK), EUROREG (PL), Infyde (ES), IPoP (SI), LG Consulting (RO), LKN (GR, CY), LogiPlan (HU), NetEffect (FI), ÖIR (AT), PhDB Consultant (BE), ProInfraConsult (BG), Spatial Foresight (LU), SWECO (DK, SE, EE), TAURUS-ECO (DE, PT), University of Latvia (LV)

Project & tasks Aim: Review of governance mechanisms and administrative costs for ERDF and Cohesion Fund Focus: Cohesion Fund, ERDF (all three Objectives) Total costs by programme type, administrative task and country Share paid by TA and by Member State Share originating from EU regulations Internal and external costs Changes compared to period Scope for future improvements

Approach Ideal methodology Relative simplicity of use Versatility Adaptability across different national systems Transparency Reliability Clarity on the origin of regulatory obligations Challenges High staff turnover Overlapping responsibilities Overlaps between domestic and EU systems Time limited and ongoing activities No tradition to monitor and talk about staff costs Hard data does not capture the quality of the processes

Project & tasks

Assessing administrative costs

Information providers National policy level interviews (all countries): Authors of the NSRF Authors of the NSR National co-ordination activities (if any) Programme level interview (all ERDF and CF programmes): Authors of the programmes Programme management (managing authority, intermediate bodies etc.) Programme certification (certifying authority, intermediate bodies etc.) Programme audit (audit authority, intermediate bodies etc.) Beneficiaries / project owners (approx 2 projects per programme): Project owners

Type of questions 1) Overall budget Total budget & Technical Assistance budget (in nat. currency) Staff costs (in nat. currency) & manpower involved (in fulltime equivalents) Overhead (in %) Share paid via Technical Assistance budget (in %) Share carried out via Intermediate Bodies (in %) 2) Distribution over tasks Distribution of workload among specified tasks (in %) Involvement of other actors/organisations 3)Distributon over time (per task) Distribution of workload over time (in %) Type of staff involved External costs (in nat. currency) Share of costs originating from national regulations (in % or nat. currency)

Qualitative information Sample studies Approx 40 sample studies (balance between different types of programmes, countries and types of implementation systems) Selection based on the previous interviews and online-survey Interviews and document studies: Administrative procedures Improvements compared to the period Specific difficulties in the implementation and scope for improvements Specific administrative challenges and requirements Costs originating from EU or national regulations

Expected outcome Database: Excel file with key data by tasks, programme types, countries etc. Analysis: Identification of main patterns of administrative costs by - countries (implementation systems) - types of programmes - tasks and their timing - types of costs (internal, external) - share paid via Technical Assistance - share origination from EU regulations Changes as compared to the previous period and room for improvement Timing: Final Report by 5 January 2010 Fieldwork started this week and ends before summer

Help! Many people approach EU programmes for information Please assist us to get responses Alert your programmes and key actors For further information or queries Dr. Kai Böhme Thanks!