EVALUATION OF THE MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS OF COHESION POLICY PROGRAMMES AND PROJECTS OVER THE LONGER TERM IN 15 SELECTED REGIONS

(FROM 1989-1993 PROGRAMMING PERIOD TO THE PRESENT)

(2011.CE.16.B.AT.015)

CASE STUDY Nord-Pas-de-Calais

Georges Mercier and Estelle Floirac

18 July 2013

European Policies Research Centre University of Strathclyde Graham Hills Building 40 George Street Glasgow G1 1QE United Kingdom Tel: +44-141-548 3339 Fax: +44-141-548 4898

E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] http://www.eprc.strath.ac.uk/eprc/

The University of Strathclyde is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, number SC01526

Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais

PREFACE

This report presents the case study for Nord-Pas-de-Calais as part of the study ‘Evaluation of the Main Achievements of Cohesion policy Programmes over the Longer Term in 15 Selected Regions (from 1989-1993 programme period to the present)’ which is being managed by the European Policies Research Centre and London School of Economics. The research was conducted between May and September 2012.

This case study has been drafted by Dr Georges Mercier and Estelle Floirac. The authors are grateful to a considerable number of individuals in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais who participated in the study and provided valuable insights as well as assistance in tracking down other interviewees. The complete list of interviewees is listed in Annex IV at the end of the report.

LSE i EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais

LSE ii EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais

Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...... 1 1. Introduction ...... 5 2. Regional context and analysis of needs ...... 7 3. Programme evolution and relevance ...... 23 3.1 Explicit and implicit strategies and their evolution ...... 23 3.1.1 Facing the direct consequences of a severe economic and structural crisis: 1989-93 .... 23 3.1.2 Stronger intervention requires stronger strategies: 1994-99 ...... 27 3.1.3 Towards diversification and new development perspectives: 2000-06 ...... 31 3.1.4 Transformation, realism and critical choices: 2007-13 ...... 34 3.2 Relevance of programmes to regional needs ...... 36 4. Expenditure analysis ...... 43 4.1 Financial allocations ...... 43 4.2 Expenditure compared with allocations ...... 44 4.2.1 Evolution of actual expenditure over time in the eight selected thematic axes...... 44 4.2.2 Comparison between intended and actual allocations ...... 46 5. Achievements analysis ...... 49 5.1 Reported & actual achievements ...... 49 5.1.1 Programme-level achievements ...... 49 5.1.2 Analysis by theme ...... 58 5.1.3 Institutional factors affecting achievements ...... 84 5.2 Complementarities and synergies...... 85 5.2.1 Complementarity between ERDF-funded programmes ...... 85 5.2.2 Complementarity with domestic regional policy ...... 86 6. ASSESSMENT OF ACHIEVEMENTS AGAINST OBJECTIVES AND NEEDS (EFFECTIVENESS AND UTILITY) ...... 91 6.1 Overall achievements of ERDF programmes measured against programme objectives (effectiveness) ...... 91 6.2 Overall contribution of ERDF programmes to regional development (utility) ...... 103 6.3 Key elements of success and failure ...... 112 6.3.1 Good practices and successes ...... 112 6.3.2 Bad practices and failings...... 114 7. Conclusions ...... 117 7.1 EQ1: To what extent did the programme address regional needs and problems over time? (Relevance) ...... 117 7.2 EQ2: To what extent do ERDF achievements meet regional objectives and needs in each programme period and across all periods? ...... 122 7.3 EQ3: What are the main lessons learnt on the effectiveness and utility of ERDF interventions? ...... 130 8. Annex I – Analysis of project samples ...... 135 8.1 Project: ‘Great Site Operation’ of the 2 Capes (Gris-Nez and Blanc-Nez) ...... 135 8.2 Project: Dourges’ logistic multimodal hub (Delta 3) ...... 137 8.3 Project: Roubaix’s ‘Piscine’: Andre Dilligent Museum of Art and Industry ...... 141 8.4 Project: Conversion of mining heap n°9-9 in Oignies (62) ...... 143 9. Annex II – structure of programmes 1989-2013 in Nord-Pas-de-Calais ...... 147 10. Annex III: Reported achievements ...... 155

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10.1 1989-93 Regional Operational Programme ...... 155 10.2 1994-99 Regional Operational Programmes ...... 156 10.3 2000-06 Regional Operational Programmes ...... 158 10.4 2007-13 Regional Operational Programme ...... 166 11. Annex IV: List of interviewees ...... 167 12. Annex V: Overview of sourceS used for the case study ...... 169 13. Annex VI: References ...... 171 14. Annex VII: Summary of survey results ...... 177 15. Annex VIII: Workshop Participants ...... 181

