The questionnaire will be sent to all management and certification bodies of the Member States. From the outset, it can be seen that Italy (18 percent), Germany (13 percent), together with the United Kingdom and France (both with the same number of responses) account for almost 50 percent of the total. Project portfolio preparation: Regarding this topic, 75 percent of all responses indicated that they needed help.
Implementation of simplified cost options/other simplifications: In this case, 82 percent of participants answered “need help”.
Financial management and control of the operational management
11 The European Commission's approach is based on collecting data and feedback to change and improve how European funds are managed and implemented. In particular, for topics such as "Setting up a system to collect reliable financial and statistical information on implementation" and "Developing an evaluation plan and conducting evaluations, including evaluations to assess the efficiency, effectiveness and impact of a program", it is possible to see that both – the former with 88 per cent. and the latter with 66 per cent. – expresses a significant need for additional assistance. These data are very important because improving the efficiency of ESI funds goes hand in hand with data collection and feedback.
Therefore, it is necessary to respond to a request for assistance in order to make progress in the framework of European funds. 0 Establishing a system for collecting reliable financial and statistical information on implementation Drafting annual and final implementation reports Establishing and supporting the work of the Monitoring Committee Drafting an evaluation plan and executing evaluations, including evaluations to assess effectiveness , effectiveness and impact of a program All tasks related to evaluation and monitoring. Evaluation and monitoring Chart 5.7 Evaluation and monitoring Source: Authors' elaboration based on survey data.
Ensuring appropriate procedures for administrative checks and processing of refund applications, payment authorizations and on-site checks. Defining and implementing and audit strategy. Establishing effective and proportionate anti-fraud measures Ensuring an adequate audit trail and filing system Dealing with financial irregularities and corrections Monitoring the results of management checks and audit results. Financial management and control of operational management Need for help I would be willing to provide help.
Conclusions on first survey
Second survey: aims, investigation areas and sample used
The Working Group of the Capacity Building Project of the Italian National Agency for Microcredit decided to verify the state of the art of the MAs. In this perspective, the working group designed a questionnaire that started from a few key questions: “Did the MAs carry out measurement and monitoring activities on the microfinance programs. Is there a regulatory framework for the microcredit and microfinance sector?" These questions formed the guidelines used by the working group to elaborate on the four areas of inquiry presented herein (see section 5.1): (1) analysis of the main results of the microcredit/microfinance programming activity; (2) target audience and other operational functions; (3) monitoring and reporting activities. 4) regulatory framework for the microcredit/microfinance sector and others.
The questionnaire was developed after meetings and discussions on the topics analysed, drawing on all the expertise and skills developed in the microfinance sector; the questionnaire has undergone a preliminary testing phase in order to adapt and improve the questions; It was then mailed to the recipients and contacted by phone to finalize – over a period of two months. According to a precise choice by the working group, data was collected with the questionnaire over the period 2011-2013. The questionnaire was sent to the following countries: Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Portugal, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.
In some cases several MAs were contacted within the same country, e.g. Italy, where the questionnaire was sent to the four regions involved in the previous convergence program (Campania, Calabria, Apulia, Sicily). The scarce number of completed questionnaires (only nine) is also the result of the objective difficulties of the MAs in finding the necessary data and most likely also a sign of their poor reporting and monitoring activity on the completed microfinance programs. However, this second empirical analysis gave the opportunity to reflect on the weaknesses of the structural fund management methods in the member states.
The main results of the survey: first considerations This section highlights the main outcomes of the second survey; more
Analysis of the main results of the microcredit/
Most of the MAs that were administered the questionnaires stated that 80 percent of the activated programs are entrepreneurial microcredits and 60 percent of them seem to be dedicated to bank entities. Some KK clearly state that they have no data on the banking capacity of the financed entities: "We do not monitor and have no evidence whether the enterprises are able to obtain bank loans or not". Italy (Puglia) The Microcredit Fund for the Enterprises of the Puglia Region is offered within the framework of the Multi-Year Operational Program for the Implementation of the PO FSE II Axis. "Employability") with the objective of providing access to credit for non-bank entities that have good investment ideas.
