Budget for 2021-2027
Rationale and design of the programme
The single market programme will improve the functioning of the internal market and help protect and empower citizens, consumers and businesses, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The programme will support the design, implementation and enforcement of EU legislation underpinning the proper functioning of the single market for goods and services. It will also assist the digitalisation of services and business operations and facilitate market access and international cooperation, especially in the areas of company law, contract and extra-contractual law, anti-money laundering, free movement of capital, financial services and competition, for the plants, animals, food and feed sector. Overarching and contributing to all areas, the programme will support the development, production and dissemination of European statistics on all EU policies.
The single market is at the heart of the European project, enabling citizens to live, work and travel wherever they wish and offering consumers protection, safety and greater choice at lower prices. But a properly functioning single market is not a given. It has yet to materialise in a number of areas, and in others the benefits could be more substantial.
A properly functioning single market will be crucial for Europe's recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, and in helping the green and digital transitions of all of Europe's industrial ecosystems. This requires carefully designed, implemented and enforced EU legislation in all sectors, including financial services, anti-money laundering, the free movement of capital, consumer protection and human, animal and plant health. Strengthened governance of the single market is essential, as is the efficient and effective coordination of joint action between Member States and the Commission.
In all these areas, action at the EU level is essential to properly address cross-border issues, ensure adequate coordination of interventions and advance towards common EU goals.
The single market programme aims to: (1) help ensure a properly functioning single market for goods and services, with fit-for-purpose legislation, including in the areas of financial services, anti-money laundering, free movement of capital, protection of consumers and animal and plant health; (2) provide high-quality statistics on all EU policies; and (3) coordinate capacity building for joint actions between the Commission and Member States.
The programme has the following specific objectives:
- making the internal market work better including through improved market surveillance;
- improving the competitiveness and sustainability of businesses, especially SMEs;
- increasing standardisation, including by supporting the development of high-quality financial and non-financial reporting and auditing standards;
- ensuring a high level of consumer protection and product safety, and promoting the interests of consumers, including in financial services;
- contributing to a high level of health for humans, animals and plants throughout the food chain; and
- producing and communicating high-quality statistics on Europe.
The programme's main activities include:
- data gathering and analysis in support of the effective enforcement and modernisation of the EU's legal framework;
- studies and evaluations;
- capacity-building activities and the facilitation of joint actions between Member States, their competent authorities, the Commission and the decentralised EU agencies;
- financing mechanisms allowing individuals, consumers and business representatives to contribute to decision-making processes;
- support for projects, tools and services to identify and address specific challenges for competitiveness and sustainability faced by businesses and industrial ecosystems; and
- strengthening the exchange and dissemination of expertise and knowledge.
The programme will particularly support, through targeted actions, improved competitiveness and sustainability (notably of SMEs); financial stability and the free movement of capital; European standards for goods and services; the development and oversight of financial and non-financial reporting; the development, production and dissemination of European statistics; and emergency measures along the food chain and for the protection of human, animal and plant health.
The single market programme will mainly be implemented under direct management by the Commission (the participating directorates-general are DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, DG Competition, DG Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union, DG Taxation and Customs Union, DG Health and Food Safety, DG Justice and Consumers and Eurostat).
Two executive agencies will implement parts of the programme, namely the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (for activities concerning protecting the health of humans, animals and plants along the food chain and supporting the welfare of animals) and the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (for activities concerning the competitiveness of businesses and SMEs, and some of the actions linked to standardisation and promoting the interests of consumers).
The impact assessment of the single market programme was carried out in June 2018.
The single market programme brings together six predecessor programmes from various policy areas, notably the grants and contracts part of the programme for the competitiveness of enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises (COSME); programmes on consumer protection; consumers and end users in financial services; specific activities in the field of developing financial reporting and auditing standards; measures to contribute to a high level of health for humans, animals and plants along the food chain and in related areas; and European statistics. It also integrates a number of former prerogative budget lines. Drawing from the lessons of the impact assessment, this integrated set-up is expected to constitute a more flexible and agile financing framework, which will allow the exploitation of synergies, the prevention of duplication and fragmentation, and prioritisation to be improved across all 14 ecosystems.
