“The challenge was won, with the spending and reporting of almost all of the European Structural POR Funds FESR, ESF and PSR remaining from the 2014-2020 community programming, which was considered impossible two years ago and only thanks to the strong acceleration given by the President Occhiutothe experience acquired over the years requires us to reflect on the causes that have always determined chronic delays in the expenditure of resources deriving from Cohesion policies, most recently the programming managed by the regional council led by Oliverio. An unavoidable reflection, so as not to fall back into the same mistakes for the 2021 – 2027 POR Funds, with dramatic consequences on the economy of Calabria”.
This is what he says Candeloro Imbalzano who, having chaired the “Community Funds” Commission of the Regional Council in recent years, was one of the most involved subjects, not only as rapporteur in the Council, of the final phase of the 2007-2013 Programming and in particular of that 2014 – 2020.
“We know well that some delays in starting the commitment and spending phases have always been physiological. And yet the official figure given in recent days by the Director of the competent Niccolai Department of a comforting 28% in the commitment of resources relating to the 2021-2027 one, is absolutely encouraging and stops in the bud specious and a priori controversies of the minority in the Council referring only to expenditure data, linked, as is known, above all to the laborious stage of tenders launched by the various Departments and which, only in part, depend on the bureaucratic structure and the structure of the “Community Funds”continues Candeloro Imbalzano.
“It is true, however, that experience teaches how urgent it is now to establish a more advanced, more effective and continuous monitoring system in the Region, which also ignores the already existing AUDIT system, which is perhaps too third compared to the responsibilities of the ‘Political body. An Office directly reporting to the Presidency, which is not limited to the mere coordination of the general managers on such an important issue, but capable of carrying out a progressive and analytical survey on the progress not only of the commitments and expenditure for each individual Department, but also the progress of the individual projects chosen by the Institutional Body. In essence, a closer and more analytical control, capable of identifying the risks of misalignment with respect to the objectives, the planned and available resources, as well as the stages estimated for the projects themselves”adds Candeloro Imbalzano.
“Therefore no longer the obsolete reporting system, but a structure capable of planning any corrective actions, when the results of the control activity reveal a tendency to deviate from the objectives set by both the President and the Community Bodies, reviewing, where necessary, the plans of the individual projects, identifying potential problems and implementing the necessary changes almost in real time, in the awareness, not only of the project managers involved, that the projects themselves almost always do not proceed according to the established times and plans”concludes Candeloro Imbalzano.
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