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Ex Post Evaluation of Cohesion Policy Programmes 2000-2006 Financed by the European Regional Development Fund in Objective 1 and 2 Regions

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Ex Post Evaluation of Cohesion Policy Programmes 2000-2006 Financed by the European Regional Development Fund in Objective 1 and 2 Regions The Vienna Institute for ISMERI EUROPA International Economic Studies Ex Post Evaluation of Cohesion Policy Programmes 2000-2006 financed by the European Regional Development Fund in Objective 1 and 2 regions Work package 1: Coordination, analysis and synthesis Task 4: Development and achievements in Member States GERMANY WP1 – Coordination of evaluation of SF 2000-2006: Task 4 Germany TABLE OF CONTENT PREFACE .......................................................................................................................... 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...................................................................................................... 3 MAP OF GERMANY - OBJECTIVE 1 AND 2 REGIONS............................................................ 5 1 REGIONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONTEXT ................................. 6 2 MACROECONOMIC CONTEXT AND POLICY ................................................................... 7 3 REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT POLICY AND CONTRIBUTION OF THE STRUCTURAL FUNDS ... 8 4 EFFECTS OF INTERVENTION IN DIFFERENT POLICY AREAS ........................................... 12 5 FORMS OF INTERVENTION IN THE DIFFERENT POLICY AREAS ...................................... 16 6 POLICY IMPLEMENTATION.......................................................................................... 20 7 GLOBAL EFFECTS ....................................................................................................... 22 8 ADDED VALUE OF THE EU CONTRIBUTION.................................................................. 23 9 LESSONS FOR THE FUTURE......................................................................................... 24 REFERENCES................................................................................................................... 25 TABLES .......................................................................................................................... 26 ANNEX 1: TARGETS AND PRIORITIES IN LÄNDER RECEIVING OBJECTIVE 1 FUNDING.......... 27 ANNEX 2: TARGETS AND PRIORITIES IN LÄNDER RECEIVING OBJECTIVE 2 FUNDING.......... 29 CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN POLICY INSTRUMENTS AND FOI CATEGORIES ..................... 32 Applica-Ismeri-wiiw 1 WP1 – Coordination of evaluation of SF 2000-2006: Task 4 Germany PREFACE This report is intended to summarise the main aspects of regional disparities, the changes in these which occurred over the 2000-2006 programming period and the principal features of regional development policy over this period in terms of the objectives, the way that it was implemented and the contribution of the Structural Funds. It also reviews the evidence on the effects of policy as regards both the direct results of expenditure in the different policy areas and the wider impact on development as such. It is based on three primary sources of information. The statistical data on regional and national developments over the period so far as possible come from Eurostat in order to ensure comparability with other studies carried out at EU level as well as with the other national reports produced as part of the ex post exercise. The data on the allocation of funding and expenditure come from the INFOVIEW database maintained by DG REGIO, which itself is based on regular information from the Member States on the allocation of funding and the payments made. Information on policy objectives, on the results of expenditure and the wider effects of this and on the procedures adopted as regards the implementation of policy comes from various programming documents and national evaluation reports as well as from impact studies which have been carried out on the actual or intended effects of programmes. The reports, therefore, are based on existing information – or more precisely, the information available at the time they were prepared (around mid-2008) – and no new evaluation has been undertaken for purposes of preparing the report. The report has been prepared by the Applica-Ismeri Europa- wiiw Consortium, which is coordinating the work on the ex post evaluation of ERDF expenditure in Objective 1 and 2 regions, working closely with a national expert who was responsible for interpreting the quantitative data and the other information indicated above.1 Although the contents of the report have been checked with officials in DG REGIO and with the national authorities, responsibility for any errors in the factual information presented or its interpretation rests with the authors and the views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of DG REGIO or the national authorities. 