Legal basis
Regulation (EU) 2021/690 of the European Parliament and of the Council
Website
Implementation and performance
Budget
Budget programming (million EUR):
2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 2027 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Financial programming | 583.1 | 613.5 | 592.8 | 601.1 | 610.2 | 619.6 | 626.3 | 4 246.7 |
NextGenerationEU | ||||||||
Decommitments made available again (*) | N/A | N/A | ||||||
Contributions from other countries and entities | 24.6 | p.m. | p.m. | p.m. | p.m. | p.m. | p.m. | 24.6 |
Total | 607.8 | 613.5 | 592.8 | 601.1 | 610.2 | 619.6 | 626.3 | 4 271.4 |
(*) Only Article 15(3) of the financial regulation.

Financial programming:
+ EUR 38.7 million (+ 1%)
compared to the legal basis
Cumulative implementation rate at the end of 2021 (million EUR):
Implementation | 2021-2027 Budget | Implementation rate | |
---|---|---|---|
Commitments | 596.0 | 4 271.4 | 14% |
Payments | 86.0 | 2% |
Voted budget implementation in 2021 (million EUR):
Voted budget implementation | Initial voted budget | |
---|---|---|
Commitments | 582.5 | 575.0 |
Payments | 83.8 | 131.6 |
- The legal basis of the single market programme was adopted by the European Parliament and the Council in April 2021. The work programme for the full single market programme and the 2021 financing decision were adopted in May 2021. The 2022 work programme was adopted in February 2022.
- In 2021, the SMEs objective had a voted budget of EUR 117 443 450. This budget was fully committed, and two multiannual calls were launched, for the Enterprise Europe Network in May and the Joint Cluster Initiative in September. The December cut-off for the Enterprise Europe Network concluded with 32 proposals intended to cover those EU Member States where coverage was not achieved at the first cut-off date for this call. The evaluations of these proposals are ongoing. Other calls, such as the social economy and local green deals call, were published in the autumn or planned for January/February 2022. The tourism call 'COVID-19 – Recovery through sustainable tourism growth and SME support', for just over EUR 12 million, was published in December 2021, and will be followed in 2022 with a second call, for EUR 20.5 million, that will provide much-needed additional support for building sustainability and resilience in the tourism sector.
- For the financial and non-financial reporting and auditing standards objective, in 2021 grants totalling EUR 8 078 058 in commitment appropriations were awarded to the three beneficiaries – identified in the regulation – supporting the development of high-quality financial and non-financial reporting and auditing standards. Commitment appropriations not needed for 2021 have been reprogrammed for later years.
- For the objective of enhancing consumers' involvement in EU policymaking in the field of financial services, grants totalling EUR 1 496 375 in commitment appropriations were awarded in 2021 to the two beneficiaries – identified in the regulation establishing the single market – for their actions supporting consumers and other end users of financial services.
- For the consumer protection and product safety objective, six calls / invitations to submit proposals were launched in 2021. The calls covered such areas as offering assistance to consumers in Member States in the form of alternative dispute resolution; promoting stable debt advice services; supporting joint actions by the European consumer centres; cooperation between national authorities responsible for the enforcement of consumer protection law; support for the activities of Member State authorities participating in EU consumer policy; and support for the activities of the consumer organisation at the EU level (the European Consumer Organisation). In total, 80 proposals were submitted from 29 countries, including EU Member States, Norway and Iceland.
- A total budget of around EUR 230 million in commitment appropriations was implemented in the food strand in 2021, with a great focus on veterinary programmes (46.5% of the budget).
- In the domain of European statistics, the EUR 74 million in commitment appropriations from the 2021 budget were fully implemented, supporting calls for proposals, tenders and other action. Due to the delay in the adoption of the legal basis, along with the financial decision and the work programme, certain agreements could not be finalised within the year, and consequently EUR 0.8 million in payment credits initially planned to provide advance payments to beneficiaries were not used.
