Germany: Ex-Ante-Evaluation of European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) Operational Plan

Project Background

The European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) for the period 2014-2020 shall contribute to the following objectives:

(a)   promoting fisheries and aquaculture which are competitive, economically viable, socially and environmentally sustainable;

(b)   fostering the implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP);

(c)   promoting a balanced and inclusive territorial development of fisheries areas;

(d)   fostering the development and implementation of the Union's Integrated Maritime Policy

In order to make use of the EMFF, EU Member states have to draft a national Operational Programme (OP), which is subject to an ex-ante evaluation.

Objectives

According to Art. 48 of the draft Common Strategic Framework Regulation [(EC) No 1083/2006], the aim of the ex-ante evaluation of the EMFF Operational Programme is to improve the programming quality. Thus, the ex-ante evaluation is a formative evaluation that shall have an influence on and contribute to the improvement of the Operational Programme. In this sense, the evaluation is performed simultaneously to the drafting of the programme and shall play a part in the analysis of the situation including SWOT, in the elaboration of the intervention logic and the definition of programme objectives.

Activities and/or Results

• Analysis of the fisheries sector and assessment whether the SWOT analysis of the OP properly describes the situation and needs of the sector;
• Assessment whether the objectives, strategy and activities of the OP are relevant and correspond to the needs of the sector;
• Assessment of the coherence of the OP with the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), the Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP) and other relevant Union policies;
• Assessment of the planned intervention logic;
• Analysis whether the allocation of financial means corresponds the needs of the sector and political priorities;
• Assessment of the adequacy of the administrative arrangement for implementation.