# EUR-Lex - 52013SC0129 - EN

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# 52013SC0129

**COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Accompanying the document REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS Cohesion policy: Strategic report 2013 on programme implementation 2007-2013 /* SWD/2013/0129 final */**

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COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT

Accompanying the document

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE
AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS
Cohesion policy: Strategic report 2013
on programme implementation 2007-2013

1.           Introduction

This staff working document is a companion
document to the 'Cohesion policy: Strategic report 2013'.

It presents explanations and commentaries on
the data used by the Commission to assess progress in the implementation of
cohesion policy across the 434 programmes in the 27 Member States and under the
European Territorial Cooperation objective.

Section 2:       Explains programming under
shared management

Section 3:       Puts in context the different
data sets used for outputs and results for the ERDF/Cohesion Fund and the ESF.

Section 4:       Outlines the data available on
project selection and payments. It also provides an overview of the major
projects and background on project examples identified by different Member
States (a selection of which are highlighted in the thematic factsheet).

Section 5:       Outlines the data on
programming and reprogramming (including thematic reprograming and
reprogramming of co-financing rates).

Annex

This annex contains tables and graphs providing
the basis for the analysis contained in the report and the thematic factsheets:

Table 1.1    ERDF-Cohesion Fund - core Indicator aggregate
achievements reported 2007-2011

Table 1.2    ERDF-Cohesion Fund - use of Core
Indicators by the Member States

Table 1.3:    ERDF-Cohesion Fund - gross jobs
created - 2007-2013

Table 2.1    ESF beneficiary data reported by ESF managing
authorities - overview by year and gender

Table 2.2    ESF beneficiary data reported by ESF managing authorities
- overview by year

Table 2.3a   ESF beneficiary data reported by
ESF managing authorities

Table 2.3b  ESF beneficiary (Women) reported by
ESF managing authorities

Table 3.1    All funds - decided vs project selection (2007-11) vs
payments declared (2007-2013)

Table 4       Categories reported (86) grouped by major themes - overview
of decided vs project selection

Table 5       Overview EU Funding by Objectives - decided vs project
selection in major themes (2007-2011)

Table 6.1    Projects selected: overall Progress in implementing the
Lisbon earmarking priorities within the Community Strategic Guidelines–by Objective

Table 6.2    Projects selected: Progress in implementing the Lisbon
earmarking priorities – by objective and by Member State

Table 7.1    Thematic reprogramming 2007-2012:
Total by Fund

Table 7.2    Thematic reprogramming 2007-2012:
Total by fund by year

Table 7.3    Thematic reprogramming 2007-2012 -
by theme

Table 7.4    Thematic reprogramming 2007-2012 -
total by Member State

Table 7.5    Change in total planned volume of programmes (EU and
national - all EU funds) - 2007-2012

Separately a set of thematic factsheets
summarising the investments being made under cohesion policy in major thematic
areas has been published on the the Commission website here:           
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/how/policy/strategic_report_en.cfm

The 13 factsheets cover the following policy
areas:

(1) 
Innovation and R&D

(2) 
ICT

(3) 
Other SME and business support

(4) 
Energy

(5) 
Environment

(6) 
Rail

(7) 
Road

(8) 
Other transport

(9) 
Urban and territorial development       
(European Territorial Cooperation, Urban dimension, Macro regional strategies and
culture, heritage and tourism)

(10) 
Labour market

(11) 
Social inclusion and social infrastructure

(12) 
Human capital

(13) 
Institutional capacity building

2.           Programming under shared
management

Programming involves choosing and setting objectives,
deciding a strategy, allocating resources, selecting projects, contracting
services and works, implementing and monitoring progress, paying expenditure
and delivering outputs and results.

Under the 'shared management' system, national
and regional authorities directly supervise project selection and the
monitoring of progress, payments and outputs (amongst other tasks).

The Commission can aggregate only a limited set
of quantified measures of implementation in terms of outputs/beneficiaries (by
programme), on payments (by programme but not currently by theme) and on inputs
(financial support for projects selected by theme). These quantified data
give an EU overview, albeit if limited, of the implementation of programmes at
EU level.

An abbreviated chronological sequence for
programme implementation is as follows:

|| Inputs => || Process => || Outputs

Activities || Programme financial allocations => || project selection => contracting => spending => || outputs / beneficiaries => results

Quantifiable measures || € volume allocated by theme || a. N° projects selected b. € Volume allocated to selected projects c. payments made by programme || a. N° projects completed b. N° beneficiaries c. Output / result indicators

3.           Monitoring and measuring
outputs and results

3.1.        ERDF/Cohesion Fund core
indicators

3.1.1.     Concept and purpose

During the negotiations on the ERDF and
Cohesion Fund operational programmes (OPs) for 2007-2013, the Commission
recommended[1]
the use of 'core indicators' for the main - but by far not all - intervention
areas such as business support, education, environment, health, job creation,
information society, research development and innovation, tourism, transport
and urban development. The purpose of core indicators is to provide
aggregated information across Member States.

The Member States and the Commission are
using the current period to establish reporting routines and to detect problems
in the practical application of core indicators. The
use of core indicators is not a legal obligation for Member States in
2007-2013. However, in the desire to improve their accountability in the use of
the Funds, Member States and Commission have undertaken to make a particular
effort to use and report against core indicators. 2007-2013 is the first period
when such information has been available across programmes.

For 2014-2020, Member States and the Commission
have agreed that the use of common output indicators will become an obligation.
The Commission has been working with Member States on the list of common
indicators and their definitions for the last two years, to ensure that systems
are set up and reliable data reported from the beginning of the next
programming period.

Core indicators represent basic information on
the activity of the Funds. In most cases they capture outputs as a direct
consequence of cohesion policy, such as kilometres of railway constructed
or the number of students benefiting from better education infrastructure. This
means that core indicators do not reflect the objectives of
programmes or the policy as a whole. Objectives are reflected in result
indicators - that are programme specific and cannot therefore be aggregated -
and the qualitative comments provided by Member States in annual implementation
reports and strategic reports.

Great caution should also be exercised
concerning the comparability of core indicator data for the calculation of unit
costs. The key reason for this is that the underlying projects are often not
comparable (e.g. roads in mountainous areas compared to roads in flat areas).

Reporting by Member States

All Member States submitted data on core
indicators in their national strategic reports. All 41 core indicators were
used but not necessarily by all relevant programmes. The Commission has aggregated the reported values for all core
indicators in Table 1.1.

The frequency of use of the core indicators varied
significantly. Jobs created, Number of RTD
projects, Number of cooperation projects enterprises-research institutions,
Number of start-ups supported are the indicators most frequently reported by Member
States. A summary of the number of core indicators used by the Member States in
their national reports or supporting documents features is contained in Table
1.2.

The detailed reporting on to the ERDF /
Cohesion Fund core indicators is further examined in the relevant thematic
factsheets[2]
in terms of the overall achievements of the Member state, the scope of
reporting, setting of targets and achievements against targets.

3.1.2.     Commentary on the ERDF /
Cohesion Fund data on 'Jobs created (gross)'

The Commission’s aggregation of gross jobs
created with the support of the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund as reported by
Member States is presented in Table 1.3. The cut-off date
for reporting is the end of 2011 for most Member States. Five Member States
provided figures up to the end of June 2012 (EE, CZ, MT, RO and BG).

For calculating the data presented in Table 1.3
the Commission used data reported by Member States under core indicator 01 –
'jobs created'. When this information was not available, the Commission
included data from indicators 06 – 'research jobs created' and/or 09 – 'jobs
created – direct investment aid to SMEs'. The reported jobs created are full
time equivalents and exclude temporary jobs (such as jobs linked to
construction works).

The number of jobs created is a figure attracting
particular attention in times of high unemployment. The reported numbers are
based on a comparison of the number of jobs before and after project
implementation. This approach - called gross job creation here - delivers
information aggregated from the supported projects.

These figures need to be interpreted with
caution. It is likely for example that not all programmes are reporting 'jobs
created' when relevant. Also, the number of jobs may be overestimated in some
cases because of difficulties in taking account of deadweight in individual
projects or substitution effects at a higher level. Estimating 'net jobs
created', taking into account such factors, requires other techniques that,
however, cannot deliver in as timely a manner as the reporting based on gross
jobs.

The Commission has asked its Expert Evaluation
Network to look more closely at national and regional practices in reporting
jobs created during 2013. The report will be available in June 2013.

3.1.3.     Strengths and weaknesses of
the data reported

Core indicators, presenting mainly measures of
outputs, provide a relatively up-to date picture of implementation progress.
However, they significantly under represent the number and variety of
co-financed actions. This is because the chosen core indicators cover only
those frequent actions present in many programmes. A variety of actions are
undertaken which do not give rise to outputs measured by the selected core
indicators.

The quality of data is affected by the fact
that sometime not all Member States have used the same or comparable
definitions recommended by the Commission.