Contribution to horizontal priorities
EU budget contribution in 2021 (million EUR):
Climate | Biodiversity | Gender equality (*) |
---|---|---|
58.7 | 0 | Score 0*: 582.5 |
(*) Based on the applied gender contribution methodology, the following scores are attributed at the most granular level of intervention possible:
- 2: interventions the principal objective of which is to improve gender equality;
- 1: interventions that have gender equality as an important and deliberate objective but not as the main reason for the intervention;
- 0: non-targeted interventions;
- 0*: score to be assigned to interventions with a likely but not yet clear positive impact on gender equality.
Performance assessment
Baseline | Progress (*) | Target | Results | Assessment | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number of cases of non-compliance in the area of goods, including online sales | 9 606 | 10 234 | No data | ||
Number of entrepreneurs benefiting from mentoring and mobility schemes, including young, new and female entrepreneurs, along with other specific target groups (**) | 0 | 22 000 in 2027 | No results | No data | |
Percentage of international financial reporting and auditing standards endorsed by the EU | 98% | 50% | 100% in 2027 | 99% compared to a target of 100% | On track |
Number of position papers and responses to public consultations in the field of financial services from beneficiaries | 53 | 14% | 371 | 53 compared to a target of 371 | On track |
Number of successfully implemented national veterinary and phytosanitary programmes | No results | No data | |||
Number of web mentions and positive/negative opinions | 480 000 | 31% | 499 539 in 2028 | 486 000 compared to a target of 499 539 | On track |
(*) % of target achieved by the end of 2021.
(**) No single market programme reporting data is envisaged for the mentoring and mobility actions in 2021, as the actions during this period are funded under the previous COSME programme.
- With implementation having just started, there is not enough information to carry out a detailed performance assessment of the 2021-2027 single market programme. This will be provided once the implementation has progressed further.
MFF 2014-2020 – Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
COSME supports measures to strengthen the competitiveness and sustainability of SMEs, which also achieve additionality at the EU level. This encompasses measures to foster growth; scale up and create SMEs; improve access to markets (including through internationalisation); improve access to finance for SMEs in the form of equity and debt; promote entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial skills, the business environment and digital transformation; create new business opportunities for SMEs (including those with innovative business models); improve the competitiveness of industrial ecosystems and sectors; develop industrial value chains; modernise industry; and contribute to a green, digital and resilient economy.
Budget
Cumulative implementation rate at the end of 2021 (million EUR):
Implementation | 2014-2020 Budget | Implementation rate | |
---|---|---|---|
Commitments | 2 358.7 | 2 359.0 | 100% |
Payments | 1 762.1 | 75% |
- As of 31 December 2021, the programme had committed the whole of its available envelope.
- In terms of payments, the Loan Guarantee Facility has an implementation ratio of 84% (payments vis-à-vis commitments), while the Equity Facility for Growth has an implementation ratio of 38% due to the specificities in the implementation of this instrument (see below). On average, the payment implementation rate is 73%.
- In the case of the Loan Guarantee Facility, payment appropriations are needed to allow the implementation partner (the European Investment Fund) to honour guarantee calls from financial intermediaries for defaulting loans and to pay implementation fees. The Loan Guarantee Facility has also been reinforced by the SME window of the European Fund for Strategic Investments since 2015. This has added additional risk-taking capacity and has doubled the available resources in terms of commitment appropriations. It is expected that by the end of 2022 the budgetary implementation ratio will reach almost 100%, i.e. payment appropriations should match commitment appropriations almost in full.
- In the case of the Equity Facility for Growth, payment appropriations are needed to allow the implementation partner (the European Investment Fund) to honour cash calls from fund managers, who will use the cash to invest in portfolio companies and for implementation fees. Since it is standard in the industry that venture capital fund managers have up to 5 years to make the first initial investments in SMEs following the creation of the venture fund, there is a significant delay between the time of signature of a fund agreement by the European Investment Fund and the respective cash calls by the fund managers. Furthermore, following the initial investment by the fund manager, funds can hold on to their portfolio companies for up to 10 years, during which time they can undertake follow-on investments to grow the companies. This pattern of activity explains why there is a significant time delay between commitment and payment appropriations in the case of venture capital investments.
