COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Stock-taking on the Action Plan for the Development of the Article 318 Evaluation Report Accompanying the document REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the evaluation of the Union's finances based on the results achieved
Date: 2015-06-26
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU employment policy, EU expenditure, EU programme, activity report, evaluation method, financial planning, multiannual financial framework

EUROPEAN 
COMMISSION 

Brussels, 26.6.2015  
SWD(2015) 125 final 

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 

Stock-taking on the Action Plan for the Development of the Article 318 Evaluation 
Report 

Accompanying the document 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

on the evaluation of the Union's finances based on the results achieved 

{COM(2015) 313 final} 
{SWD(2015) 124 final} 

EN 

   EN 

 
 
 
 
  
 
Stock-taking on the Action Plan for the Development of the 
Article 318 Evaluation Report 

The Article 318 Evaluation Report for the financial year 2012 included an Action Plan 
for the further development of the Report1 thereby following up on a request from 
the European Court of Auditors. A first stock-taking of progress made was provided 
in last year's edition of the Report2.  

This  Staff  Working  Document  provides  a  final  stock-taking  on  the  Action  Plan, 
showing the additional progress made in improving performance reporting in 2014. 
A  majority  of  actions  have  now  been  completed.  As  certain  actions  are  of  a  more 
qualitative nature and as improved budgetary performance is an overarching goal of 
the  Juncker  Commission,  efforts  will  continue  to  enhance  the  performance  of  the 
budget.  These  further  efforts  will  be  followed-up  through  the  Commission's 
mainstream strategic planning and programming cycle. Reporting on progress will be 
done in the future editions of the Article 318 Report as well as in the Commission's 
Synthesis Report on Management achievements. 

1 SWD (2013) 229 final  
2 SWD (2014) 201 final 

 
 
                                                 
Action 

Stock-taking   

April 2015 

Timing: June 2013 and 
onwards  

Achieved:  As  reported  in  SWD  (2014)  201  final  of  26  June 
2014,  performance  information  from  the  SPP  Cycle  has 
been integrated in the Art 318 Evaluation Report.  

Integration  of  Performance 
information from the SPP Cycle 
Statements, 
(Programme 
/Annual 
Management  Plans 
/  Synthesis 
Activity  Report 
Report) 
the  Art  318 
Evaluation Report 

in 

Streamline  the  preparation  of 
the  evaluation  report  with  the 
Planning 
existing 
Strategic 
Include 
Programming-process. 
performance 
progress 
and 
indicators,  milestones 
targets 
the 
in 
Management  Plans  and  reported 
in 
the  AARs,  as  well  as 
evaluations in the Report. 

defined 

and 

Include  elements  of  progress 
and  performance  management 
in  the  Management  Plans  for 
objectives, 
2014: 
and 
performance 
associated 
per 
evaluations 
programme, 
planned. 

indicators 
targets 

setting 

Deepen  reporting  in  the  Annual 
Activity  Reports  on  how  the 
financial  and  human  resources 
have  been  used  to  achieve  the 
policy  objectives  set  by  the 
College,  and  on  progress  and 
have 
how 

policies 

these 

Achieved  last  year:  See  SWD  (2014)  201  final  of  26  June 
2014. 

Achieved  last  year:  See  SWD  (2014)  201  final  of  26  June 
2014. 

Further  progress  made:  Following  the  progress  indicated  in 
SWD  (2014)  201  final,  reporting  on  performance  has  been 
further  developed 
following 
improvements have been made in this regard:  

in  the  2014  AARs.  The 

- the executive summary included a story of how DGs policies 

 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
generated EU added value. 

and  programmes  contributed  to  policy  objectives  set, 
including Europe 2020 objectives and which results have been 
achieved;  

-  the  performance  tables  in  the  AARs  contain  quantitative 
information  on  the  progress  of  indicators  are  complemented 
with  a  narrative  taking  into  account  available  qualitative 
feedback from various sources (evaluations, progress reports, 
studies  etc.)  and  indicating  external  factors  that  have 
influenced performance;  

-  Account  has  been  given  of  the  multi-annual  dimension    of 
performance  reporting:  Early  feedback  in  implementing  new 
MFF  2014-2020  is  complemented  with  performance  feedback 
on the previous MFF programmes;  

-  Examples  show  EU  added  value  and  efficiency/  economy  in 
managing programmes. 

In  the  light  of  overarching  goal  of  the  Juncker  Commission 
linked  to  the  improvement  of  performance,  further  efforts 
will be made to deepen performance reporting in the AARs.    

