Contents 03 Paragraph Abbreviations Glossary 1-X Executive summary 1-26 Introduction 1-3 Cohesion policy is the EU’s main investment policy 4-6 Regulatory provisions contributing to greater focus on performance in Cohesion policy during the 2014-2020 period 7-12 Adoption of the 2014-2020 legal framework for Cohesion policy – the main steps 7-9 Preparation of the Commission’s legislative proposal 10-12 Negotiations of the Cohesion legislative package between Commission, European Parliament and Council 13-26 Programming of Cohesion policy for the 2014-2020 period 13-22 Main building blocks of the programming process: Common Strategic Framework, Thematic objectives, Partnership Agreements and Operational Programmes 23-25 Performance indicators for outputs and results 26 Procedural provisions regarding the adoption of Partnership Agreements and Operational Programmes 27-32 Audit scope and approach 33-136 Observations 33-55 Commission kept delays in the negotiation of Partnership Agreements and of Operational Programmes under control 34-37 The European Parliament and Council adopted the Cohesion policy legislative package late in 2013 Contents 04 38-45 The Commission took a pro-active approach to the negotiation of Partnership Agreements and Operational Programmes 46-52 Despite diffculties the Commission adopted PAs and OPs within the deadline specified in the Regulation 53-55 Additional requirements, IT problems and complex approval process contributed to long duration of negotiations of Partnership Agreements and Operational Programmes 56-80 Partnership Agreements were instrumental in focusing Cohesion spending on the Europe 2020 Strategy 60-66 Partnership Agreements are basis for the budget allocation to thematic objectives and investment priorities 67-73 Negotiations of PAs were effective in terms of ring-fencing spending on Europe 2020 strategy objectives 74-80 Examined Member States define in the Partnership Agreements the main results to be achieved, but achieving them will require substantial national contribution beyond the EU funding 81-91 Operational programmes show more clearly what is pursued with the interventions and how this is expected to be achieved, but this is accompanied by increased complexity than the previous programme period 83-87 Commission and Member States have been successful in developing Operational Programmes with a more robust intervention logic in most cases than in the previous programme period 88-91 The structure of the Operational Programmes leads to an increased number of performance indicators that need to be monitored and to an increase in reporting requirements 92-136 Fund-specific differences in the categorisation of financial data and measuring the performance of Operational Programmes likely to pose difficulties in programme monitoring in future years 94-101 The approach to financial monitoring of investments differs between ESI funds 102-109 There are differences between funds in the use of common output indicators and possibility for Member States to define additional programme specific output indicators 110-129 ESF and ERDF result indicators measure different things and measure them differently making it impossible to meaningfully aggregate data at Union level 130-136 Differences in methodology and the high number of programme-specific indicators will cause a significant administrative burden, but it remains to be seen what use will made of this data 
Innehåll 03 Punkt Förkortningar Ordlista 1-X Sammanfattning 1-26 Inledning 1-3 Sammanhållningspolitiken är EU:s viktigaste investeringspolitik 4-6 Bestämmelserna har bidragit till en ökad inriktning på resultat inom sammanhållningspolitiken under perioden 2014–2020 7-12 De viktigaste etapperna i antagandet av den rättsliga ramen för sammanhållningspolitiken 2014–2020 7-9 Det förberedande arbetet med kommissionens lagförslag 10-12 Förhandlingar om det sammanhållningspolitiska lagstiftningspaketet mellan kommissionen, Europaparlamentet och rådet 13-26 Programplaneringen av sammanhållningspolitiken för perioden 2014–2020 13-22 De viktigaste byggstenarna i programplaneringsprocessen: en gemensam strategisk ram, tematiska mål, partnerskapsöverenskommelser och operativa program 23-25 Indikatorer för output och resultat 26 Bestämmelser om förfarandena för antagande av partnerskapsöverenskommelser och operativa program 27-32 Revisionens inriktning och omfattning och revisionsmetod 33-136 Iakttagelser 33-55 Kommissionen hade kontroll över tidsfristerna vid förhandlingarna om partnerskapsöverenskommelser och operativa program 34-37 Europaparlamentet och rådet antog det sammanhållningspolitiska lagstiftningspaketet i slutet av 2013