Baseline | Progress (*) | Target | Results | Assessment | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Loan Guarantee Facility – volume of debt financing mobilised | 0 | > 100% | 14.3 billion in 2020 | EUR 49.0 billion compared to a target of EUR 14.3 billion | Achieved |
Loan Guarantee Facility – number of firms benefiting from debt financing | 0 | > 100% | 220 000 in 2020 | 793 504 compared to a target of 220 000 | Achieved |
Enterprise European Network – number of partnership agreements signed | 2 295 | > 100% | 2 500 in 2020 | 2 701 compared to a target of 2 500 | Achieved |
(*) % of target achieved as of September 2021.
- The COSME programme addresses the full range of challenges that SMEs face in boosting their competitiveness. For example, the Loan Guarantee Facility not only provides financial support to numerous SMEs that have difficulties in obtaining finance. It also has a positive impact on the SMEs' assets, share of intangible assets, sales and employment rates, and even reduces the SMEs' probability of default. This is empirically demonstrated by the econometric work carried out in various studies on the COSME predecessor activities relating to access to finance (see European Investment Fund, 'The real effects of EU loan guarantee schemes for SMEs: A pan-European assessment', EIF Research and Markey Analysis – Working Paper, 2019/56, June 2019).
- Specific projects showed continued success and growth, although some adjustments were necessary in 2020. The Erasmus for young entrepreneurs mobility scheme (active since 2009 as a pilot action and continued under COSME) demonstrates the need for entrepreneurial exchange whereby would-be or newly established entrepreneurs receive practical support from experienced entrepreneurs. Experienced entrepreneurs in return increase their knowledge and access to other markets and gain new ideas and techniques for their business. The programme was hit hard by COVID-19, and the number of matched entrepreneurs dropped significantly in 2020 (1 684 entrepreneurs were matched compared to 2 672 in 2019). Performance in 2021 was still affected by COVID-19 health measures. Measures to react to the situation were put in place, starting with the possibility to engage in remote exchanges. Despite the challenges caused by COVID-19, the programme has maintained its wide geographical reach, implemented by a network of over 180 local intermediary organisations in 37 out of 39 participating countries, including Kosovo (1) and Martinique (an EU outermost region).
- Around 263 898 SMEs received advisory services from the Enterprise Europe Network between 2015 and 2020. Specific actions initiated in 2020 to help SMEs overcome the COVID-19 crisis were continued and consolidated in 2021, in particular virtual brokerage events to help SMEs find alternative business partners, advice on access to finance and single market advisory services. According to a survey by the Enterprise Europe Network, about 74% of responding companies were strongly or moderately affected by the crisis, forcing them to deal with supply chain disruptions, employee absences and temporary shutdowns (among other issues). The most obvious reasons were delays due to transport and logistics problems, border closings and national lockdown measures.
- COSME financial instruments: by September 2021, the Loan Guarantee Facility had enabled more than 790 000 SMEs to receive more than EUR 49 billion in financial support over the 2014-2021 period. In reaction to the 2020 COVID-19 crisis, EUR 714 million from the European Fund for Strategic Investments was redirected to the COSME Loan Guarantee Facility to allow the European Investment Fund to incentivise banks to provide liquidity to SMEs affected by the crisis. More flexibility was given to users of the facility, and the guarantee rate was increased from 50 to 80%. The latest data available (September 2021) indicate that this helped more than 100 000 European SMEs to access more than EUR 9 billion in liquidity finance under the COSME COVID-19 measure within the Loan Guarantee Facility.
- By September 2021, the funds supported by the Equity Facility for Growth had invested more than EUR 2.7 billion in more than 400 companies. Of this amount, more than EUR 1.9 billion was invested in more than 240 SMEs in their growth and expansion stage. The latter two indicators (EUR 1.9 billion and 240 SMEs) were below the long-term targets initially envisaged for 2020.
- The programme evaluation referred to fragmentation issues, which are meanwhile being addressed (see below).. It also pointed to a lack of centralised data about implementation, in relation to monitoring and noted that indicators are mostly based on outputs rather than on long-term effects. Efforts are still needed to centralise the data that is currently dispersed between the coordinating team, the units managing individual actions and the delegated entities. The evaluation also mentioned that the programme delivers in terms of jobs and growth creation, but does not directly address global and societal challenges. The programme is coherent and works without big overlaps with other EU programmes and national/regional SME support schemes, however there is scope for synergies to be improved, mainly at the national and regional levels. Meanwhile, since the adoption of the SME strategy, sustainability has become a more visible priority of the programme and other societal concerns are also addressed in social economy actions and the 100 intelligent cities challenge.
