30th Conference of Directors of EU Paying Agencies

Workshop 2: How can Paying Agencies and the European Commission ensure the successful implementation of CAP reform?

Questionnaire results

Marcin Wardal, ARR

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Feedback

•24 questions

•importance and difficulty evaluation (score 1 – 5)

•open questions: risk and how to mitigate it

•Answers from 27 paying agencies / 23 MS

•All issues got rather high scores, both for importance and difficulty

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CAP reform implementation matrix

9

6

223

7

2,50

3,75

5,00

2,50 3,75 5,00

Difficulty

Impo

rtan

ce

19

18

13

20

14

21

17

12

5

15

16

22

83

424

101

2

6

9

11

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Most critical issues

1. Ensuring low levels of financial correction (item 19)2. Ensuring that scheme payments are legal and

regular and have low rates of error (item 20)3. Procuring new information systems (item 14)4. Delivering relevant ICT and change projects within

agreed tolerances for time, cost and quality (item 9)

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Keep the direction

1. Producing revised scheme guidance and forms for claimants (item 13)

2. Training staff in new processes and instructions (item 17)

3. Communicating relevant information to stakeholders, including CAP scheme beneficiaries, and ensuring efficient communication between EC services and Paying Agencies on the implementation of schemes (item 6)

4. Paying CAP scheme beneficiaries on a timely basis (item 18)

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Implementation-friendly activities

• Easiest and less significant issue: defining tasks to be delegated and taking steps to ensure the proper delegation of tasks

• No need to re-evaluate activities

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Most difficult issues

1. Ensuring low levels of financial correction (item 19)2. Procuring new information systems (item 14)3. Ensuring that scheme payments are legal and

regular and have low rates of error (item 20)4. Delivering relevant ICT and change projects within

agreed tolerances for time, cost and quality (item 9)

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Most important issues

1. Paying CAP scheme beneficiaries on a timely basis (item 18)

2. Communicating relevant information to stakeholders, including CAP scheme beneficiaries, and ensuring efficient communication between EC services and PA on the implementation of schemes (item 6)

3. Ensuring low levels of financial correction (item 19)4. Ensuring that scheme payments are legal and regular

and have low rates of error (item 20)

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Ranking by importance with the level of difficulty

2,00

2,50

3,00

3,50

4,00

4,50

5,00

18 6 19 20 9 14 12 8 1 10 22 11 13 4 15 2 3 17 24 23 5 21 16 7

Question no.

Scor

e

Importance Difficulty

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30th Conference of Directors of EU Paying Agencies

Main risks and obstacles

• too little time – late EU bodies decisions, too short period for implementation,

• rules & definitions are unclear, ambiguous and too general,

• rules & definitions are too complex and detailed, • rules changing too often,• lack of human resources,• budgetary contstraints, • rules are difficult for beneficiaries, problems with their

access to information,

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30th Conference of Directors of EU Paying Agencies

Most wanted solutions

• better time scheduling, EU legislation in time,• clear rules, more precise EU regulations,• rules shouldn’t be changed so often,• better communication and cooperation EC – MS (PA),• feedback from EC: guidelines, working documents

explaining definitions, etc.,• pre-audits and impact assesments,• transition period, 1 year for implementation,• staff trainings,• better communication PA – beneficiaries,• simplification!!!

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30th Conference of Directors of EU Paying Agencies

Other issues

Pre-implementation audits (Item 5):A pre-audited scheme/activity may be in future subject to the ”classic” (ex-post) audit.

Will the ”classic” auditors be always of 100% the same opinion as the auditors who conducted pre-audit?

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30th Conference of Directors of EU Paying Agencies

Thank you for your attention…

…and let’s get to work!