Synthesis Report - European Commission - Europa

Ex-post Evaluation of the ERDF 2000-2006
Synthesis Report
1 Introduction
The purpose of the present report is to synthesise the results of the ex post evaluation of
cohesion policy in Objective 1 and Objective 2 regions across the EU over the 2000-2006
programming period. The particular focus is on the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund),
The aim is threefold:
• to examine how the finance provided by the ERDF was used in the regions concerned in
both the EU15 countries and the EU10 countries which entered the Union in 2004;
• to consider the effects of ERDF support in these regions and how far they furthered the
pursuit of the goals of cohesion policy;
• to draw lessons from the experience over the period in order to improve both the design
and operation of policy in future years, especially from 2014 onwards.
In practice, however, though the focus is on the ERDF which accounted for almost two-thirds of
the finance made available over the period, its effects cannot be separated from those of the
other sources of finance which make up the Structural Funds. These are the ESF (European Social
Fund), aimed at supporting human resource development and disadvantaged groups, the EAGGF
(the European Agriculture Guidance and Guarantee Fund), for supporting rural development and
the FIFG (Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance), for restructuring the fishing industry.
Together they are intended to provide the financial means of pursuing integrated development
strategies across the EU.
A further source of finance, the Cohesion Fund, is complementary to the ERDF and was used over
the period to support investment in transport and environmental infrastructure in Member States
with relatively low levels of national income – specifically, Greece, Spain, Portugal and Ireland in
the EU15 and all of the EU10 countries which entered the Union in May, 2004 1 .
Evaluations either have been carried out, or are in the process of being carried out, on each of the
above Funds 2 . Together with the present evaluation, they are intended to give an overall view of
how the substantial amount of finance made available under EU cohesion policy has been used
and to what effect. Their purpose is to provide responses to the questions which EU taxpayers
have a right to know the answers to – how the money was spent and what was achieved.
At various points in the present report, reference is made to the operation of these other funds.
Indeed, it is not possible in practice to distinguish the effect of the ERDF on the development of
the regions receiving support from that of the other Structural Funds which contributed to the
strategies pursued over the period.
A theme running throughout the report is the fact that cohesion policy has multiple goals rather
than a single objective. This was just as much the case in the 2000-2006 period as now. In line
with the EU Treaty objectives at the time, it was concerned with:
1 Member States with Gross National Product of under 90% of the EU average are eligible for receipt of funding.
Ireland was eligible for the first part of the period up to the end of 2003 but ceased to be eligible from the
beginning of 2004.
2 The ex post evaluation of the ESF and the FIFG are in the process of being finalised at the time of writing. The ex
post evaluations of the EAGGF and the Cohesion Fund are due to be completed before the end of 2011. All the
evaluation will be published on the websites of the DGs responsible for the Funds – DG Employment for the ESF, DG
Agriculture for the EAGGF, DG Fisheries for the FIFG and DG Regional Policy for the Cohesion Fund.
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