It still happens that reports delivered by
Member States include simple, but consequential errors. In a number of cases
units of reporting have been mixed up (e.g., Megawatt hours instead of
Megawatts, use of national currency instead of Euro). Even a small number of
such outliers can render the immediate use of the reported information
difficult. In some cases differences occurred between annual implementation
reports and strategic reports although both reports relate to the same cut-off
date.

The Commission has recommended the use of data
on implemented projects. Member States have increasingly followed this
recommendation in their reporting.

Target setting remains perhaps the most
widespread and substantial problem. In a number of cases targets have not been
set. Where targets are set many are often substantially over- or underachieved.

The Commission carried out a considerable
number of plausibility checks which excluded outliers, corrected obvious
errors, compared information in the strategic reports with information
available from annual implementation reports and, given the time constraints,
verified a limited amount of data with Member States. In the case of doubt,
information was not included in the Commission's strategic report – Tables
1.1 and 1.3 - or in the thematic factsheets[3].

Improving this situation is a very real
challenge for the future. However, the Commission believes that transparency in
publishing the data reported and their analysis in conjunction with data on
project selection and expenditure is a necessary step to further improvement.
The Commission will work with Member States over the remainder of the current
period, to ensure better-quality annual and final reporting of targets and
achievements for this period in preparation for more robust monitoring and
reporting in the period 2014-2020.

3.2.        ESF indicator data

Programme authorities provide data on
participants in ESF funded schemes and projects under the ESF provisions on
reporting (Regulation (EC) No 1828/2006 - Annex XXIII). The aggregate and
Member State data are presented in Tables 2.1, 2.2. and 2.3.

Regarding the ESF, the number of participants
increased sharply, from almost 1 million in 2007 to 15.6 million in 2010. This
increase is largely due to the advancement of the programming period, as
projects are set up before enlisting participants. Nevertheless, the current
number of participants is significantly - over 50 % - higher than at the
equivalent time in the previous programming period, where there were around 10
million participants annually. Since 2010, the level has reached a plateau
suggesting that ESF activities have reached a high level, but are no longer
increasing.

Within this increasing number of
participations, there have been significant changes in the proportion of
individuals from different ESF beneficiary groups (Table 2.2 and 2.3).
The Commission has identified five key trends for the different groups.

· Help was redirected from getting people into work toward preventive
actions aimed at keeping people in employment. Between 2007 and 2011, the proportion
of ESF participants who were unemployed reduced fell from 52 % to
29 %. Despite this decrease in proportion, the number of participants
remained relatively constant between 2010 and 2011. By contrast, over the same
period the proportion of employed participants increased from 26 % to
37 %.           
While two thirds of all participants are either inactive or unemployed, these
groups account for less than 30 % in LU, NL and SE where the programmes
focus strongly rather on enhancing the skills of employed people. In some
Member States (BG, CZ, EL, HU, IT and PL) young people in education or in
training account for more than one third of all participants. In others (AT,
CY, PT, SE and UK) these are less than 5 %% of the total[4].

· There was an increased focus on participants with tertiary education
levels. In 2007 participants with at most a lower secondary education accounted
for 55 % of all participations. This was gradually reduced to 44 %
over the next 4 years, even though the number increased in absolute terms. By
contrast, the proportion of participants with tertiary education level doubled
between 2008 and 2011. This was linked to a similar rise in the proportion
participants who were in education and training in the same period. 
In DE, EL and MT participants with at most a lower secondary education
accounted for over 60 % of all participants but less than 20 % in FI,
SE, SI and CY. In CY, EE, LT and SI, 40 % or more have tertiary education.

· Throughout 2007-11 the proportion of people from vulnerable groups
remained constant - at around 18 % - despite the pressures of the crisis.
Although the situation varies nationally, UK and AT seem to be particularly
successful in reaching out to people with some form of disability. Others,
notably AT, CY, NL and LV are successful in using the ESF to support people
from a minority or with migrant background.

· 
Women continued to represent over half
(52 %) of participants. In CY, EE, LT and LV they amount to more than
60 %. In the UK women form only 38 % of participants.

· 
For young people, the proportion of participants
first decreased in 2009, before increasing over the next two years to
31 %. This represents an increase in proportion while overall numbers of
participants were also increasing, indicating a significant rise in youth
participants.         
In DE, FR and HU young people account for 40 %% or more of all
participants. The Scandinavian and Baltic Member States, SI and SK have a much
higher proportion of older workers than average.

4.           data available on
thematic progress and project selection

4.1.        Payment data

Achieving the outputs and support to
beneficiaries requires spending on works and services just as spending requires
projects to be selected and financed. All the national reports comment on the
spending of the available EU financing on the ground and the declaration of
expenditure to the Commission.

In the current programmes payment declarations
to the Commission are broken down by the 'priority axes' (or the main
priorities) of the programmes. That level of reporting is not sufficiently
detailed to allow an analysis of declared expenditure through the priority
themes codes.

Tables 3.1-3.3 compare total expenditure declared by each Member State to the
Commission with the volume of projects selected by end-2011. The
total payments declared include for this purpose reimbursements already made by
the Commission and the additional claims presented to the Commission as
at 31 January 2013. The different cut off dates should be
noted.

The payment data used do not include

– 
expenditure incurred on the ground but not yet
declared to the Commission

– 
sums linked to exemptions from the rules on
spending discipline (N+2/3 rule) for major projects, state aid schemes or
judicial procedures.

Nonetheless, these figures represent the best
source of information available to the Commission on spending in the real
economy.

The following points are worth noting in Tables
3.1-3.3:

– 
Only 42 % of all EU resources during the
programme period were spent after almost 6 years of the period as at 31/1/2013.

– 
Expenditure claims covering 58 % of EU
financing are still to be declared to the Commission in the remaining 3 years
allowed for spending under the programme period.

– 
Low levels of interim expenditure have been
declared to the Commission by RO, BG, MT, CZ, SK, IT and HU.

– 
Some Member States have high levels of selection
but lower levels of expenditure declared. Therefore, project selection is not
always a reliable guide to future spending.

4.2.        Project selection

The 'thematic' information exchange system used
for all three funds is known as the 'categorisation system' and allows the
exchange of information on projects, schemes and measures financed by the Funds
at different times during programming. The system is not a control system but
an information tool.

Five dimensions are reported on in order to
systematically capture information on the nature, form, context and content of
interventions. These dimensions allow reporting that approximately reflects the
often complex character of many interventions in the real world. They are:

– 
the priority theme (nature – 86 codes – see Table
4);

– 
the form of finance (4 codes);

– 
the territorial dimension (11 codes on the
context – See the thematic factsheet on the territorial Dimension[5]);

– 
the NUTS code for location;

– 
the economic dimension (economic sector
benefitting – 23 codes).

In terms of timing, categorisation information
is reported upon as follows:

· Information on estimated allocations to selected projects is
presented at the moment of adoption (or modification) of programming documents
(Only on the priority themes, the form of finance and the territorial
dimension).

· The Member States provide the Commission every year (and in the
final report) with information on all five dimensions relating to 'allocations
to operations selected' (also referred to as 'selected projects').

The objective in providing information on
selected projects is to give an insight into the 'project pipeline' of the OPs.
Data on 'selected projects' should not be confused with expenditure declared on
the projects during implementation or when completed. (As note already above the
programmes do not currently report the thematic content of expenditure to the
Commission.)

The understanding of 'selected project'
recommended by the Commission since 2008-2009[6]
is that the projects have been selected by the Managing Authority (or other delegated
bodies) following the established selection process. This act of selection may
typically involve a grant decision (such as a grant offer letter), or other
confirmation of inclusion of the project in the programme or allocation of EU
funding from the programme. National practices differ and are not regulated by
EU definitions. Some variation in practice is to be expected and so direct
comparisons between Member State project selection rates can be unreliable
because of different national selection processes (more or less rigorous or
complex) or differences in the composition of the programmes at national /
regional level. Furthermore, 'softer' measures, such as business support,
training services, etc., can be prepared and delivered more quickly than
'slower' infrastructure projects (longer planning, permissions, contracting. For
these reasons the Commission recommends comparing national project selection
rates to the EU average rather than directly with other individual Member
States.

4.2.1.     Thematic analysis of
planned investments by priority theme codes

The 86 codes of the 'priority theme' dimension
- the most robust of the categorisation data sets – can be organised in
different ways according to the perspective being adopted.

To reflect the shift towards the Europe 2020
strategic objectives of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, and in order
to roughly approximate the Commission’s proposals for the eleven thematic
objectives for cohesion policy 2014-2020 the 86 codes have been regrouped for
the 2013 Strategic report as set out in Table 4.

The Commission emphasises that these major
thematic groupings proposed are only a rough approximation of the future
thematic priorities for the following reasons:

· Following the approach in the 2010 Strategic Report, certain ESF
interventions (in high-level human capital and business start-up) continued to
be included under the calculations for 'Innovation & R&D' and 'Other
Business Support'. In future they will be reported under the relevant ESF
thematic objectives.

