Line ministries have to take a number of preliminary actions for the EU funds money of the new period to flow into the Latvian economy
On Tuesday, March 10, the Cabinet of Ministers (CoM) reviewed a regular informative report of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) on the European Union (EU) structural funds and Cohesion Fund, European Economic Area Financial Instrument, Norwegian Financial Instrument and Latvian-Swiss Cooperation Programme investment progress by December 31, 2014. The MoF also reported on the status as of January 31, 2015.
Regarding the implementation progress in the Cohesion Policy EU funds 2007–2013 programming period the MoF reported that in the result of effective cooperation among the institutions during the implementation of the contingency plan the risk was prevented to lose EU funds financing within the framework of the operational programme “Entrepreneurship and Innovation”, which was reported before in 2014.
The MoF also emphasized that within one year until the end of the period the institutions had to make a considerable amount of payments within projects – approximately 1 billion euro. The Ministry of Health, Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development have to pay particular attention to successful implementation of large projects and risk management activities.
In the end of the 2007–2013 programming period the most important EU funds investments will be made in transport, environment, entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as energy sectors. While from the analysis of performance in the current period it can be concluded that the EU funds have made a positive contribution for citizens and economic growth of Latvia, including education, work and social assistance, as well as entrepreneurship and innovation sectors.
For example, 1 059 economically active companies in business incubators have been supported and assistance has been granted to 2 163 projects for the participation in international exhibitions. 148 609 unemployed persons and jobseekers have requalified and obtained further education, 205 457 unemployed persons have been involved in the public works, and 59 525 citizens subject to the risk of social exclusion have been supported. In the transport sector 784.7 km of roads and streets have been reconstructed, and 52 km of railway have been constructed.
The MoF noted the most topical issues and measures that have to be implemented to launch the Cohesion Policy EU funds 2014–2020 programming period. Now the work is going on at the development of the regulation on specific goals of support. Implementation of projects have already begun in amount of 672 million euro (EU funds financing) providing support to arrange road infrastructure, prevent the flood risk, promote employment, develop the health network guidelines.
An Operational Programme Complement has been developed providing a detailed description of planned implementation of the specific support goals and it will be presented and discussed with social and cooperation partners at the EU funds Monitoring Committee in April, 2015.
The MoF emphasises that the plan for 2015 is very ambitious and in order to achieve the targets line ministries have to take a number of preliminary actions and no deviations from the deadlines and quality indicators are admissible. The MoF also pays attention to the critical need to strengthen the planning function’s capacity in line ministries to order to ensure timely compliance with all pre-conditions so that investments can flow into the economy.
The MoF notes that responsible ministries should in particular supervise the implementation of specific support goals to ensure that the financial goal set in the 2018 performance framework is achieved. In case it is not achieved, the European Commission will review the financing allocated to Latvia. To facilitate closer supervision of the implementation of the plan, from now on the MoF will submit monthly reports to the CoM on the status of the 2007–2013 and 2014–2020 programming period, implementation of tasks un progress.
Information prepared by:
Zaiga Puškina
Senior Expert of the Communication Department
Phone: 67095656, zaiga.puskina@fm.gov.lv
