Making the best use of EU money Integrity Pacts: A helpful tool or a bottleneck? Georgios Chatzigiagkou (PhD, York) Senior Consultant, Logička Matrica d.o.o

Risks to good financial management of EU funds a)Funds not accounted for properly in the annual financial accounts (reliability of accounts); b)Funds not spent wisely, according to the principles of sound financial management (economy, efficiency and effectiveness); c)Funds not adding value and expected benefits not materialised (EU added value); and d)Funds not spent as intended, for the purposes and according to the rules established by the budgetary authority (legality and regularity of expenditure).

Improving how EU funds are invested and managed: EC Tools in the funding period Boosting administrative capacity TAIEX REGIO PEER 2 PEER: exchanges of regional experts Task Force on Implementation Training for experts on rules and regulations on two modules: programming and implementation financial management and control issue Integrity Pacts

A tool for preventing corruption in public contracting An agreement between the government agency offering a contract and the companies bidding for it that they will abstain from bribery, collusion and other corrupt practices for the extent of the contract A monitoring system typically led by civil society groups

Integrity Pacts A helpful tool or a bottleneck?

Clarity In terms of: Linkages with existing national and EC-level mismanagement, fraud and corruption preventive tools and practices in procurement – Any synergic modalities or parallel tools; Need for legal formalisation?; Role and responsibility of each stakeholder – A further bureaucratic burden in view of limited capacities?; Target funding areas – Public Works, Service contracts, etc.? Application threshold - According to overall contract value or nature of contract? Impact: Administrative, operational, human resources, financial… Communication and Awareness raising

Piloting Selection of a ‘pilot’ project; Provision of capacity building (training, coaching, guidelines/how-to-notes/, examples and international best practices); Awareness raising events and tools; Performance assessment: successes and failures; Feedback and lessons learnt; Adaptation

Added Value of Integrity Pacts Save taxpayer funds, ensure that EU funded projects are delivered efficiently, and stave off avenues for illicit gain; Minimise the risk for Government embarrassment in the event of fraudulent use of EU funds; Create gradually a culture of transparency, correct and wise spending and accountability

Thank you for your attention! Georgios Chatzigiagkou, (PhD, York) Senior Consultant, Logička Matrica d.o.o