MINISTRY OF FINANCE Beethovnova 11, 1000 Ljubljana Tel.: (01) 369-65-10 Fax: (01) 369-65-39

1. MINISTRY OF FINANCE Beethovnova 11, 1000 Ljubljana Tel.: (01) 369-65-10 Fax: (01) 369-65-39 MINISTRY OF FINANCE, Certifying Authority EU funds absorption and forecast process Ljubljana, 19.11.2014

2. Functioning of Certifying Authority • EU funds managementdepartment performs the functions of CAin Slovenia • The department is part of internal organizational unit of the Ministry of Finance – Budget Directorate • Daily cooperation with Public Accountancy Directorate, Treasury

3. Organizational structure and operational sections of the EU Funds Management Department - Cohesion Fund - Irregularities - Migration Funds • ERDF - Reports - Norwegian and EEA • ESF - Legal matters - Swiss Contribution - Development tasks

4. EU funds in Slovenia Pre-accession aid Phare, ISPA, Sapard, Transition Facility, Schengen Facility, Cohesion fund 700 million EUR Period 2004-2006 / Single Programming Document 334,5 million EUR Period 2007-2013/ Operational programmes for regional development (EFRD),European social fund (ESF), Cohesion fund (CF) 4,2 billion EUR Migration funds 63 million EUR Norwegian and EEA Mechanisms 27 million EUR Swiss Contribution 20 million EUR Period 2014 – 2020 Partnership Agreement 3,2 billion EUR

5. EU funds in Slovenia • Net recipient • App 10 % of national budget revenues/ year • Slow absorption • Complex implementation system • Room for improvement

6. Management and control system - SLO The key players cooperation among Managing authority Certifying authority Audit authority

7. Management and control system - EU The key players control and supervision

8. Legal basis 2007-2013: • Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 of 11 July 2006 laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund • Commission Regulation (EC) No 1828/2006 of 8 December 2006 setting out rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund • Uredba o izvajanju postopkov pri porabi sredstev evropske kohezijske politike v Republiki Sloveniji v programskem obdobju 2007-2013 (Ur.l. RS, št. 41/2007) • Public finance act • Implementing act of the national budget • Public procurement act

9. Certifying authority – main tasks • Payments(reimbursement to the national budget) • control according to Art.61 of 1083/2006/EC • prevention and detection of irregularities • receiving recoveries from the budget users • Certificationof expenditure (statement of expenditure) • Debtors‘ ledger (on all irregularities detected) • Submission to the Commission the certified statements of expenditure and applications for payment • Receiving payments from the Commission • Maintenance of accounting records in computerized form of expenditure declared to the Commission

10. Implementation process

11. Forecasts to EC • National authorities are invited to send by 30 April and September 15 forecasts of requests for payment to the Commission for the current year and the following year • From 2015 submission of forecasts by January 31 and July 31 for the new programs and on a voluntary basis for 2007 -2013 programs • Two separate payment forecasts: one for the payment requests to be sent to the Commission for the period January – October and another for the period November - December

12. Forecasts to EC • Submission through SFC2007 only • Payment forecasts relate to requests for payments sent to the Commission and not payments made by the national authorities to the final beneficiaries • Our own national forecast of payments to be made to final beneficiaries AND the date on which we intend to request payment from the Commission, what inevitably involves further delay

13. Forecasts to EC • N+2/3 rule to be taken into account – automatic decommitment • Shortage of payment credits in EU budget

14. Thank you for your attention Mateja Mahkovec, MF – CA