Euclid Network (EN) supports the announcement of the European Commission’s (EC) public consultation on the review of the financial regulation, following its campaign to reform European funding for the third sector, but warns it is just the beginning.

The campaign began back in January 2009 when Filippo Addarii, EN executive director, met with DG Budget, the equivalent of Treasury of the EC, calling for an open consultation on the review of the Financial Regulation, the rules in which the European Union distribute grants and contracts.

EN has since taken the initiative to launch its own 10-month campaign and consultation, which has resulted in 10 recommendations on how European funding should be reformed.

The recommendations were based on the evidence submitted to EN by third sector leaders and networks from across Europe.

The recommendations, which include well-known obstacles such as high levels of administrative jargon and non-profit rule, were released last week and presented to the EC, DG Education and Culture’s civil society working group on European funding, which is chaired by EN.

‘This is just the beginning. Our consultation has shown the changes that our sector needs and now is the opportunity to get these changes in the new text’ said Filippo Addarii, executive director of Euclid Network.

The consultation has drawn interest from across Europe, including national governments and European officials.

The next steps of EN’s campaign are to continue to gather evidence for the EC and gather the support of MEPs and national governments.

EN’s executive director Filippo Addarii will work with Roshan Di Puppo, Director of Social Platform, and European officials to draft a final report.

For the first time the European Commission and civil society representatives are working together to make European funding regulation work more effectively.

This will then be submitted to DG Budget, which has committed itself to consider all recommendations and introduce them in the new text as appropriate.

The text will then undergo fine tuning during the first quarter of 2010, followed by its formal adoption by the end of the year.