BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 23. The Cabinet of Ministers of Latvia approved amendments proposed by the Ministry of Finance to two regulatory acts aimed at simplifying the selection, evaluation, and monitoring processes of European Union (EU) fund projects, Trend reports citing the country's Finance Ministry.
These amendments were developed as part of the Ministry’s action plan to reduce administrative burden in EU-funded projects and are intended to ensure more efficient project implementation by easing the load on both funding recipients and involved institutions.
The government approved changes to the regulations governing how institutions implement EU funds during the 2021–2027 planning period. The number of evaluation criteria for limited calls for EU-funded projects will be reduced — in the future, the responsible ministry will be able to evaluate projects based solely on general eligibility and selection criteria, without requiring additional specific or quality criteria. This means that ministries will no longer have to seek approval for these criteria from the Monitoring Committee’s subcommittee and the Monitoring Committee itself. As a result, the Central Finance and Contracting Agency (CFLA) can begin preparing selection documentation earlier, expediting the launch of project calls, evaluations, contract signings, and the start of investments.
The amendments also introduce a more flexible approach to the cost-benefit analysis of projects. In the future, applicants will only need to conduct the part of the analysis required for their project — financial, economic, or sensitivity analysis — as determined by Cabinet regulations for the specific support objective. At the same time, the requirement for a risk assessment analysis is being removed, as this is already included in the project application form. These changes will save time and resources while still complying with EU fund requirements. Funding recipients will be able to start projects more quickly, and the state can declare eligible expenses to the European Commission in a more timely manner.
Amendments were also approved to the regulations on how checks are carried out for EU Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund projects for the 2014–2020 planning period. As the eligibility deadline for this period ended in late 2023 and most projects are complete, the post-monitoring period has now begun. However, some recipients are still continuing their projects using their own funds.
Currently, the CFLA conducts site checks during the result maintenance phase — at least once for high-risk projects and randomly for low- and medium-risk projects. The amendments stipulate that future checks will only be conducted if an elevated risk is identified — for example, if there are signs that project sustainability might be at risk, third-party information is received, or fraud indicators are found. Additionally, the volume of checks will be reduced for completed projects whose final payments have not yet been fully made — in these cases, inspections will also only occur if there are signs of possible risk. This strengthens the accountability of funding recipients, based on a trust-based approach that assumes project results will be preserved and significant changes will not be made without prior approval.
The previous requirement to hold quarterly meetings with the Procurement Monitoring Bureau has also been abolished. This change will reduce the administrative burden and allow institutions to collaborate based on actual needs rather than a fixed schedule.
As previously reported, the Ministry of Finance, as the policymaker for the implementation of EU investments, has been actively working since spring to simplify EU funds. An action plan is being implemented to reduce the administrative burden in project implementation, supporting the Prime Minister’s goal to cut bureaucracy by 25% by 2026.