Strengthen 
peer-review 
the 
process  on  the  Annual  Activity 
Reports, 
increased 
including 
the  performance 
focus 
information  included  in  these 
reports. 

on 

Further  progress  made:  Further  to  the  progress  reported  in 
SWD  (2014)  201  final,  the  peer  reviews  on  the  AARs  2014 
increased their focus on performance. DGs presented progress 
on key performance indicators and gave examples of achieved 
EU  added-value  of 
spending  programmes.  Subsequent 
discussions  between  peers  took  place  on  the  quality  of 
performance reporting and possible improvements. 

In the light of overarching goal of the new Commission linked 
to  the  improvement  of  its  performance  systems,  further 
efforts  will  be  made  to  continue  enhancing  the  performance 
focus  of  the  peer-review  process,  notably  through  improving 
the  scope  and  range  of  the  indicators  used  to  report  on 
performance.   

Improve  consistency  between 
Evaluation  report  and  Annual 
Activity Reports. 

Achieved  last  year:    See  SWD  (2014)  201  final  of  26  June 
2014. 

progress 

Use  more 
and 
performance  information  in  the 
Evaluation  report.  Include  the 
results  of,  and  actions  taken 

Further  progress  made:  Further  to  the  progress  reported  in 
SWD  (2014)  201  final  and  based  on  the  AARs  2014,  the 
Evaluation  Report  has  continued  including  progress  and 
performance information including the results of performance 

 
 
following,  performance  audits 
carried  out  by 
internal  and 
external auditors. 

audits.  

Benefitting  from  the  deepened  performance  reporting  in  the 
AARs,  future  editions  of  the  Article  318  Report  will  continue 
to use this information. 

Provide a clear indication in the 
Evaluation  report  whether  the 
work  is  progressing  to  schedule 
including  assessments  of  the 
importance 
of 
and 
problems  encountered  and  any 
remedial action required. 

extent 

Further  progress  made:  Further  to  the  progress  reported  in 
SWD  (2014)  201  final  and  based  on  the  AARs  2014,  the 
Evaluation  Report  on  2014  gives  account  of  the  results  and 
impacts of the programmes and on the operational aspects of 
the programme's performance. This includes clear indications 
whether  programmes  are  progressing  as  planned  together 
with 
references  to  corrective  actions  taken  by  the 
Commission where problems have been encountered or where 
programmes have experienced delays.    

Future  editions  of  the  Article  318  Report  will  continue  to 
provide such annual indications on progress.   

Adopt  the  Evaluation  Report  in 
parallel  with 
Synthesis 
Report. 

the 

Achieved  last  year:  See  SWD  (2014)  201  final  of  26  June 
2014. 

As requested by the European Parliament in its 2012 Discharge 
Decision,  the  Article  318  Report  will  be  adopted  by  30  June 
each year. 

Timing To June 2014  

New  Art  318  Evaluation  Report 
based  on  the  new  performance 
framework of the next MFF 

summarised 

Achieved: As indicated in SWD (2014) 201 final, the last year's 
Evaluation  Report 
the  new  performance 
frameworks  for  the  2014  –  2020  MFF  and  the  accompanying 
SWD  (2014)  200  final  gave  a  complete  overview  of  the 
monitoring,  reporting  and  evaluation  framework  of  all  MFF 
programmes.  This 
included  the  timing  of  performance 
feedback. 

The 2014 Evaluation Report and future editions will be based 
on  the  2014-2020  MFF  performance  frameworks.  DGs  will 
report upon their progress and achievements in their AARs. In 
addition  the  Evaluation  report  will  continue  to  report  on 
impacts and results of the 2007-2013 MFF–programmes.  

Develop  new  structure  based  on 
performance  objectives  for  the 
new  generation  of  programmes 
under the next MFF  

Achieved:  The  2014  Evaluation  Report  is  structured  around 
the main 2014-2020 MFF headings and provides an overview of 
results  achieved  with  Union's  finances  based  on  the 
performance  objectives  of  the  new  programmes.  Given  that 
these  objectives  are  linked  to  the  Europe  2020  priorities  of 

 
 
smart,  sustainable  and  inclusive  growth,  the  report  also 
provides  a  summary  account  of  progress  made  towards 
achieving the Europe 2020 targets. 

