MINUTES OF THE EVALUATION NETWORK MEETING
Brussels, 15-16 January 2015
First day of meeting, 15.01.2015
1. OPENING REMARKS
Kai Stryczynski opened the meeting and welcomed the new participants from Belgium and
Sweden. He briefly presented the items of the agenda. The minutes of the network meetings in
March and May 2014 were approved.
2. 2007-2013 EX POST EVALUATION: State of play
Kai Stryczynski introduced the 2007-2013 ex-post evaluation of ERDF/Cohesion Fund and
gave an overview of the 15 interlinked work packages. Colleagues of the Evaluation and
European Semester Unit then presented the state of play of the individual work packages. The
following issues were discussed:

Several Member States requested a list showing which regions are covered by case
studies, and pointed out that an appropriate coordination would be necessary to avoid
overload. REGIO will provide a table to the participants once the various work
packages have advanced, indicating where case studies will be carried out and which
consultants are in charge. Furthermore, consultants will be reminded to target their
requests for information from Managing Authorities and to search whether
Implementing Bodies are possibly more appropriate to answer these questions.

The findings of all the work packages will have an effect on the design of the new
policy in 2021. Learning from previous programming periods has already taken place;
many changes in 2014-2020 have been made due to the evaluations carried out in
programming period 2000-2006.
3. 2007-2013 EX POST EVALUATION: WORK PACKAGE ZERO
Giovanni Familiari, t33 (contractor for Work Package Zero) presented the main findings of
evaluation. He described the main work of validating and correcting the indicator data reported
by the managing authorities in 2012 and 2013 AIRs and in the data transmitted through the
SFC platform. He presented achievements on selected core indicator data (21 core indicators)
and he pointed out where Member States have made changes of 2012 data and where there
were inconsistencies between 2013 data and WD7 on indicators. He showed how common
1
indicators for the 2014-2020 programming period have been used and pointed out that there is
almost no information on major projects in AIRs.
Issues raised during the discussion:

Indicators on infrastructure were not broadly used in the 2007-2013 programming
period, as they have referred only to fully operational projects (completion of transport
projects can take many years and, as such, reporting of zero-values could not be
avoided).

The outcome of this work package will be a database with physical and financial
information that will be uploaded on Inforegio.
4. 2013 ANNUAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORTS
John Walsh presented a feedback on the annual implementation reports for 2013.
Issues raised:
 This is still a complicated exercise as it overlaps with the 2014-2020 exercise. The data
overall has improved and an update of the open data platform with 2013 values will be
online.
 Project selection: 8% of total expenditure is still not allocated
 Measurement units: the message to the managing authorities is that it is better not to
report at all, than to report wrong values.
 With regard to project selection, only actively selected operations should be included. If
participants wish, this discussion can be included at a next meeting of the network.
5. COMPETITION FOR GOOD EVALUATIONS – 2016 EVALUATION CONFERENCE
Kai Stryczynski presented the state of play with regard to the Competition for good
evaluations, calling on all interested participants, and especially young researchers. A
dedicated
website
has
been
set
up
for
the
competition
(http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/index.cfm/en/newsroom/news/2014/10/competition-forthe-best-evaluations-and-evaluation-proposals). Network members are encouraged to visit the
site for more information and to spread the word to interested parties.
6. DG COMP EVALUATION PROPOSAL – STATE AID
Rodrigo Peduzzi, DG COMP, presented the proposal for an evaluation methodology for State
Aid schemes. Such evaluations can be included in the Member States' evaluation plans for
cohesion policy.
DG COMP has established an online tool with FAQ and the guidance can be found on their
site:
(http://ec.europa.eu/competition/state_aid/modernisation/state_aid_evaluation_methodology_en.pdf )
2
7. 2016 EVALUATION ACTIVITIES
Kai Stryczynski made a first presentation on the Evaluation unit's activities in 2016 – these
include:
- Evaluation Conference in 2016
- Communication on negotiations (Art. 16 of the Regulation)
- Evaluation Helpdesk, to provide inter alia assessment to the evaluation plans sent and offer
expertise to Member States. This is to be a one-year contract, with the possibility for renewal
(call for tenders published on Inforegio)
8. EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION ON MONITORING AND EVALUATION ACTIVITIES IN MEMBER STATES
LT:
SE:
IT:
Conference "Evaluation result for decision makers" – Vilnius 13-15 May 2015
Evaluation plan: draft by Feb/March 2015. Swedish Government commissioned ex post
evaluation of the previous programming period
Working on monitoring system 2014-2020, implementing based on lessons learned
from previous program
Second day of meeting, 16.01.2015
9. 2014-2020 OPERATIONAL PROGRAMMES: DIALOGUE / NEGOTIATIONS
Kai Stryczynski presented the main challenges of the negotiations process with regard to result
orientation, intervention logic, result indicators and common output indicators.
Issues raised during the discussion:

The feedback from the Commission has been useful though but the timeframe has been
really challenging. There is lack of coordination with the EAFRD on issues such as
infrastructure and broadband.

There appears to be lack of coherence between REGIO and EMPL on result orientation
(different methods for setting the targets for result indicators and defining specific
objectives): Here, Kai Stryczynski emphasized the fact that there are no conceptual
differences between REGIO and EMPL. He underlined the need for data on
beneficiaries for result indicators as well – issue to be taken into consideration when the
evaluation plans are discussed.
10. 2014-2020 EVALUATION PLANS
Professor Elliot Stern presented the principles of a good evaluation plan.
Issues raised during the discussion:
3
Evaluation questions should be included in an evaluation plan. It is important the evaluation
plan achieves a level that could raise the main problems addressed by the operational
programme.
There are proposals for a future elaboration of the Commission's Guidance on evaluation plans
to provide more detail - and whether it should remain a strategic document, while also
maintaining a certain level of flexibility.
The role of the REGIO Evaluation unit in this process is consultative. The REGIO evaluation
team is available for further consultation.
11. CLOSING REMARKS
KS assured the participants that the regional case studies of the 2007-2013 ex-post evaluation
will be soon available.
The next meeting of the network will be organised in June 2015.
4