- This fragmentation into smaller actions was gradually addressed over the last 2 years of the COSME work programme, by reinforcing larger actions where appropriate and reducing the number of smaller supporting actions. Under the Single Market Programme, the most impactful actions have been reinforced. However, the new programme should maintain the same ability to launch smaller pilot actions to adapt to the changing landscape of SMEs, as the COSME programme had.
(1) This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.
MFF 2014-2020 – European Statistical programme
The European statistical programme provides funding to national statistical institutes for the development, production and dissemination of high-quality statistics to monitor the economic, social, environmental and territorial situation, thereby providing for evidence-based-decision making in the EU and measuring the impact of EU initiatives.
Budget
Cumulative implementation rate at the end of 2021 (million EUR):
Implementation | 2014-2020 Budget | Implementation rate | |
---|---|---|---|
Commitments | 446.7 | 449.1 | 99% |
Payments | 391.3 | 87% |
- Following the calls for proposals for traditional projects launched in 2019, around 1 300 proposals were received, leading to the financing of 147 projects (through grants), for which the grant agreements were signed in 2020. More than 1 100 proposals were submitted under the environment subprogramme, including under the resource efficiency and nature and biodiversity strands, leading to the financing of 108 projects. In addition, there were around 170 proposals for the climate change mitigation and adaptation strand, with 39 projects being financed.
- Between 2014 and 2020, 99% of commitments were implemented within the framework of the European statistical programme, thereby allowing to reach the related goals to be reached.
- Payment appropriations will continue to be executed in the years to come to allow for the finalisation of ongoing projects relating to grants and procurement activities. In 2021, some expected submissions of deliveries and cost claims from beneficiaries and contractors were delayed, owing in particular to the pandemic situation, which resulted in EUR 3.3 million in unused payment appropriations.
Performance assessment
- The implementation of the European statistical programme progressed well, producing significant results under the programme's various objectives.
- The general objective of the programme was for the European Statistical System to be the leading provider of high-quality statistics on Europe. Its performance indicator, measuring Eurostat's impact on the internet, shows that the programme has generally performed well. The number of times that Eurostat is mentioned on the internet is on target. The percentage of negative opinions is extremely low, showing trust in and satisfaction with the data produced.
- The second performance indicator, statistical coverage, measures the relevance of the statistics published by Eurostat. It shows how the quantity and variety of data published by Eurostat evolve and are measured as the number of different statistics published on the Eurostat website increases. The statistical coverage shows an increase of 39 million users (9%) compared to last year. This demonstrates that Eurostat has enlarged its statistics offer to meet new user needs and that demands for new statistics are being satisfied, thanks in part to improvements in the production process, as the amount of available resources is not increasing.
MFF 2014-2020 – Reporting and Auditing
The financial reporting and auditing standards programme provides financial support for the development of international financial reporting and auditing standards. Such international standards underpin the EU's own legal framework on financial reporting (accounting and auditing) and are an essential element of the legislation regulating EU capital markets and the strengthening of the capital markets union.
Budget
- Over the 2014-2020 period, commitment appropriations of EUR 55 307 969 were used for the operational implementation of the programme.
- However, budget appropriations totalling EUR 2.9 million were decommitted over the same period. This represents 5.4% of the total budget appropriations initially committed. This decommitment was mainly due to a beneficiary underspending the funds awarded to them. Arrangements were put in place to mitigate the likelihood and impact of recurrence. Such arrangements were successful in mitigating the problem while allowing the objectives of the programme to be achieved.
- The payments executed between 2014 and 2020 amounted to EUR 48 819 949 and represented 88% of the total commitment appropriations for that period. The implementation period for operating grants runs from 1 January to 31 December, and balance payments due to the beneficiaries were made in 2021, which explains the difference between the cumulative commitment appropriations (taking into account the aforementioned decommitment) and the cumulative payment appropriations.