· Environment, climate change adaptation actions and risk prevention
are covered in one factsheet.

· The major transport themes of Rail-Road-Other Transport, which will
fall under future thematic objective 7 – 'sustainable transport and removing
bottlenecks in key network infrastructures' - are dealt with separately for
more detailed analysis.

· In future most territorial development activities will be developed
under or with support from different thematic objectives; i.e. culture and
heritage support could be included under enhancing the competitiveness of SMEs,
protecting the environment or social inclusion thematic objectives.

4.2.2.     Overview of progress in
project selection by priority themes

Table 5
provides overviews of the differing project selection rates, across the
different objectives, in line with the major themes set out in Table 4.

The broad trends in project selection shown by these
tables are explored in more detail in the thematic factsheets[7].

Basd on the analysis in the thematic factsheets
the following variations in projects selection rate reported at end-2011 are
highlighted by the Commission:

|| Member States reporting slow project selection end 2011 (10 % or more below of EU average of 71 %) || Member States reporting project selection significantly above planned allocations (More than 10 % above 100 %)

Innovation & RTD || AT, BG, ES, EL, HU, IT, SK || IE, NL

IT services and infrastructure || AT, BE, BG, ETC, DE, DK, FI, FR, HU, IT, LU, NL, RO SESK, UK || CY, IE

Other SME and Business support || BG, ETC, ES || DK, EE, EL, IE, LU, SE

Energy || BE, BG, CZ, ES, FI, HU, IT, MT, PL, PT, RO, SE, SI || IE, LT, LU

Environment || BG, CZ, DK, IT, LU || EL, IE

Culture, heritage and tourism || AT, CY, IT, LV || BE, IE, NL, SE, SI

Urban and territorial dimension || AT, CZ, EE, FR, LU, SI || CY, SE

Rail || LT, PL, RO, SI || FI, EL, IE, NL, PT

Road || SK || BE, ETC, CY, ES, EL, LV, NL, SE

Other transport || AT, ETC, CZ, FR, LT, MT, NL, PL, PT, RO; SI, SK, UK || FI, SE

Labour market || ETC, DE, DK, ES, FI, HU, LU, MT, PT || CY, SK, UK

Social Inclusion || AT, BE, ETC, EE, ES, EL, HU, IE, IT, PL, PT, RO, SE || BG, CY, NL

Social infrastructure || IT, NL || BE, UK

Human capital || AT, DE, ES, HU, PT || FI, LU, MT, NL, SE

Capacity Building || AT, BG, DE, EE, ES, FR, IE, IT, LT, LU, NL, PL, RO, SE, UK || CY

Technical Assistance || BG, EE, ES, FR, IE, LT, LU, NL, PL, RO, SE, UK || CY, MT

4.2.3.     Example of project
selection data - Technical Assistance

The tables below on the planned use of technical
assistance (TA) provide an example of the analysis that is possible of the 'programmed
vs project selection' This example is chosen as TA data is not covered in the
thematic factsheet on the major investment themes.

TA is co-funded in each Member State to ensure
that the programmes are run effectively and that citizens are informed of the
strategies and projects supported by the EU budget. The following TA categories
are reported:

Code || Category || Decided Ops - Million € (a) || % Decided OPs of Total Decided (b) || Allocated to selected projects AIR 2011 - million € (c) || % (d=c/a)

85 || Preparation, implementation, monitoring and inspection || 7,561.2 || 2.2 % || 4,869.7 || 64.4 %

86 || Evaluation and studies; information and communication || 2,607.0 || 0.8 % || 1,115.5 || 42.8 %

|| Total technical assistance || 10,168.2 || 2.9 % || 5,985.2 || 58.9 %

Total all themes || 346,717.2 || || 246,983.9 || 71.2 %

Some 2.9 % - or EUR 10.2 billion - of all
EU Structural and Cohesion Funding is allocated to TA. The maximum allowed
under the regulations is 4 % in the Convergence and Regional
Competitiveness and Employment programmes and 6 % in European Territorial
Cooperation (ETC) programmes. In comparison with the EU average rate of
71 % project selection the category 'Preparation, implementation,
monitoring and inspection' at 64.4 % shows a slight delay of 7 %.
What is notable, and of more concern, is that 'Evaluation and studies;
information and communication' is especially slow at only 42.8 %. These
figures already take into account a net reduction of EUR 416 million in
programmed finances since 2007.

We can also examine at Member State level the
different reported project selection rates in relation to current planned
amounts, representing this graphically as follows:

Technical assistance

Country || Decided OPs (a) - in M.€ || % of National SF/CF || Allocated to selected projects AIR 2011 (b) - in M.€ || % (c=b/a)

PL || 2,115.9 || 3.1 || 1,037.1 || 49.0

HU || 963.4 || 3.9 || 794.0 || 82.4

IT || 822.2 || 2.9 || 513.7 || 62.5

CZ || 793.2 || 3.0 || 474.0 || 59.8

DE || 714.2 || 2.8 || 434.1 || 60.8

RO || 641.1 || 3.3 || 195.8 || 30.5

EL || 577.0 || 2.9 || 435.5 || 75.5

PT || 533.4 || 2.5 || 298.2 || 55.9

ETC || 467.5 || 5.9 || 303.1 || 64.8

FR || 431.2 || 3.2 || 225.1 || 52.2

SK || 402.2 || 3.5 || 356.4 || 88.6

ES || 328.3 || 0.9 || 143.4 || 43.7

UK || 306.7 || 3.1 || 143.8 || 46.9

BG || 224.5 || 3.4 || 115.9 || 51.6

LT || 198.6 || 2.9 || 86.2 || 43.4

LV || 113.6 || 2.5 || 91.4 || 80.4

SI || 88.7 || 2.2 || 89.5 || 101.0

EE || 69.4 || 2.0 || 31.3 || 45.0

NL || 66.4 || 4.0 || 29.6 || 44.5

SE || 65.0 || 4.0 || 17.7 || 27.3

FI || 63.8 || 4.0 || 47.5 || 74.3

BE || 51.4 || 2.5 || 45.0 || 87.6

AT || 30.3 || 2.5 || 16.9 || 55.8

CY || 21.9 || 3.6 || 29.6 || 135.4

DK || 19.4 || 3.8 || 10.8 || 55.8

MT || 13.0 || 1.5 || 14.8 || 113.4

IE || 7.1 || 0.9 || 3.5 || 50.1

LU || 2.0 || 4.0 || 1.0 || 50.7

EU || 10,131.5 || 2.9 % || 5,985.2 || 59.1 %

Mobilisation of technical assistance is
particularly advanced for 9 Member States - BE, CY; FI, GR, HU, LV, MT, SI and
SK. In a larger group of 12 Member States, reported project selection is
significantly (5 % points) behind even the average for TA – BG, EE, ES,
FR, IE, LT, LU, NL, PL, RO, SE, UK. Amongst these Member States, PL, RO, FR,
ES, UK, BG and LT have the highest allocations in absolute terms

4.2.4.     CSG priorities 2006 and
Lisbon earmarking

For the 2010 Strategic Report the priority
themes were analysed mainly according to the four pillars of the Community
Strategic Guidelines (2006) and in terms of compliance with the Lisbon
earmarking provisions.

The 'Lisbon earmarking' provisions identified
sub-sets of the 86 priority themes as specific priorities under the Lisbon
Growth and Jobs Agenda in accordance with Article 9 and Annex IV of Council
Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006[8].
For the Convergence objective regions 47 of the 86 priority themes were
identified as earmarked priorities, while for the Regional Competitiveness and
Employment objective regions 33 priority themes were identified. Investment
shares of 60 % in Convergence objective regions and 75 % in Regional
Competitiveness and Employment objective regions were set as targets for the
EU-15 in these earmarked themes over the programming period.

A small number of Member States - CY, EL, ES,
FR, PT - agreed with the Commission a limited number of national exceptions
('national earmarking') i.e. including certain priority theme codes as national
Lisbon earmarked priorities[9].

With regard to support to Lisbon and EU2020
structural reforms, most Member States (notably BG, ES, HU, PL and SK) report
that the ESF has been a key tool in preserving employment and containing
unemployment, in particular youth unemployment, and supporting the
modernisation of the education sector and strengthening the labour market
through reforms of the active labour market policies and education systems.
Moreover, in these Member States important ESF support was also provided to
public administration reform through training of civil servants and better
regulation measures.

Thirteen Member States have specifically
reported on reforms in the education sector, with the following main
objectives:

– 
Reaching the EU2020 strategy targets (AT, BG and
LT);

– 
Increase investment in human capital through
better education and skills (CY);

– 
Improve competitiveness (CZ);

– 
Reintegrate unemployed people (DK);

– 
Adjust education systems to labour market demand
(HU, LT, SE and SK).

