The cohesion policy for the period 2014-2020 should be geared towards results with greater intensity than in previous periods, in order to make a visible contribution to the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy.
The regulations of the European Union establish the obligation to carry out evaluations of the effectiveness, efficiency and impact of aid from the funds of the Common Strategic Framework, with the aim of improving the quality in the execution and design of the programmes, and to determine the effects thereof in relation to the goals of the Union strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.
In order to improve the quality and design of each programme and to verify the feasibility of its objectives and targets, an ex ante evaluation of the objectives and targets should be carried out and forwarded to the Commission together with the operational programme.
During the programming period, management authorities must carry out evaluations to estimate the effectiveness and impact of the programme. In order to facilitate management decisions, the monitoring committee and the Commission should be informed of the results of the evaluations.
Ex post evaluations of the programmes will also be carried out to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the funds and their impact in relation to the overall objectives of the funds themselves and of the Union's strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. These assessments will be carried out by the European Commission.
The indicator system will be a key part of the monitoring and evaluation system for the period 2014-2020. The system of indicators should include common indicators (defined by the Commission and set out in the regulations), as well as programme-specific indicators. All these indicators, depending on their nature, can be classified into: performance indicators and outcome indicators. A selection of these indicators will configure the Performance Framework, which must be defined in each of the programs in order to facilitate the monitoring of them.
The ERDF Evaluation Plan 2014-2020 has a two-part structure: one part common to all the programmes and another specific to each of them.