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

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

3. 1. 2013 AIR process (ERDF) still incomplete & slower that 2012 !! 3 Approving AIRs … 2 month slower than last year … @January 2015 200 / 249 – Accepted 81% 18 - 7% - With DG REGIO 31 – 12% - With MA (Interrupted or rejected) Overlapping with 2014-2020 preparations. Not all interruptions are linked to data. Stats exclude ESF and ETC programmes.

4. AIR 2013 treatment – MA/REGIO 4

5. 2. Project Selection annual aggregate trends DateEUR Billion% allocated 09/200993.427.1% 12/200990.826.4% 12/201018152.2% 12/201124470.4% 12/2012291.583.9% 12/2013317.991.6% Total Budget decided (2012) 346.7100%

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

7. 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

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

9. 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

10. Project selection by major theme – relative progress 10

11. 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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14. 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

15. 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

16. 4. Next Steps Ex-Post 2007-2013 Work Package "zero" being finalised All other thematic packages launched – Deadline end 2015/ early 2016 2014 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

17. 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 2007-2013 Important input to the impact assessment post- 2020. 17