Follow  up  on  discussions  with 
Member  States  on  the  further 
development of the programmes 
under  shared  management  and 
in  particular  on  the  concrete 
performance  indicators  (output, 
impact,  and  targets), 
result, 
monitoring 
reporting 
arrangements, 
corrective 
measures; and evaluation plans. 

and 

Progress  on  track:  Following  the  adoption  of  the  legal  acts 
for  the  2014-2020  period  in  December  2013,  the  Commission 
has  engaged  in  discussions  with  Member  States  on  the 
development  of  their  Partnership  Agreements  (laying  down 
the  strategic  investment  priorities  of  Member  States)  and 
Operational  Programmes  (translating  these  priorities  into 
investments). By the end of 2014 all PAs were adopted by the 
Commission.  As  regards  the  OPs,  the  situation  is  the 
following:  

- for the Cohesion Policy (ERDF, CF, ESF), 241 OPs out of 311 
were adopted by April 2015. A further 24 European Territorial 
Cooperation  programmes  supported  by  ERDF  were  also 
adopted;  

- for Rural Development by the end of May 2015 a total of 51 
RDPs  out  of  118  programmes  are  foreseen  to  be  adopted  by 
the  Commission  with  the  rest  of  the  programmes  to  be 
approved in the course of 2015; 

- for the EMFF, by April 2015 5 operational programmes out of 
27 programmes were approved by the Commission.  

-  for  the  HOME  Funds  (the  Asylum,  Migration  and  Integration 
Fund and the Internal Security Fund) 22 national programmes 
out  of  58  have  been  approved  by  the  Commission  by  April 
2015.  The  remaining  36  programmes  will  are  foreseen  to  be 
adopted approved by the end of 2015. 

In  its  assessment  of  the  programmes  adopted  so  far,  as  well 
as of the ones that are still under review, the Commission has 
put  specific  attention  to  the  strengthened  result-orientation 
and performance focus of the new programmes by thoroughly 
assessing  the  proposed  monitoring,  reporting  and  evaluations 
arrangements  for  each  programme,  including  the  concrete 
performance indicators (output, result, impact, and targets).  

At  the  end  of  2015  the  Commission  will  produce  a 
Communication  presenting  the  outcome  of  discussions  with 
Member  States  on 
(the 
Partnership  Agreements  and  the  programmes)  to  the 
European  Parliament,  the  Council,  the  European  Economic 
and  Social  Committee  and  the  Committee  of  the  Regions.  In 

the  programming  documents 

 
 
 
addition, this Communication will include an overview of key 
issues for each Member State.  

The  outcome  of  the  programming  process  will  also  be 
presented  in  next  year's  edition  of  the  Art.  318  Evaluation 
Report. 

Achieved:  The  Commission  has  launched  the  SFC2014,  which 
is the electronic data exchange system facilitating the shared 
the 
Fund  management  between  Member  States  and 
Commission  for  all  programmes  covering  internal  policies  in 
the  2014-2020  period.  Among  other  functionalities,  the 
system  will  be  used  for  the  submission  of  the  Annual 
Implementation  Reports  by  the  Member  States,  which  will 
allow  full  follow-up  of  the  progress  under  the  performance 
indicators for each programme. 

In  July  2014  the  Commission  also  launched  a  new  open  data 
platform 
(https://cohesiondata.ec.europa.eu/) 
providing 
information  about  the  investments  made  and  the  results 
obtained  (as  well  as  contextual  data  on  the  socio-economic 
situation  in  each  EU  country).  The  platform  provides  figures 
concerning  the  outputs  of  EU  Cohesion  Policy  operational 
programmes, which are based on the reports submitted to the 
Commission by national authorities.  

Achieved last year: See SWD(2014) 201 final of 26 June 2014. 

the 
Progressively 
statistical 
tools 
allowing  for  full  follow-up  on 
these indicators. 

develop 
other 

and 

the 

evaluation 

framework 

The  2013  Evaluation  Report  will 
for 
describe 
monitoring, 
and 
reporting to the end of the next 
MFF  that  results  from  the  legal 
instruments  supporting  the  next 
generation  of  programmes  and 
the  additional  work  of  the 
Commission  to  complete  the 
framework. 

Timing: June 2014 

Achieved: On 19 May 2015 the Commission will present a new 
Better Regulation package, which includes common guidelines 
on impact assessment, evaluation and consultation policy.  

Adoption  of  new  Evaluation 
guidelines 
strengthening 
Commission  evaluation  policy 
under  the  new  performance 
framework. 

(to be updated)