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Figures and tables

Figure 1: Evolution of GDP per capita in Nord-Pas-de-Calais 12 Figure 2: Evolution of unemployment in Nord-Pas-de-Calais (Eurostat) 13 Figure 3: Evolution of the density of motorways and railway networks in Nord-Pas-de-Calais 15 Figure 4: Evolution of the structure of employment in Nord-Pas-de-Calais between 1975 and 2007 26 Figure 5: Annualised actual expenditure (2000 prices 50 Figure 6: Expenditure by measure target/need and programme period (in million Euros, 2000 prices) 51 Figure 7: Allocations and expenditure by thematic axis across regional programmes 51 Figure 8: Expenditure in eight thematic priorities (in million Euros, 2000 prices) 66

Table 1: Structure of programmes between 1989 and 1991 29 Table 2: Summary of programme priorities between 1989 and 1993 30 Table 3: Structure and priorities of programmes between 1994 and 1999 32 Table 4: Summary of programmes priorities between 1994 and 1999 34 Table 5: Summary of programme objectives and priorities between 2000 and 2006 37 Table 6: Summary of programme objectives and priorities between 2007 and 2013 39 Table 7: Comparison of regional needs and programme responses 45 Table 8: Needs and imputed objectives for eight thematic axes 47 Table 9: ERDF and ESF allocations 1989-2013 (in million Euros, 2000 prices) 49 Table 10: 1989-1993 Programme - Main output indicators 58 Table 11: 1994-1999 Programme - Objective 1 - Main output indicators 60 Table 12: 1994-1999 Programme - Objective 2 - Main output indicators (Ex-post Evaluation 60 Table 13: 1997-1999 Programme - Objective 2 - Main output indicators (Final Implementation Report) 61 Table 14: 2000-2006 Programme - Objective 1 - Main output indicators 63 Table 15: 2000-2006 Programme – Objective 2 - Main output indicators 63 Table 16: Objective 2 (2007-13) – PRESAGE monitoring system 65 Table 17: Priorities of operational programmes versus priorities of CPER 94 Table 18: Programme objectives and targets for Nord-Pas-de-Calais ERDF programmes 1989-2013 and reported achievements 99 Table 19: Achievements compared with imputed objectives for eight thematic axes 108 Table 20: achievements compared with needs for eight thematic axes 114

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List of Abbreviations

AIR Annual Implementation Report ANRU Agence Nationale pour la Rénovation Urbaine (National Agency for Urban Regeneration) ANVAR Agence Nationale de Valorisation de la Recherche (National Research Promotion Agency) CAP Common Agricultural Policy CIADT Comité Interministériel d’Aménagement et de Développement du Territoire (Interministerial Committee for Planning and Territorial Development) CIFRE Convention Industrielle de Formation par la Recherche CPER Contrats de Projet Etat-région (State-Region Planning Contracts). Contrat de Plan Etat-région before 2007 CNRS Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (National Centre of Scientific Research) CRRP Centre Regional de Resources Pédagogiques et de développement de la qualité de la formation (Regional Centre for Educational Resources and the promotion of quality of training) CSF Community Support Framework DATAR Délégation à l’Aménagement du Territoire et à l’Attractivité Régionale (Territorial Development and Regional Attractiveness Delegation of the French Republic) DGCIS Direction Générale de la Compétitivité, de l’Industrie et des Services (General Directorate for Competitiveness, Industry and Services) DREAL Direction Régionale de l’Environnement, de l’Aménagement et du Logement (Regional Directorate for Environment, Planning and Housing) DRRT Délégation Régionale à la Recherche et à la Technologie (Regional Delegation for Research and Technology) EAFRD European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development EAGGF European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund EC European Commission ECU European Currency Unit ERDF European Regional Development Fund ESF European Social Fund EU European Union FDI Foreign Direct Investment GDP Gross Domestic Product ICT Information and Communication Technology INSEE Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies) PRCTE Programme Régional de Création et de Transmission d’Entreprises (Regional Programme for Creation and Transfer of Businesses) PRES Pôle de Recherche et d’Enseignement Supérieur (Research and Higher Education Pole) RTDI Research, Technological Development and Innovation SMART Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-oriented and Time-bound criteria SME Small and medium enterprise SPD Single Programming Document

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SRDE Schéma Régional de Développement Economique (Regional Economic Development Scheme) RIS Regional Innovation Strategy ZUS Zone Urbaine Sensible (Sensitive Urban Area)

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The regional development context

Nord-Pas-de-Calais is a European region which contributed substantially to the industrial revolution and experienced strong industrial development until the middle of the 20th century. This development was mainly based on mining, steel, metallurgy and the textile industry, and was accompanied by dynamic demographic and urban growth.

