Annual Implementation. Reports (AIR) 2013 … on 7 years of activity DG REGIO B2-European Semester & Evaluation 1

Outline 1.Annual Implementation Reports (AIR) process 2.Categorisation - Tracking the inputs 3.Core Indicators – measuring the outputs 4.Next steps & Conclusions 2

AIR process (ERDF) still incomplete & slower that 2012 !! 3 Approving AIRs … 2 month slower than last year / 249 – Accepted 81% % - With DG REGIO 31 – 12% - With MA (Interrupted or rejected) Overlapping with preparations. Not all interruptions are linked to data. Stats exclude ESF and ETC programmes.

AIR 2013 treatment – MA/REGIO 4

2. Project Selection annual aggregate trends DateEUR Billion% allocated 09/ % 12/ % 12/ % 12/ % 12/ % 12/ % Total Budget decided (2012) %

Project selection – 2013 "Gross" and capped at 100% of OP 6

Project selection – 2013 Main Messages 91.8 % of total volume allocated to projects is to low !! Varies from 53% to over 150% by MS Still some data reliability issues Mis-allocations / reporting … ES – Payment based not proejct selection ? NL – ESF problem … not cumulative? Over programming in some programmes => dormant project 7

Turning project selection to spending … (2013 selection vs 2014 spend) 8

Turning project selection to spending … (2013 vs 2014 expend Declarations) AT & ES appear to report on payments only - not project selection Project selection is not a guarantee of spending: some projects naturally take longer to mature and spend Capacity is a real problem in many important programmes Co-financing - Administrative and techncial capacity - Beneficiaries Significant N+2/3 decommitments have started (400 m€ in 2014) 9

Project selection by major theme – relative progress 10

Project selection by major theme At this aggregate level differences between rates of project selection still persist Delays in Rail – Energy Others are well ahead of average: Roads, Social Infrastructure – Tourism culture – Generic Business Support 11

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3. Core Indicators - measuring outputs ERDF/CF Delayed finalisation of 20% of OP AIR !!! Plausibility checked by REGIO Manual corrections & analysis still done by REGIO WP zero also checking - Consistency of definitions / Measurement units - AIR text vs SFC data 14

3a. Improved data but certain limitations Key weaknesses: Core Indicators not collected/used when relevant (i.e. several FR, DE programmes) Inconsistent definitions and practices (Jobs, Km road, rail ) Reporting "contracted" not "completed" (Significant corrections in GR, ES, and other specific OPs) Units of measure (MW, Km²,...) Quality control in certain OPs or Nationally 15

4. Next Steps Ex-Post Work Package "zero" being finalised All other thematic packages launched – Deadline end 2015/ early AIR: Will MAs integrate WPzero corrections? Present consistent trend in outputs? Final IR (2017): reconcile categorisation data with final declaration Final statement of outputs achieved 16

Conclusions Better data … but not perfect In certain programmes … still slow progress on project selection … growing absorption concerns Outputs growing steadily as projects are completed – but uneven reporting OPEN Data platform will be updated in Feb 2015 with 2013 data (excel files online also for researchers) 2013 data will be the basis for ex-post Important input to the impact assessment post