1 This report was produced with the assistance of Frank Wefering and Georg Werdermann, Rupprecht Consult and Oliver Schwab, IfS Institut für Stadtforschung und Strukturpolitik GmbH Applica-Ismeri-wiiw 2 WP1 – Coordination of evaluation of SF 2000-2006: Task 4 Germany EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Regional disparities in Germany are still characterised by an East-West divide. Average GDP per head in the Objective 1 regions in the east of the country was some 21% below the EU average in 2006 (the latest year for which data are available) while in the country it was 12% above the average. So far as Objective 2 regions in the western part of Germany are concerned, these are of two main kinds - urban regions suffering from industrial decline and rural regions in peripheral parts of the country. Their features vary accordingly. The macroeconomic context during the period 2000-2006, when growth of GDP was below that in the rest of the EU, was in general not favourable to regional development and the catching up of lagging regions. The backbone of German regional policy is the so called Joint Task2, which is managed jointly by the Federal Government and the Länder governments and partly co-financed by the Structural Funds. At Länder level, Structural Fund support covered a wider policy area combining the core elements of the Joint Task (investment in enterprises and business- related infrastructure) with additional measures, such as support for R&D and assistance for tourist projects. In Objective 1 regions the largest item of funding was support for the Enterprise environment, followed by Human resources, Territorial policy, Transport and the Environment and energy. In Objective 2 regions, the concentration of Structural Fund support on the Enterprise environment was even greater, with nearly half of the funds being spent in this policy area, while over a quarter of funding went to Territorial policy. The effects of the support on regional development are uncertain since as yet few evaluations have been completed. While estimates suggest that substantial numbers of jobs have been created or maintained in both Objective 1 and Objective 2 regions, it is difficult to assess the reliability of these figures and the extent to which they represent net additional jobs. Nevertheless, it is evident that Structural Fund intervention made a significant contribution to the development of the enterprise environment, human resources and infrastructure. The implementation of EU funding made use of the procedures and the administrative structure already in place and, as a result, encountered only minor problems. 2 Gemeinschaftsaufgabe "Verbesserung der regionalen Wirtschaftsstruktur" Applica-Ismeri-wiiw 3 WP1 – Coordination of evaluation of SF 2000-2006: Task 4 Germany EU funding added to the finance available for regional development programmes, a significant part of the additional amount going on support of R&D. It also encouraged different government departments to combine over the development of policy and led to more systematic control over programmes as well as progress in monitoring and evaluation. Applica-Ismeri-wiiw 4 WP1 – Coordination of evaluation of SF 2000-2006: Task 4 Germany MAP OF GERMANY - OBJECTIVE 1 AND 2 REGIONS Applica-Ismeri-wiiw 5 WP1 – Coordination of evaluation of SF 2000-2006: Task 4 Germany 1 REGIONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONTEXT All of the new Länder3 in Germany received Structural Fund support under Objective 1 between 2000 and 2006, with East Berlin receiving phasing-out support. Objective 2 support went to regions located in various parts of the 11 ‘old’ Länder. The new Länder have been undergoing fundamental structural change since German unification in 1990. Their economic convergence towards levels in the rest of the country, however, while initially rapid, has slowed appreciably since the mid-1990s. Disparities between Objective 1 regions and the rest of the country remain wide. In 2006, their GDP per head was, on average only two-thirds of that of the western regions and unemployment in 2006 was twice as high (17% as against around just over 8%) (Table1). Accordingly, GDP per head in Objective 1 regions was 21% below the EU-25 average towards the end of the programming period (in 2006), the same as it had been at the beginning. In Objective 2 regions – those where over 20% of the population lived in areas receiving EU support - GDP per head was only 2% above the EU average in 2006, well below what it had been at the start of the period (9% above in 1999). Among the regions concerned, however, GDP per head ranged from 51% above the EU average in Bremen to 19% below in Lüneburg, in both cases the figures being heavily affected by commuting (inward in the former, outward in the latter). In all the regions apart from Saarland and Kassel – where the level remained much the same – GDP per head declined relative to the EU average, though not necessarily relative to the average in the rest
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