This historical legacy generated a socioeconomic context characterised by the predominance of large industrial firms, limited entrepreneurship and limited innovation practices in SMEs, and the employment of a large part of human resources on specialised industrial jobs. Heavy industries also had a strong impact on the natural and urban environment in a region that is a densely populated. In the 1970s, the region was strongly hit by the economic crisis, resulting from the decline of traditional industries. Hundreds of enterprises closed, generating extensive layoffs.

In this context, national, regional and local authorities had to provide solutions to immediate socioeconomic problems in order to avoid a greater economic and social collapse. From a longer term perspective, however, the transition process also necessitated support to new economic sectors, development of human resources and promotion of better quality of life.

Development strategy and its implementation

Since the first programme period in 1989, Nord-Pas-de-Calais set up a regional development strategy characterised by the desire to counter massive unemployment and improve the living conditions of the population. Measures in favour of enterprises included support to industrial activities, modernisation of productive assets, promotion of innovation and improvement of skills and competences. Since 1989, the support to firms has been one of the main ERDF intervention fields, whereas the ESF brought significant support in favour of training and social cohesion.

In the 1990s, traditional industries still represented an important stake in terms of employment. Investments in infrastructures were also considered necessary to improve attractiveness, quality of life and foster local and regional economic development (industrial and urban renewal, communication infrastructures, promotion of tourism and culture).

At regional level, however, establishing clear and focused priorities proved challenging, given the very diverse territorial needs and expectations (e.g. unemployment, social difficulties, lack of services, low education level). Further, at times, contingent local needs, territorial competition to access public funds and economic emergencies hampered the implementation of longer term development measures. This was not the case in the French Hainaut, however, where the creation of an Objective 1 area in 1994 contributed to focusing funds and initiatives on the territories particularly concerned by the economic crisis.

If national authorities (the Ministries of Industry and Equipment) and domestic public policies (State-Region Planning Contracts) still had a strong influence on the design of ERDF programmes in the 1990s, this diminished with the devolution process, the reduction of State financial contributions and the alignment of EU Cohesion policy to the priorities of Lisbon and Gothenburg Agendas, in later periods. In the ERDF programmes, this determined a strategic and financial shift

LSE 1 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais from the theme ‘enterprise’ to that on ‘structural adjustment’. As state authorities became confronted by financial constraints, the ERDF programmes strengthened the influence of local and regional bodies. They were also a means to accelerate the transition process, as they introduced more targeted strategic objectives (e.g. in the fields of innovation and entrepreneurship), better project design and more effective management and monitoring.

The effectiveness of ERDF spending

With regard to overall programme objectives, the achievements of ERDF funds in allowing the region to accomplish the desired economic transition process were limited during the 1990s. The transformation of the regional economic fabric was slow and traditional industries persisted, in the context of a productive fabric characterised by large firms surrounded by numerous sub- contractors. Over time, the share of industry decreased gradually and steadily in favour of tertiary activities, but this was mainly due to a reduction of industrial activities and a strong increase in public spending and public services.

Identifying the specific contribution of ERDF programmes is quite challenging, as many domestic policies and schemes were implemented over the past twenty years to counter the economic crisis, reduce unemployment and promote economic renewal. Nevertheless, in the field of employment, it is estimated that ERDF programmes contributed to the creation of 10,000 direct jobs plus 30,000 indirect ones since 1989. With important ESF support, they also contributed to the training of more than 200,000 people. This included hundreds of training sessions as well as large investments in upgrading training facilities (colleges, high schools and universities). There was, however, no adequate monitoring tool able to provide data which would allow evaluating the longer term impact in terms of net job creation or the direct effects of training measures on the economy. The objective of avoiding stronger economic decline by supporting traditional economic sectors certainly saved businesses and jobs, but also delayed the implementation of more structural economic change.

The ERDF programmes also delivered important achievements in relation to the reduction of the impact of former industrial activities and the improvement of quality of life, through the treatment of at least 8,000 hectares of brownfield sites (greening, restoration or regeneration) and over 600 urban renewal projects. ERDF interventions have also been effective in extending protected areas and preserving the natural heritage, which constituted important programme objectives.

The ERDF programmes promoted activities that would not have been developed in a comparable way without them. This is the case with the field of ‘culture’: this entailed several local initiatives that progressively led to a new image and a new ‘brand’ for what is now known as ‘the region of museums’.