Out of 233 applications that can be processed, interviews have been conducted for 169 of them and loan applications have been formalized. 51 loans granted to Social Economy Enterprises (SEE) – Executed 17% of the allocation of the SEE Support Program – Loans granted within the framework of 5 separate loan funds that cover. Most of the microcredit/microfinance programs activated in the period 2011–2013 were dedicated to unemployed individuals or persons on social assistance, women or youth, as shown in Table 5.4.
During the research, we also tried to investigate what type of network the MAs implemented to activate the programs; so we asked them to indicate which other institutions (banks, credit guarantee schemes, other financial companies, etc.) were involved and what roles they played in the programme. Generally, the microcredit/microfinance programs were activated to provide personal guarantees to support loans or alternatively guarantees required for loan disbursal purposes; in only one case (microloans for micro and small enterprises: Slovenian-Ljubljana program) two bills were required, and in another case the publicly financed fund to cover the first loss of an operation was activated for small enterprises (Slovenian-Maribor) ). A few interesting answers were given about features of the programs that the MAs would like to change; indeed, some of them pointed to a need for "more promotion of entrepreneurship, more entrepreneurship education to provide the necessary skills to create a business".
Monitoring and reporting activities
Regulatory framework of microcredit/microfinance sector and other
The information is extracted from the MA database and sent in a specific format provided by the Ministry Italy (Puglia) The six-monthly report containing the list of approved actions, including the following: loan amount, data on the supported enterprise (final beneficiary ); list of unpaid installments; loss to be absorbed by the fund; a list of any amounts recovered; fund liquidity Six-monthly report on the monitoring of financial and physical items, including financial, physical and formal indicators, as well as other information on individual projects Latvia The project agreement requires the submission of regular reports on a quarterly basis, as well as an annual report in beginning of each year. The reports contain the description of the progress and statistics of the microcredits granted (including the regional dimension, branches, etc.), as well as detailed information on the actual management costs (as these costs are fully covered by public funds) Poland 1. Poland MA stated in the questionnaire that their programs were aimed at supporting enterprises during the economic crisis.
We chose to quote the integral views expressed by some of the MAs in the questionnaire as they provide the EU authorities with useful information for their future planning of activities. Finally, we had the impression that the MAs contacted have little or no knowledge of the regulatory framework for microcredit or microfinance, including aspects already covered by EU legislation (definition, qualified operators, eligibility requirements, etc. ). The Welsh MA pointed out in the questionnaire that "There is no definition of microfinance or microcredit in the UK Financial Conduct Authority.
On the same subject, the Latvian MA said: "The programs implemented within the EU funds contain a definition of SMEs, including micro-enterprises, in accordance with Commission Regulation (EC) No. 800/2008 of August 6, 2008, which declares certain categories of aid compatible with the common market in accordance with articles 87 and 88 of the Treaty (general block exemption regulation)". Similarly, there is no definition of the term "microcredit", although the program regulations set the maximum amount of the specify microloans.
Reflections on the second survey
These recommendations apply to emerging countries as well as to the European sector, as our research has shown that the effectiveness and reach of microcredit programs in the latter countries is even more questionable. The programs examined in this second study provided loans through public financial institutions or guarantees to support access to credit; the MAs should expand their range of products in line with the guidelines of the new Europe 2020 programming period and the needs of the market. In the current financial and economic crisis, it is necessary to adapt the products to the customer base in order to best meet their needs.
This will also improve their knowledge of the national regulatory framework for microfinance as well as the effectiveness and efficiency of EU resources; according to the few completed questionnaires, it seems that the MAs largely ignore the legislative provisions of the microcredit/. A precise definition of the sector would certainly contribute to a more timely and proactive supervision (Leone and Porretta 2014). A Panel Data Analysis of the Conditional Effectiveness of the European Cohesion Policy", Kyklosvol Identifying policy problems in innovation systems through diagnostic analysis", http://www.cas.uio.no/research/.
The mission of the Directorate General (DG) of the European Commission for Regional and Urban Policy is to strengthen economic, social and territorial cohesion by reducing the differences between the levels of development of the regions and countries of the European Union. In this way, the policy contributes positively to the overall economic performance of the EU. The thematic objectives are translated into priorities, which are specific to each ESI fund and are defined in the rules for individual funds.
