Risks of losing EU funds financing eliminated in the operational programme “Entrepreneurship and Innovation”
Latvia has successfully eliminated risks of losing European Union (EU) funds financing in the programming period 2007-2013 in the operational programme “Entrepreneurship and Innovation” submitting to the European Commission (EC) a payment claim of appropriate amount by the end of 2014.
“In the operational programme “Entrepreneurship and Innovation”, the risk of partial loss of European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) financing was identified already in summer 2013. As a result of operative, effective and constructive cooperation of responsible institutions, now the risk has been eliminated and it can be safely forecasted that Latvia will be able to invest the EU funds financing available in the EU funds programming period 2007-2013 to fully achieve the goals set and results planned,” indicated Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) on EU Funds Issues Armands Eberhards.
By the end of 2014 within the framework of the operational programme “Entrepreneurship and Innovation” Latvia had to submit to the EC a payment claim in amount of at least 591.4 million euro. With the last expenditure declaration submitted in 2014 Latvia has requested from the EC a total of 612.8 million euro, thus avoiding net losses and exceeding the minimum target by 21.4 million euro. As explained before, government’s decision to allocate additional state budget over-commitments for successful implementation of EU funds programmes to compensate various failures and deviations from the plan has been one of the main risk elimination tools.
“To prevent re-occurrence of such risks in the future, investment planning should be well-considered and balanced with the field specific already from the beginning of the programme implementation. Already now, as the implementation of the programme of EU funds period 2014-2020 has begun, particular attention is paid to this issue. In the future, excessive optimism should be viewed more critically also in the implementation plans of project promoters. It should be also taken into account that institutions should react in a timely manner to identified deviations from plans, thus preventing escalation of different risks and problems by the end of the period,” emphasizes A. Eberhards.
Despite previous achievements, Latvia should ensure that by the end of 2015 within the framework of the operational programme “Entrepreneurship and Innovation” projects underway are completed, and within the framework of these projects payments are made for the ERDF financing in amount of at least 83.5 million euro. In financial terms, the biggest payment flow is left in high added-value investment projects, competence centres and business incubators. By the end of the period, it is should also be ensured that the financing allocated to financial instruments is fully allocated further to businesses in a form of loans, guarantees and risk capital investments. This would ensure that within the framework of the operation programme “Entrepreneurship and Innovation” in the programming period 2007-2013 all the available ERDF financing in amount of 696.3 million euro is invested in the goals set.
Simultaneously, the MoF as the EU funds Managing Authority, responsible institutions and cooperation institutions monitor also the implementation of other programmes, as well as ensure achievement and monitoring of the goals.
See detailed information at www.esfondi.lv.
Information prepared by:
Zaiga Puškina
Senior Expert of Communication Department
Phone: 67095656
zaiga.puskina@fm.gov.lv
