Germany: Report on the implementation of the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund for 2023

Project Background

In accordance with EU Regulations 1303/2013 and 508/2014, Member States must submit an annual report on the implementation of their national operational programmes under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). The annual implementation reports contain important information on the implementation of the programme, including the financial performance and the achievement of the programme objectives. The last of these implementation reports, for the 2023 reporting year, is more detailed, contains additional annexes and fulfils the functions of a final report for the entire funding period.

As the EMFF programme was implemented by the federal government and eleven participating federal states due to Germany's federal structure, the preparation of the implementation report is complex and requires an intensive exchange between all parties involved. For this reason, the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) invited tenders for the preparation of the report.

Objectives

COFAD's main task was to request, compile and collate the information and data from the federal and state governments, not to produce our own independent evaluation. The draft report was presented by COFAD to the EMFF Monitoring Committee. The BMEL finally submitted the report (Part A) to the EU Commission on time at the end of May 2024. A summary was also prepared for the public.

Activities and Results

• Coordination of the process with the client, detailed coordination of the report structure and key content
• Obtaining general or existing information and analysing it
• Discussion with the federal and state governments: information to be provided, content priorities
• Targeted enquiry of further data and information from the federal and state governments
• Preparation of parts of the report
• Submission of drafts for individual parts of the report, coordination
• Presentation of the overall draft, discussion of the overall draft, preparation and presentation of the final draft