The High Level Group on Simplification, launched by the European Commission in July, held its first meeting in Brussels in October 2015. The chairman of the Group, former Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas and the newly-appointed members met with European Commission Vice-President in charge of the Budget Kristalina Georgieva and Commissioners Corina Crețu and Marianne Thyssen in charge of Regional Policy and Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, respectively.
In 2015-2016, the High Level Group will address administrative bottlenecks that have been identified in the access to the European Structural and Investment Funds as well as promote good practices in the following areas:
- Increasing the use of online procedures ("e-cohesion") and of simpler ways to reimburse costs;
- Facilitating access to funding for SMEs;
- Tackling the "goldplating" practice, where extra requirements or administrative hurdles are added at national or regional level.
"I am glad to have met with the new members of the High Level Group today; their expertise will be precious to find concrete solutions for beneficiaries to access EU funds more easily. The quicker beneficiaries receive our support, the faster we will see the impact on the ground in terms of growth and jobs. Today's meeting already established a clear roadmap with key deliverables over the next two years; the Group will submit its first conclusions next year, and in the meantime its work will also feed into the reflection on the future of Cohesion Policy," Commissioner Crețu said at the meeting.