Specific reform measures undertaken related to
preschool education (CZ); tertiary education (CZ, HU, LT, MT and PL); improving
teaching quality (CZ); vocational training (DK).

Table 6.1 and 6.2 present compliance with the Lisbon earmarking in line with the Community
Strategic Guidelines objectives in the same format as in the 2010 Report. In
aggregate terms the most significant trend is the growing gap in project
selection under Lisbon earmarking for Convergence.

· 
In comparison with non-earmarked priorities,
66.8 % project selection for earmarked priorities was reported at end 2011
compared to 76.3 % for non-earmarked priorities (Table 6.1).

· 
Under the Convergence objective, particular lags
in project selection rates in earmarked themes occur in ES, IT, MT, PL, PT, RO,
SI, and SK.

· 
Under the Regional Competitiveness and
Employment (RCE) objective project selection for Lisbon earmarking is ahead
overall of Non Lisbon - 76.8 % selected vs 75.4 for non Lisbon.

· 
Under RCE, the selection of Lisbon earmarking
related projects is behind the 71 % global average at end-2011 only in AT,
ES, HU, IT.

As the data used for the Community Strategic
Guidelines / Lisbon Earmarking exercise and the thematic factsheets is
identical (it is just presented differently) the reasons for the lower Lisbon
earmarking rate of priorities in Convergence can also be seen in the thematic
factsheet in the slower than average project selection in the themes (and
categories) of innovation and R&D, Broadband, Energy, TEN-T rail.

4.2.1.     Characteristics of data
reported on project selection

Project selection data on its own cannot
provide a completely reliable guide to the rate of implementation of a
programme. In some case high project selection rates are not quickly turned
into payment declarations (see Section 4.1 above).

In addition, apart from the character of the
categorisation system already described above (differences in selection
processes or in nature of measures) the system depends either on common sense
understandings of the meaning of the codes or on national definitions (urban /
rural) and these can vary.

Conscious of these constraints the Commission
has encouraged Member States to decide on their approach and to follow it
consistently so that the system is an accurate reflection of implementation.

There have also been mistakes or oversights in
annual reporting of data. In its quality checks in recent years the Commission
has detected:

· 
Weak quality /
plausibility checks at programme or national level of what is reported. Some
programme authiorities were slow to realise the significance of the data.

· 
Encoding errors such as the use of national
currency rather than EUR, total cost rather than EU share, partial reporting or
erroneous amounts reported that were not consistent with the narrative of the
reports.

· 
Lags in reporting of project selection by
programme authorities.

The data from the 2011 annual reports submitted
by 30 June 2012 were thus the subject of quality checks by the Commission and
programme authorities from July to October 2012. Major corrections were made
leading to improvements in the quality and volume of project selection data,
affecting a net 5 % of the total reported volume of projects selected.

4.3.        Major projects

By end-2012 the total number of major projects
(projects with a value exceeding EUR 50 million) approved by the Commission had
reached 438. These projects encompass a total investment of EUR 76.8 billion in
20 Member States with EUR 36.1 billion in EU support from the ERDF or the
Cohesion Fund. These figures confirm a consistently high rhythm of Commission's
approvals. Cohesion policy thus contributes significantly through major
projects to investment in essential infrastructure, supporting public and some
important private capital investments and creating the preconditions for
growth.

The number of major projects approved by the
Commission so far in the programme period has evolved as follows

· 
2008     13 projects

· 
2009     74 projects

· 
2010     101 projects

· 
2011     140 projects

· 
2012     110 projects

The Commission has received an increasing
number of applications in recent months in view of the approaching end of the
funding period. In total, 718 projects have been submitted since 2007. The
possibility to submit already completed project, as an anti-crisis measure,
generally had a negative impact on the possibility for the Commission to have
an early influence on projects and on the quality of submitted major projects
subsequently received.

The majority of projects are in the transport
area. Major projects for 2007-2013 have so far been are contributing so far to
the development of the TEN-T network with EUR 32.5 billion in total investments
triggered by a contribution of EUR 16.7 billion from the ERDF and CF. A further
EUR 15.8 billion has been leveraged for other transport investments. Other
important areas are environment, R&I and productive investments.

Table 4.3: Investments of major projects by
sector (2007-2012), billion euro

EUR billion || TEN-T || Other transport || Environ-ment || Energy || R&I || Produc-tive invest-ments || Total major projects

Total investments || 32.5 || 15.8 || 11.2 || 1.5 || 3.1 || 2.9 || 76.6

EU contri-bution || 16.7 || 6.6 || 6.8 || 0.32 || 1.6 || 0.43 || 36.1

Leverage effect || x1.9 || x2.4 || x1.6 || x4.7 || x1.9 || x6.7 || x2.1

4.4.        Project examples from the
Member States

The national reports contain over 250 concrete
examples of projects and programmes selected by the Member States. The Member
States were asked to present completed projects from the 2007-2013 programmes
across the range of activities contributing to smart, sustainable and inclusive
growth.

The full texts of all the examples are
available in the national reports which can be accessed here :        
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/policy/reporting/index_en.htm

70 projects examples are presented in summary
form in the 13 thematic factsheets[10].
Around 45 of those project examples come from the national strategic reports. The
Commission is including those projects from the national strategic reports in
its project databases.

ERDF/Cohesion fund || http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/projects/stories/index_en.cfm

ESF:     || http://ec.europa.eu/esf/main.jsp?catId=46&langId=en

Where projects relevant to certain themes were
not present in the national reports the Commission has also included examples
of projects from the 2007-2013 programmes taken from the following sources:

· 
Approved ERDF/Cohesion Fund major projects 2013
from the Major Project database: http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/projects/major_projects/index_en.cfm.
(This database generally has texts prepared when the projects were approved)

· 
Project case studies taken from the REGIO policy
learning database: http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/projects/practices/index_en.cfm
The descriptions in this database are of completed projects and have been
prepared by Commission staff or consultants with a view to drawing lessons from
different project examples. They include examples from a forthcoming study of
50 urban development projects supported by the ERDF soon to be published in the
policy learning database.

· 
The ESF project database: http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/projects/stories/index_en.cfm

5.           Programming decided –
reprogramming

In support of the initial EU financing
decisions the Member State or regional programme authorities provide

· financial tables setting out EU financial support and co-financing
rates (for each priority axis of the programme) and

· 'categorisation' information on the planned use of the Funds in
relation to investment themes called 'priority themes'

Comparing the original and revised programme
financial tables and categorisation data we can examine formally decided
'reprogramming' in terms of (1) changes to planned thematic allocation and (2)
increases or decreases in total programme volumes - in particular national
co-financing. These two forms of reprogramming are examined below.

An important initiative to actively encourage
reprogramming was launched by the Commission at the January 2012 European
Council. To support the Youth initiative, President Barroso proposed that the 8
Member States with the most pressing youth employment challenges should, with
the Commission’s support, seek to accelerate or boost available Structural Funds
support to both youth employment and the financing of SMEs, the major source of
job creation in previous years. Action Teams were created in spring 2012 to work
intensively with concerned Member States to identify available funds and
initiatives. The latest report on the activities of the Action Teams submitted
to the March 2013 European Council is available here: http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/president/news/archives/2013/03/pdf/youth_en.pdf

The Action Teams have identified three types of
programme activities:

– 
Acceleration or adjustment of planned measures
(which impact on the pace of implementation and can only be tracked in
cooperation with programme authorities);

– 
Thematic reprogramming of resources within and
between Structural Funds (decisions formalised are discussed in Section 5.1
below);

– 
Reducing national co-financing requirement where
justified to secure implementation where national co-financing was no longer
available (formal decisions are discussed in 5.2 below).

5.1.        Thematic reprogramming

Tables 7.1 to 7.4 in the annex present an overview of the thematic reprogramming
activity formally decided by the Member States and the Commission in the period
2007-2012 (end-December).

Thematic reallocations involve reducing the financial
allocation in one area to redirect it to another. Thematic reprogramming is
therefore 'zero-sum'. The difference between 'positive' and 'negative' changes
in Table 7.3 (some EUR 2.4 billion) is the result of the
allocation of the national performance reserve in PL and technical GDP/GNI
adjustments for CZ, PL and SK.

In view of the complexity of tracking positive
and negative changes over 86 codes the Commission presents the trends in thematic
reallocations in terms of the major thematic areas. Seen like this, there are
two major tendencies:

· 
Reallocations between 'priority theme' codes
within major thematic areas.           
(i.e. from eco-innovation measures in SMEs towards R&D activity in
competence centres under the broad heading 'Innovation and R&D')

· 
Reallocations between major thematic areas       
(i.e. reallocations from 'human capital' priorities to 'labour market'
priorities).

