Evidence on the results of the INTERREG Community Initiative in 2000-2006
With around €5.69 billion of funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the INTERREG Community Initiative generated significant results between 2000 and 2006. This is the conclusion reached by the European Commission after finalising the evaluation of INTERREG III, covering the programme's three strands – cross-border, trans-national and inter-regional cooperation – as well as the related ESPON and INTERACT programmes. Key findings show that the added value of INTERREG goes far beyond mutual learning: INTERREG supported around 5 800 business start-ups, created or safeguarded 115 000 jobs and created some 12 000 networks and cooperation structures.
Physical investments were shown to have an important impact on
territorial development, but only when they had a real cross-border
or transnational dimension. The evaluation recommends that the
Managing Authorities set realistic objectives and promote projects
with strategic importance, directly linked to the programmes'
objectives. The final report of the Interreg III ex post evaluation
presents its findings, makes recommendations for the present
European Territorial Co-Operation and feeds into the debate on
future cohesion policy. The main objective of this evaluation was
to provide evidence on inter-regionality and co-operation. This was
to be done through a comprehensive overview of all 81 programmes,
gathering evidence, and an in-depth examination of a sample of 16
programmes and 80 projects.
Key findings on Interreg III:
* The very significant volumes of activity demonstrate that Interreg was about much more than mutual learning opportunities, as is sometimes stated in the literature, although these too were important.
* Physical investments achieved tangible territorial impacts, but only if they had a real cross-border or transnational relevance.
* Soft co-operation outcomes were equally important territorial impacts, particularly where they involved the development of a joint & durable problem solving capacity.
* Co-operation was promoted and facilitated, with 12,000 networks and co-operation structures reported to be created and 63,000 agreements or conventions concluded along the borders.
Recommendations for the present ETC:
* To ensure that programme logic is consistent: what do programmes aim to achieve and how will they know when they have been successful?
* To promote projects with strategic importance: how can programmes be sure that projects will contribute to achieving the objectives of the programme?
* To establish pro-active and ongoing interaction with other Territorial Co-Operation and Convergence and Regional Competitiveness and Employment programmes
* To improve monitoring and evaluation of the programmes
* To experiment with the EGTC to set up fully integrated co-operation structures
* To start preparing joint territorial strategies in the programme areas for the future
Reference material
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Download the full report on the Ex post evaluation of INTERREG
27 Jul 2010, pdf, 3MB