Project title
Description of initiative
The ERDF aims to strengthen economic and social cohesion in the European Union by correcting imbalances between its regions. The priorities and rules of the ERDF for the 2014-2020 period are laid down in Regulation (EU) No 1301/2013 on the European Regional Development Fund and on specific provisions concerning the Investment for growth and jobs goal. ERDF finances programmes in shared responsibility between the European Commission and national and regional authorities in Member States. The Member States' administrations choose which projects to finance and take responsibility for day-to-day management. The Regulation acknowledges that:
- it is necessary to promote innovation and the development of SMEs, in emerging fields linked to European and regional challenges such as creative and cultural industries and innovative services, reflecting new societal demands, or to products and services linked to an ageing population, care and health, eco-innovation, the low-carbon economy and resource efficiency.
- in order to promote social inclusion and combat poverty, particularly among marginalised communities, it is necessary to improve access to social, cultural and recreational services, through the provision of small-scale infrastructure, taking account of the specific needs of persons with disabilities and the elderly.
One of the programme investment priorities is: promoting social inclusion, combating poverty and any discrimination, including by investing in health and social infrastructure which contributes to national, regional and local development, reducing inequalities in terms of health status, promoting social inclusion through improved access to social, cultural and recreational services and the transition from institutional to community-based services.
The ERDF supported several types of activities in order to contribute to its investment priorities, including:
- investment in social, health, research, innovation, business and educational infrastructure;
- investment in the development of endogenous potential through fixed investment in equipment and small-scale infrastructure, including small-scale cultural and sustainable tourism infrastructure, services to enterprises, support to research and innovation bodies and investment in technology and applied research in enterprise.
Themes: Culture and...
Keywords
Target group
Cultural field
Budget
Timeframe
Sources of funding
Results, benefits, impact and lessons learnt
According to Chapter II „Evaluation” (Articles 54-57) of the Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund:
- Member States shall provide the resources necessary for carrying out evaluations, and shall ensure that procedures are in place to produce and collect the data necessary for evaluations, including data for common and specific indicators.
- There are 3 types of evaluations: ex-ante evaluations carried out by EU Member States (Art. 55); evaluation during the programming period carried out by EU Member States, but also by the European Commission at its own initiative (Art. 56); and ex-post evaluation carried out by the Commission, or by the Member States in close cooperation with the Commission (Art. 57).
- Ex post evaluations shall be completed by 31 December 2024.
Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund.
Some relevant key findings from the interim evaluation report published in 2018 („Analysis of ERDF support for inclusive growth in the 2014- 2020 programming period”):
- The ERDF has an important role in the promotion of the equal opportunities and gender equality principles in several intervention areas: the creation of business and research activities developing new products/services to improve the life quality of disadvantaged groups; housing, education, health care and cultural facilities, as well as adapting ICT, transportation and social infrastructures to the needs of disadvantaged groups.
- Little attention is given to supporting research and business development and provision of products/services improving the quality of life of disadvantaged groups.