Baseline | Progress (*) | Target | Results | Assessment | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number of countries using international financial reporting standards | 128 | 100% | 166 in 2020 | 166 in 2020 | Achieved |
Number of standards endorsed in the EU compared to the number issued by the International Accounting Standards Board | 89% | 91% | 100% in 2020 | 99% compared to a target of 100% | On track |
(*) % of target achieved by the end of 2021.
- EU support strengthened the legitimacy of the three beneficiaries (the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation, the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group and the Public Interest Oversight Board) to serve the European public interest by developing and promoting European views in the field of financial reporting and auditing and ensuring these views are properly considered in the standard-setting processes of the International Accounting Standards Board and the International Federation of Accountants. In terms of achievements, the funding programme enabled the three beneficiaries to develop standards that enhance the transparency and comparability of financial information about financial instruments, revenue recognition and lease contracts.
- The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group has also widened the scope of its work in recent years, and has established a European Corporate Reporting Laboratory. The laboratory became operational in February 2019, when its task force on climate-related reporting started its work (the relevant report was published in February 2020). A second project on the reporting of non-financial risks and opportunities and linkage to the business model started in September 2020.
- The Public Interest Oversight Board continued to carry out its oversight function of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board and the International Ethics Standards Boards for Accountants.
- Since March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the work of the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation, the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group and the Public Interest Oversight Board in several ways. The three entities not only adapted by changing the way they worked (crisis meetings were conducted as online meetings; outreach sessions were cancelled, postponed or turned into webinars) but also extended deadlines to recognise stakeholders' circumstances and to allow them to provide input and, where applicable, seek input from their constituents. The International Accounting Standards Board supported stakeholders with various COVID-19-related amendments that provide targeted accounting relief and by adjusting its work plan, including postponing less-critical consultations. One example of this is the amendment of international financial reporting standard 16 to facilitate the accounting by entities for COVID-19-related lease concessions, such as rental holidays and temporary rent reductions. On the other hand, the board prioritised time-sensitive projects such as those relating to reform of the interbank offered rate and international financial reporting standard 17.
MFF 2014-2020 – Enhancing Consumer Involvement in EU Policymaking in the field of Financial Services
The programme for enhancing consumer involvement in EU policymaking in the field of financial services provides financial support to increase the participation of consumers, other end users of financial services and civil society in financial services policymaking and to promote better understanding of the financial sector.
Budget
- Between 2017 and 2020, commitment appropriations amounting to EUR 5 532 382 were used for the operational implementation of the programme.
- However, budget appropriations totalling EUR 0.3 million were decommitted over the same period. This represents 5.4% of the total budget appropriations initially committed. This decommitment was mainly due to a beneficiary underspending the EU funds awarded to them. Arrangements were put in place to mitigate the likelihood and impact of recurrence. These arrangements were successful in mitigating the problem while allowing the objectives of the programme to be achieved.
- The payments executed between 2017 and 2020 amounted to EUR 4 828 690 and represented 87% of the total commitment appropriations for that period. The implementation period for action grants runs from 1 January to 31 December, and balance payments due to the beneficiaries were made in 2021, which explains the difference between the cumulative commitment appropriations (taking into account the aforementioned decommitment) and the cumulative payment appropriations.
Performance assessment
- Since the launch of the programme in 2017, the two beneficiaries (Better Finance and Finance Watch) have been successfully working towards the achievement of the programme's objectives. They have further developed the knowledge and expertise needed to participate in EU and other relevant multilateral forms of policymaking in the area of financial services.
- In parallel, the two organisations have built up a network and implemented a number of dissemination activities that have enabled them to inform consumers and other end users of financial services, along with stakeholders representing their interests, about issues at stake in the regulation of the financial sector.
- Since March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has hampered the beneficiaries' physical participation (including as speakers) in a number of events, as many have been cancelled or postponed. Instead, the organisations organised a total of 13 virtual events, provided speakers to 66 online conferences and webinars and attended another 105 online events. This ensured that the voice of financial services users was heard.