The main trends visible from the data in tables
are:

· a total of EUR 36 billion - or 11 % of the funds - was
reprogrammed thematically by the end of 2012;

· the rate of formal reprogramming varies significantly across the
Member States (up to 44 % in the case of IE to no thematic reprogramming
in CY, LU, and SE);

· of that total, more than EUR 30 billion concerned the ERDF and
Cohesion Fund (11.2 % of available ERDF/CF funding) and nearly EUR 5.5
billion the ESF (7.1 % of all ESF funding);

The net tendencies across the major thematic
areas have been:

· increases in the innovation and R&D, generic business support,
sustainable energy, cultural and social infrastructure, roads and labour market
themes;

· reductions in ICT services, environment measures, rail, other
transport, human capital and capacity building measures.

Further independent analysis of the data on
thematic reprogramming (using data from an earlier cut-off date) is presented
in the Expert Evaluation Network synthesis report 2013[11].

5.2.        Reprogramming of EU and
national co-financing

Table 7.5
presents changes in the total planned volume of programmes (EU and national -
all EU funds). The table compares the initial planned use of the funds in the
programmes adopted in 2007-2008 and the most recent version of the programmes
after modification.

This table reflects the Commission approved
reductions of national co-financing requirements for some Member States, within
the regulatory ceiling. The combined effect of these programme co-financing
changes is a net reduction the total programme investment volumes of EUR 16.8
Billion - with a gross reduction in national public financing of EUR 15.5
billion when the positive increases in Table 7.5 are excluded. The national
public co-financing reductions represent some 3.1 % of the total planned
investment or nearly 11 % of national public co-financing. It is composed
of reductions in public co-financing of 47 % in IE, 41 % in PT, 37 %
in LV, 34 % in EL, 26 % in ES, 18 % in LT, 16 % in RO; 13 %
in BE; 9.6 % in IT with other changes amounting to less than 5 % or
unchanged.

The EU institutions also approved further
reductions of national co-financing through a temporary increase of co-financing
rates up to 95 % for assistance for Member States with the greatest
budgetary difficulties (GR, HU, IE, LV, PT and RO).

The objective of both measures has been to take
pressure away from national budgets at a time of crisis with a view to safeguarding
investment in strategies with growth and job creation potential.

Further independent analysis of the data on
thematic reprogramming is presented in the Expert Evaluation Network synthesis
report 20135.

ANNEX:
Statistical Tables

Table
1.1         ERDF-Cohesion Fund - core Indicator aggregate achievements reported
2007-2011

Table
1.2         ERDF-Cohesion Fund - use of Core Indicators by the Member States

Table
1.3:         ERDF-Cohesion Fund - gross jobs created - 2007-2013

Table
2.1         ESF beneficiary data reported by ESF managing authorities -
overview by year and gender

Table
2.2         ESF beneficiary data reported by ESF managing authorities -
overview by year

Table
2.3a        ESF beneficiary data reported by ESF managing authorities

Table
2.3b       ESF beneficiary (Women) reported by ESF managing authorities

Table
3.1         All funds - decided vs project selection (2007-11) vs payments
declared (2007-2013)

Table
4            Categories reported (86) grouped by major themes - overview of
decided vs project selection

Table
5            Overview EU Funding by Objectives - decided vs project selection
in major themes (2007-2011)

Table
6.1         Projects selected: overall Progress in implementing the Lisbon
earmarking priorities within the Community Strategic Guidelines–by Objective

Table
6.2         Projects selected: Progress in implementing the Lisbon earmarking
priorities – by objective and by Member State

Table
7.1         Thematic reprogramming 2007-2012: Total by Fund

Table
7.2         Thematic reprogramming 2007-2012: Total by fund by year

Table
7.3         Thematic reprogramming 2007-2012 - by theme

Table
7.4         Thematic reprogramming 2007-2012 - total by Member State

Table
7.5         Change in total planned volume of programmes (EU and national - all
EU funds) - 2007-2012

Table 4: Categories reported (86) grouped by major themes - Overview of decided vs project selection

|| || || || || ||

Priority Themes || Code || Category || Decided Ops - Million € (a) || % Decided OPs of Total Decided   (b) || Allocated to selected projects 2007-2011 - million € (c) || Rate fo selection 2007-2011 (d=c/a)

Innovation & RTD || 01 || R&TD activities in research centres || 5,873.6 || 1.7% || 4,441.9 || 75.6%

Innovation & RTD || 02 || R&TD infrastructure and centres of competence in a specific technology || 11,030.4 || 3.2% || 8,130.9 || 73.7%

Innovation & RTD || 03 || Technology transfer and improvement of cooperation networks ... || 5,052.5 || 1.5% || 3,041.4 || 60.2%

Innovation & RTD || 04 || Assistance to R&TD, particularly in SMEs (including access to R&TD services in research centres) || 5,370.6 || 1.5% || 3,027.9 || 56.4%

Innovation & RTD || 06 || Assistance to SMEs for the promotion of environmentally-friendly products and production processes (...) || 2,104.6 || 0.6% || 756.5 || 35.9%

Innovation & RTD || 07 || Investment in firms directly linked to research and innovation (...) || 10,385.0 || 3.0% || 6,666.2 || 64.2%

Innovation & RTD || 09 || Other measures to stimulate research and innovation and entrepreneurship in SMEs || 7,953.1 || 2.3% || 4,574.8 || 57.5%

Innovation & RTD || 74 || Developing human potential in the field of research and innovation, in particular through post-graduate studies ... || 5,451.3 || 1.6% || 2,407.4 || 44.2%

IT services and infrastructure || 10 || Telephone infrastructures (including broadband networks) || 2,244.6 || 0.6% || 1,300.2 || 57.9%

IT services and infrastructure || 11 || Information and communication technologies (...) || 3,516.4 || 1.0% || 2,231.9 || 63.5%

IT services and infrastructure || 12 || Information and communication technologies (TEN-ICT) || 490.8 || 0.1% || 227.0 || 46.3%

IT services and infrastructure || 13 || Services and applications for citizens (e-health, e-government, e-learning, e-inclusion, etc.) || 5,126.4 || 1.5% || 3,683.9 || 71.9%

IT services and infrastructure || 14 || Services and applications for SMEs (e-commerce, education and training, networking, etc.) || 1,499.6 || 0.4% || 519.3 || 34.6%

IT services and infrastructure || 15 || Other measures for improving access to and efficient use of ICT by SMEs || 1,568.1 || 0.5% || 892.5 || 56.9%

Other SME and Business support || 05 || Advanced support services for firms and groups of firms || 5,444.9 || 1.6% || 3,599.5 || 66.1%

Other SME and Business support || 08 || Other investment in firms || 14,606.6 || 4.2% || 13,713.5 || 93.9%

Other SME and Business support || 68 || Support for self-employment and business start-up || 3,091.0 || 0.9% || 1,639.1 || 53.0%

Energy || 33 || Electricity || 248.7 || 0.1% || 90.4 || 36.4%

Energy || 34 || Electricity (TEN-E) || 321.1 || 0.1% || 111.6 || 34.7%

Energy || 35 || Natural gas || 614.8 || 0.2% || 420.4 || 68.4%

Energy || 36 || Natural gas (TEN-E) || 353.7 || 0.1% || 235.2 || 66.5%

Energy || 37 || Petroleum products || 164.7 || 0.0% || 0.5 || 0.3%

Energy || 38 || Petroleum products (TEN-E) || 2.2 || 0.0% || 0.0 || 0.0%

Energy || 39 || Renewable energy: wind || 666.2 || 0.2% || 416.3 || 62.5%

Energy || 40 || Renewable energy: solar || 1,330.5 || 0.4% || 574.5 || 43.2%

Energy || 41 || Renewable energy: biomass || 1,659.2 || 0.5% || 651.4 || 39.3%

Energy || 42 || Renewable energy: hydroelectric, geothermal and other || 943.5 || 0.3% || 280.5 || 29.7%

Energy || 43 || Energy efficiency, co-generation, energy management || 5,504.8 || 1.6% || 3,785.4 || 68.8%

Environment || 44 || Management of household and industrial waste || 6,216.6 || 1.8% || 3,499.2 || 56.3%

Environment || 45 || Management and distribution of water (drink water) || 7,463.6 || 2.2% || 4,515.4 || 60.5%

Environment || 46 || Water treatment (waste water) || 14,506.7 || 4.2% || 14,755.5 || 101.7%

Environment || 47 || Air quality || 857.9 || 0.2% || 538.9 || 62.8%

Environment || 48 || Integrated prevention and pollution control || 731.3 || 0.2% || 238.2 || 32.6%

Environment || 49 || Mitigation and adaption to climate change || 370.5 || 0.1% || 362.8 || 97.9%

Environment || 50 || Rehabilitation of industrial sites and contaminated land || 2,749.5 || 0.8% || 1,341.8 || 48.8%

Environment || 51 || Promotion of biodiversity and nature protection (including Natura 2000) || 2,779.9 || 0.8% || 1,627.0 || 58.5%

