Cohesion Policy

The evaluation was carried out at the request of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Regional Policy and Urban Policy (DG REGIO), in cooperation with Sweco's foreign partners.

 

The main objective of the evaluation was to identify the early and anticipated impact of the Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 on the three Baltic States in twelve public policy areas – R & D, ICT, SMEs, Energy, Climate Change Adaptation, Environmental and Resource Efficiency, Transport, Employment, Social Inclusion, Health, Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning, and Strengthening the Capacity of Public Institutions and Public Administration.

 

The expected impact of Cohesion Policy for the years 2014-2020 on Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia in each of the public policies was determined by analysing the link between product and result indicators and examining  the extent to which Cohesion Policy contributes to the goals pursued.  By using the macroeconomic model,the expected impact of investments on selected contextual indicators for each public policy area was analysed

The study was commissioned by Directorate-General for Regional Policy and Urban Policy of the European Commission (DG REGIO), in cooperation with the foreign partners Spatial Foresight GmbH.

 

The results of the study included thorough analysis of product and result indicators and financial resources, which werepresented in the reports on the implementation of the Lithuanian Operational Programs 2007-2013 and financed by the ERDF and the SF, determined the indicators, financial data collection, calculation methods and quality control procedures applied by institutions of the system of administration of the Structural Funds.

 

The information gathered during the evaluation can be used for other ex-post evaluations of the 2007-2013 Cohesion policy.

The evaluation was carried out at the request of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania.

 

The purpose of the evaluation was to improve the use of EU structural assistance by assessing the impact of the 2007-2013  programs on the development of cities and towns. During the evaluation, a quality of life model was developed and an analysis of the current situation according to the model area was made (the index of quality of life of individual cities and towns was determined).The suitability and adequacy of EU structural assistance in specific residential areas  was evaluated in accordance to the model of life quality model as well as the impact of support on the country's gross domestic product and the level of unemployment was determined. During this evaluation, the possibilities of further applications of new urban development tools (Integrated Sustainable Urban Development, community-initiated local development) during the 2014-2020 programming period were estimated.

The study was designed to assess the impact of  EU Structural Funds on GDP during the 2004-2006 programming period and to prepare recommendations on the impact of the EU Structural Funds on increasing GDP during the programming period 2007-2013.

 

In order to achieve the goals and objectives of the evaluation, the macro model of Lithuania's economy HERLIT was developed, whose basis is universally accepted and widely, including the European Commission, used the HERMIN model.

 

The evaluation was presented at the conference organized by the Directorate-General for Regional Policy of the European Commission in Brussels for the EU-27.