Intra-regional disparities changed over time. A catch-up process could be observed between the mining area and the rest of the region, which was one of the main objectives of ERDF funds with the setting up Objective 1 status. However, despite successes in the field of transport and the development of new economic sectors, the French Hainaut still remains more sensitive than the rest of the region to economic downturns.

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In the social field, ERDF programmes have been especially effective in urban areas through a combination of investment in housing and infrastructure, whereas the ESF supported more socially- oriented projects targeting disadvantaged demographic groups (with themes including education, culture, poverty reduction and health). However, despite the fact that the region has the fourth highest GDP in France, GDP per capita was still one of the lowest in 2007 (€23,800 representing 80 percent of the French average). In 2010, the unemployment rate reached 13 percent and the region had one of the highest rates of individuals claiming social support.

What learning has taken place?

One of the main questions regarding the implementation of EU funds in Nord-Pas-de-Calais is the extent to which ERDF can influence overall regional socioeconomic development and or the development of specific sub-regional territories. On the whole, EU financial support has been too limited, when compared to regional GDP, to generate substantial achievements in term of GDP per capita, employment or poverty rate (EU contribution represented less than 1 percent of the regional GDP between 1989 and 2013).

In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, strategy formulation in the 1990s was characterised by ambitious objectives, but also by difficult implementation conditions (lack of entrepreneurship culture, social difficulties) and inadequate evaluation and monitoring systems. More positively, the flexibility of EU programmes afforded local authorities the possibility to support projects that would have been difficult to finance solely with domestic funds (for instance in the field of culture).

When local authorities were well coordinated and pursued relevant development priorities, this led to successful projects with positive regional impact, such as an improvement of socioeconomic conditions in the Objective 1 area, successful development projects in the area of Lille (e.g. Zone de l’Union, Eura Technologie), achievements in the environment and tourism fields in the coastal areas, and others.

However, monitoring and control requirements of ERDF programmes still represent specific difficulties for public authorities and project managers, especially for private bodies and economic operators that need clear, simple and stable administrative rules. With increasing expectations regarding the achievements and performance of EU programmes, more capillary and focussed technical assistance and more qualitative monitoring would probably be needed to reach programme objectives.

Conversely, increasing EU requirements for the monitoring of projects also triggered a ‘learning process’ and incited stakeholders (public authorities, intermediary bodies, etc.) to improve their management skills (e.g. with regard to project engineering, management, partnership engagement, evaluation, monitoring and control capacities).

From a strategic point of view, one can observe a rising influence of Cohesion policy in the definition of the regional development strategy. In a difficult socioeconomic context, ERDF programmes helped identify and streamline common regional priorities. This is perceptible since 2000, with the implementation of the Lisbon strategy, and has become more pronounced since 2007, with the earmarking of funds on employment, innovation and competitiveness.

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If this evolution is considered as rather positive by stakeholders, as a means to foster the socioeconomic transition of the region, it also resulted in the decrease of overall public financing for other intervention fields, like culture or tourism, that present important development potential at local level.

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1. INTRODUCTION

The region and its Cohesion policy eligibility over time

Nord-Pas-de-Calais is a paradoxical region. It is the fourth French region in terms of population and GDP (4 million people and €97 billion GDP in 2009) and is well connected to other European regions and metropolises. However, it still suffers the consequences of its past industrial history, with net outmigration, a high unemployment rate and enduring social difficulties.

Since 1986, the region has been strongly supported by EU funds. It is one of the French regions that has received the highest level of Structural Funds (at least €3.5 billion ERDF and ESF funds in current prices). A specificity of this region is that it benefited from Objective 1 funds for three employment areas between 1994 and 2006 (Douai, Valenciennes and Avesnes), which significantly increased EU support during this period. Until 2006, a large majority of the region was covered by Objective 2 programmes (65 percent of the population), but the employment areas of Montreuil, Saint Omer, Arras and part of Hazebrouck were not eligible on account of their better socioeconomic conditions at that time.

Since 2007, the programme has been simplified, with one single programme applied to the overall area, which has improved strategy setting and project implementation.

Brief summary of the work carried out

This study is based on the following main sources of information: programme documentation (programme documents, annual and final implementation reports, and evaluations), literature and research studies other than programme evaluations, interviews, and an online survey.

Limited information on programme documentation was available for the first programme periods (1989-1993 and 1994-1999), particularly for the Objective 2 programmes. After 2000, the general use in France of the PRESAGE electronic system for the monitoring of funds facilitated access to detailed Excel databases. As a result, evaluation documents from this period are more detailed and better structured (notwithstanding gaps and the use of inconsistent definitions).