Environment || 53 || Risk prevention (...) || 5,532.8 || 1.6% || 4,030.7 || 72.9%

Environment || 54 || Other measures to preserve the environment and prevent risks || 1,684.4 || 0.5% || 1,299.3 || 77.1%

Environment || 55 || Promotion of natural assets || 972.1 || 0.3% || 643.2 || 66.2%

Environment || 56 || Protection and development of natural heritage || 1,258.2 || 0.4% || 597.9 || 47.5%

Environment || 24 || Cycle tracks || 653.6 || 0.2% || 386.7 || 59.2%

Culture, heritage and tourism || 57 || Other assistance to improve tourist services || 3,715.8 || 1.1% || 3,481.2 || 93.7%

Culture, heritage and tourism || 58 || Protection and preservation of the cultural heritage || 3,069.5 || 0.9% || 2,622.5 || 85.4%

Culture, heritage and tourism || 59 || Development of cultural infrastructure || 2,259.0 || 0.7% || 1,773.7 || 78.5%

Culture, heritage and tourism || 60 || Other assistance to improve cultural services || 661.6 || 0.2% || 277.8 || 42.0%

Urban and territorial dimension || 61 || Integrated projects for urban and rural regeneration || 10,610.3 || 3.1% || 7,582.5 || 71.5%

Urban and territorial dimension || 82 || Compensation of any additional costs due to accessibility deficit and territorial fragmentation || 479.2 || 0.1% || 314.6 || 65.6%

Urban and territorial dimension || 83 || Specific action addressed to compensate additional costs due to size market factors || 122.8 || 0.0% || 13.0 || 10.6%

Urban and territorial dimension || 84 || Support to compensate additional costs due to climate conditions and relief difficulties || 43.7 || 0.0% || 11.8 || 27.1%

Rail || 16 || Railways || 4,479.5 || 1.3% || 2,703.8 || 60.4%

Rail || 17 || Railways (TEN-T) || 17,805.7 || 5.1% || 10,578.9 || 59.4%

Rail || 18 || Mobile rail assets || 643.9 || 0.2% || 535.3 || 83.1%

Rail || 19 || Mobile rail assets (TEN-T) || 278.5 || 0.1% || 264.5 || 95.0%

Road || 20 || Motorways || 4,577.4 || 1.3% || 3,410.8 || 74.5%

Road || 21 || Motorways (TEN-T) || 18,565.1 || 5.4% || 16,413.4 || 88.4%

Road || 22 || National roads || 7,040.9 || 2.0% || 6,352.6 || 90.2%

Road || 23 || Regional/local roads || 10,594.0 || 3.1% || 10,098.2 || 95.3%

Other transport || 25 || Urban transport || 1,805.9 || 0.5% || 1,405.8 || 77.8%

Other transport || 26 || Multimodal transport || 1,633.7 || 0.5% || 909.7 || 55.7%

Other transport || 27 || Multimodal transport (TEN-T) || 362.3 || 0.1% || 83.5 || 23.0%

Other transport || 28 || Intelligent transport systems || 903.6 || 0.3% || 394.9 || 43.7%

Other transport || 29 || Airports || 1,678.7 || 0.5% || 1,161.9 || 69.2%

Other transport || 30 || Ports || 3,344.4 || 1.0% || 2,450.0 || 73.3%

Other transport || 31 || Inland waterways (regional and local) || 202.6 || 0.1% || 179.1 || 88.4%

Other transport || 32 || Inland waterways (TEN-T) || 462.4 || 0.1% || 200.1 || 43.3%

Other transport || 52 || Promotion of clean urban transport || 5,942.6 || 1.7% || 3,697.3 || 62.2%

Labour market || 63 || Design and dissemination of innovative and more productive ways of organising work || 1,625.6 || 0.5% || 647.3 || 39.8%

Labour market || 64 || Development of special services for employment, training and support in connection with restructuring of sectors ...  || 2,416.1 || 0.7% || 1,719.1 || 71.2%

Labour market || 65 || Modernisation and strengthening labour market institutions || 2,239.1 || 0.6% || 1,136.6 || 50.8%

Labour market || 66 || Implementing active and preventive measures on the labour market || 14,327.1 || 4.1% || 10,718.0 || 74.8%

Labour market || 67 || Measures encouraging active ageing and prolonging working lives || 1,034.2 || 0.3% || 332.5 || 32.2%

Labour market || 69 || Measures to improve access to employment and increase sustainable participation and progress of women ... || 2,590.4 || 0.7% || 1,865.7 || 72.0%

Social Inclusion || 70 || Specific action to increase migrants' participation in employment ... || 1,163.0 || 0.3% || 574.2 || 49.4%

Social Inclusion || 71 || Pathways to integration and re-entry into employment for disadvantaged people ... || 10,245.2 || 3.0% || 7,439.7 || 72.6%

Social infrastructure || 75 || Education infrastructure || 8,566.7 || 2.5% || 7,776.1 || 90.8%

Social infrastructure || 76 || Health infrastructure || 5,288.5 || 1.5% || 4,580.2 || 86.6%

Social infrastructure || 77 || Childcare infrastructure || 616.0 || 0.2% || 457.6 || 74.3%

Social infrastructure || 78 || Housing infrastructure || 850.0 || 0.2% || 113.7 || 13.4%

Social infrastructure || 79 || Other social infrastructure || 2,499.2 || 0.7% || 1,830.9 || 73.3%

Human capital || 62 || Development of life-long learning systems and strategies in firms; training and services for employees ... || 8,682.5 || 2.5% || 6,076.2 || 70.0%

Human capital || 72 || Design, introduction and implementing of reforms in education and training systems ... || 8,402.3 || 2.4% || 6,340.7 || 75.5%

Human capital || 73 || Measures to increase participation in education and training throughut the life-cycle ... || 12,584.2 || 3.6% || 8,953.1 || 71.1%

Capacity Building || 80 || Promoting the partnerships, pacts and initiatives through the networking of relevant stakeholders || 1,178.1 || 0.3% || 576.8 || 49.0%

Capacity Building || 81 || Mechanisms for improving good policy and programme design, monitoring and evaluation ... || 2,561.6 || 0.7% || 1,686.4 || 65.8%

Capacity Building || 85 || Preparation, implementation, monitoring and inspection || 7,561.2 || 2.2% || 4,869.7 || 64.4%

Capacity Building || 86 || Evaluation and studies; information and communication || 2,607.0 || 0.8% || 1,115.5 || 42.8%

|| Total all themes || 346,717.2 || || 246,983.9 || 71.2%

|| || Table 5: Overview EU Funding by objectives - decided vs project selection (2007-2011)

|| || || || || || ||

|| || Decided OPs Million € (a) || % share of total SF per obj || % of total all funds || Allocated to selected projects 2007-2011 Million € (b) || % (c=b/a)

|| || All Objectives || 346,717.2 || || 100.0% || 246,983.9 || 71.2%

|| 11 || Innovation & RTD || 53,221.2 || || 15.4% || 33,047.0 || 62.1%

|| 12 || IT services and infrastructure || 14,446.0 || || 4.2% || 8,854.8 || 61.3%

|| 13 || Other SME and Business support || 23,142.5 || || 6.7% || 18,952.0 || 81.9%

|| 14 || Energy || 11,809.4 || || 3.4% || 6,566.3 || 55.6%

|| 15 || Environment || 45,123.4 || || 13.0% || 33,449.9 || 74.1%

|| 16 || Culture, heritage and tourism || 10,359.6 || || 3.0% || 8,541.9 || 82.5%

|| 17 || Urban and territorial dimension || 11,256.0 || || 3.2% || 7,921.9 || 70.4%

|| 18 || Rail || 23,207.6 || || 6.7% || 14,082.4 || 60.7%

|| 19 || Road || 40,777.3 || || 11.8% || 36,275.0 || 89.0%

|| 20 || Other transport || 16,336.2 || || 4.7% || 10,482.4 || 64.2%

|| 21 || Labour market || 24,232.4 || || 7.0% || 16,419.2 || 67.8%

|| 22 || Social Inclusion || 11,408.2 || || 3.3% || 8,013.9 || 70.2%

|| 23 || Social infrastructure || 17,820.4 || || 5.1% || 14,758.5 || 82.8%

|| 24 || Human capital || 29,669.1 || || 8.6% || 21,370.1 || 72.0%

|| 25 || Capacity Building || 13,907.9 || || 4.0% || 8,248.5 || 59.3%

|| || || || || || ||

|| Objective: Convergence || 283,657.7 || 100.0% || 81.8% || 198,682.4 || 70.0%

|| 1 || Innovation & RTD || 40,317.5 || 14.2% || 11.6% || 24,123.5 || 59.8%

|| 2 || IT services and infrastructure || 11,537.8 || 4.1% || 3.3% || 7,158.4 || 62.0%

