Measuring achievements: Can cohesion policy programmes effectively monitor their performance?

Francesco Molica (), Anabela M. Santos () and Andrea Conte ()
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Francesco Molica: European Commission, Belgium.
Anabela M. Santos: European Commission, Joint Research Centre. Spain.
Andrea Conte: European Commission, Joint Research Centre. Spain.

INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, 2025, issue 62, 5-24

Abstract: The paper investigates the ability of Cohesion Policy programmes to define accurate policy outputs and to reliably monitor their own performance through accurate indicators. Specifically, the analysis explores the extent to which indicators and output targets set by ERDF programmes for monitoring and evaluation purposes are revised over time, seeking to identify specific patterns related to different areas such as spending categories, typology of regions, etc. Our findings highlight significant challenges faced by programmes in establishing realistic targets, as frequent and substantial changes are introduced to a vast majority of them. However, we also observe that only a small proportion of indicators is modified over time, suggesting relative stability in the overall objectives of programmes. The paper provides useful evidence for the ongoing debate on whether adopting a fully-performance based model, where access to funds is contingent upon achieving results/outputs, would enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of Cohesion Policy.

Keywords: Cohesion policy; EU budget; NextGenerationEU; performance budgeting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H11 H83 R58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:invreg:0563

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