Expenditure certified to the EU for programmes co-financed by Structural Funds

Total expenditure certified to the EU comes to €46.2 billion, an increase of about €1.3 billion over the previous measurement at 31 December. This figure reached 101.0% of the actual available funding of the Programmes as at that date and, with the update of the monitoring data at 31 December 2016, total reportable payments (see variable OC_TOT_PAGAMENTI_RENDICONTAB_UE in the Payments datasets) exceed the programmed available funding, having reached a level of 103.8%.

According to the rules for the closure of 2007-2013 programmes, payments made 31 December 2015 by the government bodies responsible for Operational Programmes by can be transformed into certifications and requests for reimbursement until 31 March 2017.

PROGRESS OF ELIGIBLE PAYMENTS AND EXPENDITURE CERTIFIED TO THE EU FOR PROGRAMMES CO-FINANCED BY 2007-2013 STRUCTURAL FUNDS – TOTAL FOR ITALY

(% of eligible payments and expenditure certified to the EU compared with available funding – update as at 31 December 2016 and 31 March 2017)

Month Payments over funding Certified percentage of funding EU objective for certified spending
January 20093.080.00
February 20093.30
March 20093.77
April 20094.140.00
May 20094.570.01
June 20095.140.11
July 20095.580.54
August 20095.930.58
September 20096.290.60
October 20096.871.01
November 20097.541.55
December 200910.336.75
January 201010.72
February 201011.226.78
March 201011.826.95
April 201012.377.01
May 201012.847.03
June 201013.357.22
July 201013.957.37
August 201014.357.37
September 201014.867.45
October 201015.487.58
November 201016.228.05
December 201017.6410.437.40
January 201118.01
February 201118.5810.52
March 201119.1710.62
April 201119.9310.72
May 201120.5011.00
June 201121.1211.60
July 201121.8212.02
August 201122.3912.18
September 201123.1412.21
October 201124.4615.18
November 201125.6315.62
December 201129.2021.2418.80
January 201229.71
February 201230.4521.27
March 201231.2821.30
April 201231.9021.55
May 201235.6924.89
June 201236.6925.14
July 201237.5525.76
August 201238.2525.80
September 201239.0026.15
October 201240.2529.28
November 201241.7629.49
December 201247.8036.7131.50
January 201348.3336.77
February 201348.9636.77
March 201349.7636.91
April 201350.6537.10
May 201351.8239.68
June 201352.6739.82
July 201353.7940.22
August 201354.6840.32
September 201356.3340.96
October 201360.1447.13
November 201361.5847.22
December 201364.2252.0648.50
January 201464.78
February 201465.3052.23
March 201466.1652.27
April 201467.1152.37
May 201467.9755.28
June 201468.7155.57
July 201469.9156.71
August 201470.6256.86
September 201471.5057.04
October 201474.7561.34
November 201475.9862.30
December 201479.6769.3266.70
January 201580.09
February 201580.8969.38
March 201582.1669.83
April 201583.1069.96
May 201584.5371.38
June 201585.5072.62
July 201586.6173.07
August 201587.4873.23
September 201588.6873.32
October 201591.4075.55
November 201593.5477.44
December 2015103.8080.51
January 201680.53
February 201680.94
March 201681.37
April 201682.21
May 201683.49
June 201685.19
July 201688.55
August 201689.06
September 201689.21
October 201690.83
November 201693.00
December 201698.12
January 2017
February 2017
March 2017101.01100.00

NOTE: The chart shows the progress of reportable payments (in conjunction with the bimonthly updates of the Monitoring System) and certified expenditure (which continues periodically until 31 March 2017) compared with total available funding of the programmes co-financed by 2007-2013 Structural Funds.

The series of payments from available funding, through 31 December 2015, is updated in conjunction with the bimonthly updates of the Unitary Monitoring System even after that date. This figure represents cumulative payments out of total implementation of the Programmes co-financed by 2007-2013 Structural Funds included in monitoring and now undergoing progressive settlement. The payments in the series refer to the set of all projects monitored, which includes both those that can be viewed on the website and excluded projects.

For certain Programmes, the value of the reportable payments attributed to them can exceed the value of their actual available funding (due to the practice of overbooking, a Programme can temporarily include projects for a value greater than available funding).

The EU targets are as defined under the “n+2” rule as at December of each year until 2014 and were accompanied, between 2011 and 2014, by national interim targets in order to facilitate achievement of EU targets. There are no EU targets for certified expenditure for 2015 as the only remaining target is that of the final programme closure date of 31 March 2017.

Download data and metadata for each Operational Program regarding:

View interactive charts for each Operational Programme

Read the OpenCoesione “Briefs” with additional information on the results achieved

 

What is expenditure certified to the EU?

Expenditure certified to the EU represents requests for reimbursement of spending incurred presented to the European Commission by the government bodies responsible for the Programmes co-financed by Structural Funds. For each accounting year of the resources drawn from the EU budget for each fund (ESF, ERDF) and Operational Programme, these requests are submitted within a given time period specifically established for each programming period. Resources that are not certified to the Commission by the deadline are subject to automatic decommitment, i.e. the reduction in EU financing and in the corresponding national co-financing of the Programme.

 

What are the rules for the 2007-2013 programming cycle?

For the 2007-2013 period, the European Commission “n+2” rule (Article 93 of Regulation (EC) no. 1083/2006) remains in place. Therefore, certifications to the Commission are to be filed by 31 December of the second year following that of the commitment under the Programme. The effects of this rule include that of 31 December 2015 being the final deadline for eligibility of expenditure reportable to the Commission for the 2007-2013 cycle. In order to encourage the implementation of Operational Programmes co-financed by Structural Funds, during the 2007-2013 period Italy established, in conjunction with the NSF Committee of 30 March 2011 as amended, a number of national interim targets for spending actually incurred and certified. Accordingly, in addition to 31 December of each year, certified expenditure is also monitored at 31 May and 31 October.

 

What is the importance of 31 December 2015?

This is the final deadline for eligibility of spending reportable to the European Commission for the 2007-2013 cycle (with minimal exceptions, for example, for financial engineering instruments). Here is more detailed information on the closure rules for the 2007-2013 cycle. Resources from the European budget can only be decommitted after an examination by the European Commission of the documents filed by 31 March 2017, the date by which it is necessary to submit payment requests to the Commission. The target of 100% of certified expenditure set for March 2017 implies that, for 31 December 2015, reportable payments are to be at least equal to the available funding of the programmes and filed for the reimbursement of expenditure certified to the Commission from that date and until the formal closure of the programmes.

It should also be considered that, as was the case in previous programming cycles, during the final year of expenditure eligibility, the filing of certifications slows normally due both to the rules of execution of the Community budget (see, for example, Article 79 of Regulation (EC) no. 1083/2006) and to operations related to the closure process (admissibility deadline, final controls, shifting of resources, preparation of documents, etc.).

 

What are the rules for the 2014-2020 programming cycle?

For the 2014-2020 period, the “n+3” rule (Article 136 of Regulation (EC) no. 1303/2013) is in effect, so certifications to the Commission shall be filed by 31 December of the third year following that of the commitment under the Programme. There are no exceptions for Major Projects.

 

What is the difference between certified expenditure and monitored expenditure?

For the 2007-2013 period, the system of reporting spending to the EU for programmes financed by Structural Funds differs from that for monitoring projects, which is the source of the data published on OpenCoesione. Generally speaking, a reportable payment is entered into the project monitoring system when it is made and may be reported at a later time. Therefore, the amount of payments reportable to the EU for each programme may not match the latest figure of official certification of expenditure to the European Commission.