MFF 2014-2020 – Food and Feed
The food and feed programme aims to prevent, control and eradicate animal diseases and plant pests, support sustainable food production and consumption and improve animal welfare and the effectiveness, efficiency and reliability of official controls.
Budget
Cumulative implementation rate at the end of 2021 (million EUR):
Implementation | 2014-2020 Budget | Implementation rate | |
---|---|---|---|
Commitments | 1 827.2 | 1 827.3 | 100% |
Payments | 1 539.8 | 84% |
- In 2020, 146 national veterinary programmes, covering the monitoring and eradication of 11 diseases and implemented by 28 Member States, were approved and implemented in accordance with predefined priorities. Around EUR 117.2 million was allocated to co-fund them, which accounts for the largest proportion of spending under the food and feed budget.
- In relation to emergency measures, the large-scale avian influenza outbreak, which started in 2016, required extensive efforts through 2017 and 2018 to limit its spread across Europe. In 2020, several new outbreaks occurred across the EU, and grants were awarded amounting to a total of EUR 58.76 million. Within the framework of ex ante on-the-spot audits, for some Member States the financial settlement of the crisis of 2017-2018 continued in 2021; this, in combination with payments for the 2020 grants, would result in further substantial payments in the future.
- Better training for safer food activities, with the objective of improving the effectiveness, efficiency, and reliability of official controls, could not be implemented as planned in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as the vast majority of the courses planned involved face-to-face training in small breakout groups from multiple places of origin. A number of contracts were amended to allow training using virtual classrooms, starting in January 2021. However, as there was no contractual obligation to provide virtual classrooms, many contractors chose to extend contracts and suspend their services. Eight new calls for tender (amounting to EUR 7 million) were published in 2020, and three new calls for tender were published in 2021 (with EUR 3 million committed for the first phase).
Baseline | Progress (*) | Target | Results | Assessment | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Coverage of EU territory by surveys for pests not known to occur within that territory | 50% | 80% | 100% in 2020 | 90% compared to a target of 100% | On track |
(*) % of target achieved by the end of 2021.
- Among the important achievements in the area of food and feed (a high level of health for humans, animals and plants), it is worth noting the dramatic reduction of both food-borne salmonellosis in humans and classical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease, which has almost disappeared). Lumpy skin disease, an emerging disease of cattle, has also been controlled effectively, with no outbreaks in south-eastern Europe since 2017.
- In 2014-2020, the European Court of Auditors published several reports assessing the implementation of the food and feed programme. In Chemical Hazards in Our Food – Special report 02/2019, the Court emphasised that the EU's food safety model in respect of chemicals is considered a point of reference, and that it is soundly based and respected. On 26 April 2016, the Court published Dealing with serious cross-border threats to health in the EU – Special report 28/2016 on a performance audit on animal disease eradication programmes, and drew positive conclusions on DG Health and Food Safety's management of the programmes. All of the Court's recommendations referred to actions that were already ongoing, and all of them have already been finalised.
- In 2021, the Court of Auditors carried out a follow-up review of its report Animal Welfare in the EU – Special report 31/2018. Based on the preliminary findings presented in the clearing letter (CL-13193) received on 12 January 2022, three recommendations were implemented in a timely manner by DG Health and Food Safety and two recommendations face a delay in implementation due to the decision to launch a fitness check in 2020, which is relevant for the revision of EU animal welfare legislation (https://europa.eu/!drdwmd).
- The food and feed programme has contributed to the improvement of animal welfare through its financial support for courses on better training for safer food in this area in several countries. This has led to improvements in this sector, as stated by the Court of Auditors, which emphasised in Animal Welfare in the EU – Special report 31/2018 that EU action on animal welfare has improved compliance with the EU's requirements and has supported higher standards, with a clear positive impact on animal welfare.
- In 2019, the Internal Audit Service requested that DG Health and Food Safety further improve and simplify the financial management of the veterinary and phytosanitary programmes. In the light of this process, DG Health and Food Safety signed an administrative arrangement with the Joint Research Centre of the Commission to develop new methodologies for the calculation of unit costs in both areas. The work has suffered slight delays because of the COVID-19 situation, but the final report on the review of the methodology for unit costs in the veterinary area was submitted by the Joint Research Centre to DG Health and Food Safety in March 2021. At the same time, the report for phase 1 concerning a new methodology for the calculation of unit costs for sampling activities in the phytosanitary area (where no such approach existed) was also submitted by the Joint Research Centre. DG Health and Food Safety intends to apply both methodologies in the near future.
