In its annual audit of EU spending, the European Court of Auditors recommended simplifying the rules for the payment of staff costs in the future Horizon Europe research and innovation program.
In fact, in 2018 the financing of non-eligible staff costs is the main source of error, in particular in the case of payments to small and medium enterprises, together with a declaration in excess of other direct costs, overheads and non-eligible subcontracting costs.
Both the Commission and some members of Parliament agree with a simplification of the reporting procedures in Horizon Europe, although these have already been reviewed in the transition from the 7th Framework Program to Horizon 2020.
The Court points out that research spending implies a higher risk of error due to more complicated rules for reimbursing researchers’ costs, while in other sectors such as Erasmus student mobility the simplest mechanism reduces the possibility of claiming expenses ineligible.