|| 3 || Other SME and Business support || 17,802.1 || 6.3% || 5.1% || 14,330.1 || 80.5%

|| 4 || Energy || 9,466.5 || 3.3% || 2.7% || 4,983.9 || 52.6%

|| 5 || Environment || 40,649.4 || 14.3% || 11.7% || 30,092.1 || 74.0%

|| 6 || Culture, heritage and tourism || 8,179.1 || 2.9% || 2.4% || 6,521.9 || 79.7%

|| 7 || Urban and territorial dimension || 8,797.4 || 3.1% || 2.5% || 5,904.3 || 67.1%

|| 8 || Rail || 22,415.1 || 7.9% || 6.5% || 13,376.2 || 59.7%

|| 9 || Road || 39,871.5 || 14.1% || 11.5% || 35,410.9 || 88.8%

|| # || Other transport || 14,166.2 || 5.0% || 4.1% || 8,891.6 || 62.8%

|| # || Labour market || 15,332.4 || 5.4% || 4.4% || 9,067.9 || 59.1%

|| # || Social Inclusion || 5,689.4 || 2.0% || 1.6% || 3,859.3 || 67.8%

|| # || Social infrastructure || 16,471.9 || 5.8% || 4.8% || 13,700.6 || 83.2%

|| # || Human capital || 22,137.6 || 7.8% || 6.4% || 15,038.8 || 67.9%

|| # || Capacity Building + Technical assistance || 10,823.8 || 3.8% || 3.1% || 6,223.0 || 57.5%

|| || || || || || ||

|| || Decided OPs Million € (a) || % share of total SF per obj || % of total all funds || Allocated to selected projects 2007-2011 Million € (b) || % (c=b/a)

|| Objective: Regional Competitiveness and Employment || 55,154.3 || 100.0% || 15.9% || 42,220.1 || 76.5%

|| 1 || Innovation & RTD || 11,641.1 || 21.1% || 3.4% || 8,017.4 || 68.9%

|| 2 || IT services and infrastructure || 2,382.3 || 4.3% || 0.7% || 1,385.5 || 58.2%

|| 3 || Other SME and Business support || 5,100.1 || 9.2% || 1.5% || 4,480.7 || 87.9%

|| 4 || Energy || 2,007.3 || 3.6% || 0.6% || 1,296.6 || 64.6%

|| 5 || Environment || 2,907.0 || 5.3% || 0.8% || 2,087.2 || 71.8%

|| 6 || Culture, heritage and tourism || 1,290.9 || 2.3% || 0.4% || 1,093.4 || 84.7%

|| 7 || Urban and territorial dimension || 2,245.6 || 4.1% || 0.6% || 1,864.6 || 83.0%

|| 8 || Rail || 712.6 || 1.3% || 0.2% || 639.3 || 89.7%

|| 9 || Road || 597.4 || 1.1% || 0.2% || 489.5 || 81.9%

|| # || Other transport || 1,608.9 || 2.9% || 0.5% || 1,294.3 || 80.4%

|| # || Labour market || 8,700.0 || 15.8% || 2.5% || 7,247.1 || 83.3%

|| # || Social Inclusion || 5,643.1 || 10.2% || 1.6% || 4,117.8 || 73.0%

|| # || Social infrastructure || 893.9 || 1.6% || 0.3% || 703.0 || 78.6%

|| # || Human capital || 7,309.4 || 13.3% || 2.1% || 6,178.4 || 84.5%

|| # || Capacity Building || 2,114.8 || 3.8% || 0.6% || 1,325.3 || 62.7%

|| || || || || || ||

|| Objective: European Territorial Cooperation || 7,905.1 || 100.0% || 2.3% || 6,081.3 || 76.9%

|| 1 || Innovation & RTD || 1,262.7 || 16.0% || 0.4% || 906.1 || 71.8%

|| 2 || IT services and infrastructure || 525.8 || 6.7% || 0.2% || 310.9 || 59.1%

|| 3 || Other SME and Business support || 240.3 || 3.0% || 0.1% || 141.3 || 58.8%

|| 4 || Energy || 335.7 || 4.2% || 0.1% || 285.8 || 85.1%

|| 5 || Environment || 1,567.0 || 19.8% || 0.5% || 1,270.6 || 81.1%

|| 6 || Culture, heritage and tourism || 889.5 || 11.3% || 0.3% || 926.6 || 104.2%

|| 7 || Urban and territorial dimension || 213.0 || 2.7% || 0.1% || 153.0 || 71.8%

|| 8 || Rail || 80.0 || 1.0% || 0.0% || 66.9 || 83.6%

|| 9 || Road || 308.4 || 3.9% || 0.1% || 374.6 || 121.5%

|| # || Other transport || 561.1 || 7.1% || 0.2% || 296.6 || 52.9%

|| # || Labour market || 200.0 || 2.5% || 0.1% || 104.3 || 52.1%

|| # || Social Inclusion || 75.8 || 1.0% || 0.0% || 36.7 || 48.5%

|| # || Social infrastructure || 454.7 || 5.8% || 0.1% || 354.9 || 78.1%

|| # || Human capital || 222.0 || 2.8% || 0.1% || 153.0 || 68.9%

|| # || Capacity Building || 969.4 || 12.3% || 0.3% || 700.2 || 72.2%

|| || || || || || ||

|| || || || || || ||

Table 7.1 Thematic reprogramming 2007-2012: Total by fund || ||

|| || || || ||

|| Total EU funding || Reprogramming || % Reprogrammed || ||

ERDF/CF || 270,087 || 30,182 || 11.2% || ||

ESF || 76,630 || 5,476 || 7.1% || ||

All Funds || 346,717 || 35,658 || 10.3% || ||

|| || || || ||

Table 7.2 Thematic reprogramming 2007-2012: by fund by year || ||

|| || || || ||

|| 2008-2009 || 2010 || 2011 || 2012 || Total

ERDF/Cohesion fund || 1,999 || 1,621 || 15,576 || 10,985 || 30,182

ESF || 196 || 1,125 || 1,696 || 2,459 || 5,476

|| || || || ||

All funds || 2,195 || 2,746 || 17,272 || 13,444 || 35,658

|| 6.2% || 7.7% || 48.4% || 37.7% ||

|| || || || ||

Table 7.3: Thematic reprogramming 2007-2012 - by theme || ||

|| || || || ||

E.U. Total || ||

Major theme || Positive m€ || Negative m€ || Net Change m€ || ||

Innovation & RTD || 8,747.0 || -5,347.6 || 3,399.4 || ||

Broadband || 376.0 || -387.9 || -11.9 || ||

ICT for citizens & business || 1,215.0 || -2,041.9 || -826.9 || ||

Entrepreneurship || 1,312.8 || -1,174.9 || 137.9 || ||

Other investments in enterprise || 1,815.7 || -814.5 || 1,001.2 || ||

Energy || 2,614.6 || -1,561.4 || 1,053.2 || ||

Environment || 3,270.8 || -4,670.9 || -1,400.1 || ||

Territorial Dimension || 1,493.6 || -1,142.7 || 350.9 || ||

Culture & social || 3,264.9 || -2,281.6 || 983.3 || ||

Rail || 1,777.7 || -2,448.4 || -670.6 || ||

Road || 3,164.9 || -2,418.9 || 746.0 || ||

Other transport || 1,527.6 || -2,569.0 || -1,041.4 || ||

Labour market || 2,786.8 || -1,374.9 || 1,411.9 || ||

Social Inclusion || 411.5 || -405.2 || 6.3 || ||

Human capital || 1,166.0 || -2,363.3 || -1,197.3 || ||

Capacity Building || 175.7 || -1,272.7 || -1,097.0 || ||

|| || || || ||

Technical Assistance || 538.1 || -954.0 || -415.9 || ||

Sum: || 35,659 || -33,230 || || ||

Table 7.4 Thematic Reprogramming 2007-2012 - total by Member State

|| || || ||

|| || || ||

|| Total funding 2007-2013 m€ || Thematic reprogramming decided by 31/12/2012 m€ || Reprogrammed % ||