- The Commission acknowledges the existence of backlogs, especially in the area of regulated food ingredients, and is working to enhance its procedures for the monitoring and enforcement of all food and health legislation, which will cover the follow-up to recommendations arising from Commission audits.
- Currently, the final ex post evaluation of Regulation (EU) No 652/2014 is ongoing, following the legal obligation under the EU's financial rules (Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046) on performing retrospective evaluations of programmes and activities that entail significant spending in order to assess the performance of the programme or activity.
MFF 2014-2020 – Consumer programme
The consumer programme promotes the interests of consumers and ensures a high level of product safety and consumer protection by empowering and assisting consumers, ensuring access to efficient redress mechanisms, supporting enforcement authorities and consumer organisations, enhancing the participation of consumers and other end users of financial services in financial services policymaking and promoting better understanding of the financial sector and the different forms of commercialised financial products.
Budget
Cumulative implementation rate at the end of 2021 (million EUR):
Implementation | 2014-2020 Budget | Implementation rate | |
---|---|---|---|
Commitments | 187.8 | 188.4 | 100% |
Payments | 161.9 | 86% |
- The implementation of the 2014–2020 consumer programme is well on track, and at the end of 2021, all commitment appropriations (including the credits on the global commitment) were used according to the planned operational implementation.
- In 2020 and 2021, following the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on some of the procurement activities (cancellation of meetings, conferences and study visits), the budget allocated to grants was slightly increased (within the 20% flexibility provided for in the financing decision), which allowed an increase in the overall implementation rate.
- The implementation of the payment appropriations over the 2014-2020 period represented 86% of the total commitment appropriations for that period. The payment appropriations will continue to be executed in the years to come (estimated until 2023) to allow for the finalisation of ongoing projects relating to grants and procurement activities. They mainly concern multiannual activities that are still in progress or are in the finalisation phase.
Performance assessment
- The implementation of the consumer programme progressed well, producing significant results under the programme's various specific objectives.
- Cooperation between national authorities through Safety Gate has significantly increased over time since the system's creation in 2003. The ratio of the number of reactions to the number of serious risk notifications increased from 0.90 in 2013 to 1.99 in 2021 (these very good statistics can be explained by the fact that a notification can trigger several reactions from authorities of other Member States). The number of notifications has now stabilised at the regular rate of around 2 000 per year.
- Manual checks on such products in online shops are time consuming, costly and not effective enough. This raised the need for a powerful information technology tool (the eSurveillance webcrawler) to be developed to monitor whether web shops or any other online marketplaces sell dangerous products, and to do this using a coherent, unique and cost-efficient approach. The project is in the pilot phase, and its launch is expected in the first quarter of 2022. Currently, 340 users from 22 Member States are testing the application. After the first 2 months of the pilot phase the results are very promising, and show a very high level of accuracy (more than 90% of confirmed dangerous products have been found by the application).
- The consumer programme allocated EUR 1 million to support the operational capacities of the national consumer protection cooperation authorities responsible for the enforcement of EU consumer protection laws. In 2021, intense work took place to fight the continuous impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumers and to ensure that national authorities are well equipped to carry out coordinated activities for the benefit of European consumers. The modern information technology system, which came into operation in 2020, enabled rapid exchanges between consumer protection cooperation authorities and the Commission on potentially unfair and harmful market trends affecting consumers across Europe.
- The consumer programme also contributes to raising awareness of EU consumer law, including by SMEs through a dedicated training project, 'Consumer law ready'. The courses (including online courses) were developed taking duly into account the various forms of national consumer legislation, and were made available in all the national languages. In light of the difficulties in holding classroom training sessions, online activities in the project were reinforced. The project saw around 1 200 SMEs and local trainers participating in 2021, and 51 training sessions were held by leading trainers from each Member State.
Programme statement