Note:

• The amounts (2011 prices) are subject to the final adoption of the MFF and of the sectoral legislations:
• The youth employment initiative (top up) of EUR 3 billion is not included in.

Data: European Commision Follow InsidEUROPE on Facebook and Twitter

• Source:  Analysis of the budgetary implementation of the Structural and Cohesion funds in 2012, European Commission

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In line with EU Regulations, every year by 30 April, national authorities submit their forecast of requests for payments for the current and the following year, broken down by programme and Fund. The last column represents the relative forecasting error, which according to the source is 'the forecasting error by a Member State for a given year measured in percentage of the actual payment claims submitted by that Member State during the same year'.

According to the official report, in 2012 Member States overestimated their payment claims by 15% (20% in 2011). Denmark had the highest rate of overestimation, followed by Romania and Cyprus.

The report also notes that 'Germany overestimated its payments by 26%. As its payment claims represent 7.8% of the total claims, this forecast error also had a substantial influence on the overall average. Hungary and Italy had a relatively limited overestimation of 16% and 15% respectively but as their payment claims represent 5.8% and 6.9% of the total value, these forecast errors had a relevant influence on the overall average'.

Poland, Spain, Finland and Austria had the lowest estimation errors. Only four countries underestimated their payment requests (Austria, Sweden, Portugal and Luxembourg).

• Source:  Analysis of the budgetary implementation of the Structural and Cohesion funds in 2012, European Commission

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NOTES:

• Figures are compared to the national allocation available for the period 2007-2013 including reserves and point 17 Interinstitutional Agreement
• CB= Cross-border cooperation
• Data:  Analysis of the budgetary implementation of the Structural and Cohesion funds in 2012, European Commission

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Ex-ante conditionalities are an essential part of the preparations for the next programming period. They represent pre-conditions that all Member States will have to fulfil and are linked to the effective and efficient use of EU funds. Should ex-ante conditionalities not be fulfilled by the time the Partnership Agreement (PA) has been submitted, EU countries will need to present the European Commission with an action plan and a timetable for implementation. Ex-ante conditionalities must be fulfilled no later than 31 December 2016 (or within two year following the adoption of the PA). In the case of Germany, the following ex-ante conditionalities have been defined:

• Develop regional research and innovation strategies for smart specialisation and ensure effective coordination and cooperation between the regions in the development and implementation phase;
• Develop and implement a national strategy for poverty reduction;
• Define appropriate and congruent selection criteria for the implementation of the rural development policy;
• In fisheries, adopt a multiannual national strategic plan for aquaculture, improve data collection for fisheries management (ensuring a smooth shift from direct to shared management) and the implementation of a Union control, inspection and enforcement system.

Source:  Position Paper on the Commission Services on the development of the Partnership Agreement and Programmes for the period 2014-2020 in Germany

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