PL || 67,185.5 || 5,787.5 || 8.6% ||

ES || 34,650.7 || 4,441.2 || 12.8% ||

IT || 27,955.9 || 3,825.1 || 13.7% ||

CZ || 26,539.7 || 2,122.7 || 8.0% ||

DE || 25,488.2 || 1,546.5 || 6.1% ||

HU || 24,921.1 || 1,676.6 || 6.7% ||

PT || 21,411.6 || 5,933.2 || 27.7% ||

GR || 20,210.3 || 3,490.4 || 17.3% ||

RO || 19,213.0 || 759.5 || 4.0% ||

FR || 13,449.2 || 1,150.0 || 8.6% ||

SK || 11,498.3 || 942.8 || 8.2% ||

UK || 9,890.9 || 386.8 || 3.9% ||

LT || 6,775.5 || 787.1 || 11.6% ||

BG || 6,673.6 || 835.5 || 12.5% ||

LV || 4,530.4 || 138.0 || 3.0% ||

SI || 4,101.0 || 305.0 || 7.4% ||

EE || 3,403.5 || 81.7 || 2.4% ||

BE || 2,063.5 || 54.6 || 2.6% ||

NL || 1,660.0 || 141.9 || 8.5% ||

SE || 1,626.1 || 0.0 || 0.0% ||

FI || 1,596.0 || 3.5 || 0.2% ||

AT || 1,204.5 || 78.0 || 6.5% ||

MT || 840.1 || 205.1 || 24.4% ||

IE || 750.7 || 328.5 || 43.8% ||

CY || 612.4 || 0.0 || 0.0% ||

DK || 509.6 || 21.0 || 4.1% ||

LU || 50.5 || 0.0 || 0.0% ||

|| || || ||

ETC || 7,905.1 || 616.7 || 7.8% ||

|| || || ||

Sum: || 346,717 || 35,659 || 10.3% ||

Table 7.5: Change in total planned volume of programmes (EU and national - ERDF/ESF/Cohesion Fund) - 2007-2012

|| || Changes in overall programme volume || || Changes in National Public amounts

|| || Initial programme investment Volume m€ || Total Investment volume (01/2013) m€ || Difference || % change || || Original m€ || Revised m€ || Difference m€ || % change

BG || || 8,019 || 8,019 || 0 || 0.0% || || 1,346 || 1,346 || 0 || 0.0%

BE || (1) || 4,724 || 4,412 || -312 || -6.6% || || 2,487 || 2,165 || -321 || -12.9%

CZ || (2) || 30,939 || 31,218 || 279 || 0.9% || || 4,637 || 4,679 || 42 || 0.9%

DK || || 1,019 || 1,019 || 0 || 0.0% || || 327 || 332 || 5 || 1.6%

DE || (3) || 42,062 || 42,410 || 348 || 0.8% || || 12,210 || 12,409 || 200 || 1.6%

EE || (3) || 4,073 || 4,108 || 35 || 0.9% || || 443 || 444 || 1 || 0.3%

GR || (1) || 25,899 || 23,975 || -1,924 || -7.4% || || 5,688 || 3,775 || -1,914 || -33.6%

ES || (1) || 50,427 || 46,370 || -4,058 || -8.0% || || 15,644 || 11,606 || -4,038 || -25.8%

ETC || (3) || 11,050 || 11,163 || 113 || 1.0% || || 3,072 || 3,032 || -40 || -1.3%

FR || (1) || 32,965 || 31,948 || -1,018 || -3.1% || || 13,937 || 13,409 || -528 || -3.8%

IE || (1) || 2,299 || 1,575 || -724 || -31.5% || || 1,545 || 822 || -724 || -46.8%

IT || (1) || 59,414 || 53,665 || -5,748 || -9.7% || || 31,448 || 28,420 || -3,028 || -9.6%

CY || || 729 || 729 || 0 || 0.0% || || 117 || 117 || 0 || 0.0%

LZ || (1) || 5,754 || 5,658 || -95 || -1.7% || || 775 || 485 || -290 || -37.4%

LT || (1) || 8,279 || 7,971 || -307 || -3.7% || || 951 || 783 || -168 || -17.6%

LU || || 136 || 136 || 0 || 0.0% || || 68 || 68 || 0 || 0.0%

HU || || 29,319 || 29,319 || 0 || 0.0% || || 4,398 || 4,398 || 0 || 0.0%

MT || || 988 || 988 || 0 || 0.0% || || 148 || 148 || 0 || 0.0%

NL || (1) || 3,979 || 3,928 || -50 || -1.3% || || 1,632 || 1,692 || 60 || 3.7%

AT || (1) || 2,461 || 2,437 || -24 || -1.0% || || 1,147 || 1,153 || 6 || 0.5%

PL || (2) || 82,038 || 84,071 || 2,033 || 2.5% || || 14,108 || 13,917 || -191 || -1.4%

PT || (1) || 32,722 || 28,687 || -4,035 || -12.3% || || 7,668 || 4,503 || -3,165 || -41.3%

RO || (1) || 23,251 || 22,603 || -648 || -2.8% || || 4,038 || 3,390 || -648 || -16.0%

SI || || 4,825 || 4,825 || -0 || 0.0% || || 724 || 724 || -0 || 0.0%

SK || (2) || 13,438 || 13,600 || 162 || 1.2% || || 2,078 || 2,102 || 24 || 1.2%

FI || || 3,524 || 3,524 || 0 || 0.0% || || 1,928 || 1,928 || 0 || 0.0%

SE || (1) || 3,409 || 3,370 || -39 || -1.2% || || 1,783 || 1,744 || -39 || -2.2%

UK || (1) || 19,913 || 19,148 || -765 || -3.8% || || 9,085 || 8,639 || -446 || -4.9%

|| || 507,657 || 490,878 || -16,778 || -3.3% || || 143,431 || 128,230 || -15,201 || -10.6%

Notes || || || || || || || Gross Reductions || -15,540 || -10.8%

(1) || Decrease was mainly or entirely due to reduction in national public co-financing. In come case || || || || ||

(2) || Increase was due to technical GDP adjustments leading to increased EU financing (and national cofinancing) || || || || ||

(3) || Increase was due to adjustments leading to increased national cofinancing. || || || || ||

Table 7.1 Thematic reprogramming 2007-2012: Total by fund || ||

|| || || || ||

|| Total EU funding || Reprogramming || % Reprogrammed || ||

ERDF/CF || 270,087 || 30,182 || 11.2% || ||

ESF || 76,630 || 5,476 || 7.1% || ||

All Funds || 346,717 || 35,658 || 10.3% || ||

|| || || || ||

Table 7.2 Thematic reprogramming 2007-2012: by fund by year || ||

|| || || || ||

|| 2008-2009 || 2010 || 2011 || 2012 || Total

ERDF/Cohesion fund || 1,999 || 1,621 || 15,576 || 10,985 || 30,182

ESF || 196 || 1,125 || 1,696 || 2,459 || 5,476

|| || || || ||

All funds || 2,195 || 2,746 || 17,272 || 13,444 || 35,658

|| 6.2% || 7.7% || 48.4% || 37.7% ||

|| || || || ||

Table 7.3: Thematic reprogramming 2007-2012 - by theme || ||

|| || || || ||

E.U. Total || ||

Major theme || Positive m€ || Negative m€ || Net Change m€ || ||

Innovation & RTD || 8,747.0 || -5,347.6 || 3,399.4 || ||

Broadband || 376.0 || -387.9 || -11.9 || ||

ICT for citizens & business || 1,215.0 || -2,041.9 || -826.9 || ||

Entrepreneurship || 1,312.8 || -1,174.9 || 137.9 || ||

Other investments in enterprise || 1,815.7 || -814.5 || 1,001.2 || ||

Energy || 2,614.6 || -1,561.4 || 1,053.2 || ||

Environment || 3,270.8 || -4,670.9 || -1,400.1 || ||

Territorial Dimension || 1,493.6 || -1,142.7 || 350.9 || ||

Culture & social || 3,264.9 || -2,281.6 || 983.3 || ||

Rail || 1,777.7 || -2,448.4 || -670.6 || ||

Road || 3,164.9 || -2,418.9 || 746.0 || ||

Other transport || 1,527.6 || -2,569.0 || -1,041.4 || ||

Labour market || 2,786.8 || -1,374.9 || 1,411.9 || ||

Social Inclusion || 411.5 || -405.2 || 6.3 || ||

Human capital || 1,166.0 || -2,363.3 || -1,197.3 || ||

Capacity Building || 175.7 || -1,272.7 || -1,097.0 || ||

|| || || || ||

Technical Assistance || 538.1 || -954.0 || -415.9 || ||

Sum: || 35,659 || -33,230 || || ||

[1]               Working Document No 2:
Indicative Guidelines on Evaluation Methods: Monitoring and Evaluation
Indicators : http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docoffic/working/sf2000_en.htm

[2]               http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/how/policy/strategic_report_en.cfm

[3]               http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/how/policy/strategic_report_en.cfm

[4]               The trend in the UK is the contrary: the proportion
of unemployed ESF participants has increased substantially

[5]               http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/how/policy/strategic_report_en.cfm

[6]               http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/sfc2007/sfc2007_help/documents/
sfc2007_reporting_categorisation_data_Note_Art_11.pdf

http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/sfc2007/sfc2007_help/documents/categorisation_faq_rev201202.pdf

[7]               http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/how/policy/strategic_report_en.cfm

[8]               OJ L 201/25, 31.07.2006

[9]               Council Regulation (EC) No
1083/2006 Chapter IV, Article 9.3, OJ 3 201, 31.7.2006.

[10]             http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/how/policy/strategic_report_en.cfm

[11]             http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/information/evaluations/index_en.cfm#1