Nearly €50 billion from the EU’s Recovery Fund, created after the pandemic, was earmarked for public administration reforms in EU countries, but the measures produced few significant results, according to a report published Tuesday by the European Court of Auditors (ECA). “The opportunity was largely squandered,” said Ivana Maletic of the ECA.
The funds were meant to help improve, among other things, e-government, public procurement and the functioning of institutions. Member states were to take into account the European Commission’s recommendations on reforms.
Auditors found, however, that none of the public administration recommendations issued by the Commission in 2019 and 2020 was fully implemented. Slightly more than one-third were implemented to a large extent, more than half to a limited extent, and some were not implemented at all.
According to the ECA, countries were more willing to choose measures that could be put in place quickly, such as investments in digitalization. They paid less attention to problems requiring deeper changes in how public administration is managed.
The limited impact is also visible in the assessment of individual measures. The report found that only 36% of the audited projects produced significant results. For the rest, auditors found limited effects or no evidence that results had been achieved.
Auditors also pointed to shortcomings in measuring the effectiveness of reforms. Appropriate result indicators were set for 43% of the audited measures. Without them, it is difficult to assess whether the changes actually sped up procedures, lowered administrative costs or improved the quality of services for citizens.
“The RRF (Recovery Fund – PAP) money could have been used in a more thoughtful way to strengthen public administration in member states. The opportunity to resolve long-standing structural problems was largely squandered,” said Ivana Maletic, the ECA member responsible for the audit.
The ECA says lessons should be drawn from this experience in the next multiannual EU budget. In the auditors’ view, a greater emphasis on assessing actual results would help determine whether EU money translates into lasting improvements in how administration functions.
Responding to the ECA’s findings, the European Commission stressed that they stem from “a lack of evidence available at this stage, not from evidence of a lack of results.”
“Many public administration reforms are structural in nature and need time to deliver measurable effects. The Commission acknowledges that some measures were delayed. (…) However, they were carried out in exceptionally difficult conditions, marked by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the energy crisis, high inflation and supply chain disruptions. Under the legal framework, member states could change their plans if objective circumstances made it impossible to carry out certain measures. Thanks to this flexibility, all member states were able to submit their final payment requests on time,” reads the Commission’s statement sent to correspondents in Brussels.
From Brussels, Łukasz Osiński (PAP)