Four categories of interviewee were identified: strategic interviewees (directly in charge of the management of funds); operational interviewees (in charge of implementation); external interviewees (authorities, structural funds specialists); and beneficiaries. This last category includes four specific case studies for which targeted interviews have been carried out (Delta 3 multimodal platform, environmental and touristic project Site des Deux Caps, Musée piscine of Roubaix, and renewal and development of the former mining area of Oignies). In total, 38 persons were interviewed. The full list of interviewees is provided in Annex IV.

The online survey was undertaken to complement fieldwork and desk research, and enhance triangulation. This questionnaire was directed at 339 email addresses, comprising the interviewees, plus representatives from local authorities, firms, regional and local socio-economic partners and interest groups. The questionnaire returned an overall response rate of 21.8 percent and a completion rate of 14.5 percent. The questions and a summary of responses are presented in Annex VII.

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Structure of the remaining parts of the report

The report is structured in five main parts.

After this introduction, Chapter 2 describes the evolution of the regional socio-economic context over the four programme periods, highlighting the weight of industrial activities and the challenges of the transition process.

Chapter 3 aims to analyse explicit and implicit programmes content and strategies, to identify implementation factors influencing these strategies and assess the overall ‘relevance’ of such strategies as compared to regional needs.

With the support of statistical work, the report then provides an analysis of ERDF funding implemented since 1989 (Chapter 4), highlighting the general evolution of funding and the trends that can be observed between thematic priorities.

Chapter 5 details the concrete achievements of the programme taking into account contributions in eight thematic axes chosen for the 15 case studies: enterprise development; structural adjustment; innovation; environmental sustainability; labour market; social cohesion; regional infrastructural endowment; and spatial distribution of economic activities.

Chapter 6 focuses on two main issues. It compares programme achievements to the objectives set out in the programme documents, in order to assess effectiveness. It then takes into account regional needs as assessed by the regional case study teams, with the aim of testing the ‘utility’ of programmes, i.e. their capacity to contribute to the overall social, economic and environmental development needs of the region.

To conclude, Chapter 7 provides conclusions and answers to the evaluation questions.

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2. REGIONAL CONTEXT AND ANALYSIS OF NEEDS

In the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century – during the industrial revolution and the development of mining, steel and textile industries - Nord-Pas-de-Calais was one of the most prosperous French regions. It had strong economic activity, a dynamic demography, and occupied a strategic position between some of the most important cities in Europe (London, Paris, Brussels, and Rotterdam).

With four million inhabitants in 2009, the region is ranked fourth in France (accounting for 6.6 percent of the French population). It is also one of the more densely populated, with more than 320 inhabitants per km2, a figure closer to that of Belgium or the Netherlands than to the French average (112 inhabitants per km²). In 2007, up to 95 percent of inhabitants were living in ‘predominantly urban areas’ compared to a national average of 82 percent.

Today, Nord-Pas-de-Calais is an important economic actor in France, with the fourth highest level of GDP after Ile–de-France, Rhône-Alpes, and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.1 However, due to its demography and high unemployment rate, regional GDP per capita remains below the national average (€23,800 per capita in 2007, representing 79 percent of the French average).

In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, socioeconomic development has been the subject of constant discussion over the past 20 years due to the need to support existing activities, jobs and social cohesion (exacerbated by recent economic difficulties) and the necessity to better with a fast-changing environment. This duality can be easily observed between 1989 and 2010. The first of these two decades was still strongly influenced by industrial activities, whereas the second one was more open to socioeconomic changes.

Economic performance

The beginning of the 1980s saw stagnation in Nord-Pas-de-Calais’s GDP per capita, following the transition process started in the 1970s. From the mid-1980s until 2010, GDP per capita increased, but less dynamically than national or EU averages. This belies the challenge inherent in enabling a sound convergence process in an economy strongly influenced by traditional industry, a pyramidal economic fabric dominated by large businesses, and a limited culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.

1 In 2009, the regional GDP of Nord-Pas-de-Calais reached €97 billion.

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Figure 1: Evolution of GDP per capita in Nord-Pas-de-Calais

Source: Eurostat, 2009.

In this context, one of the main concerns during the 1980s and 1990s was the avoidance of a full collapse of the regional economy. Another imperative was to stabilise the gap between national and EU indicators. Support to traditional industries and increasing public spending for infrastructure and services helped to support the economy, but further structural changes were also needed in order to increase national and international competition in the long term. Changes started to occur in a more significant way at the end of the 1990s, and were further enforced during the 2000s with a better focus on the knowledge economy, innovation and a stronger articulation between territorial development stakeholders (local and regional, public and private).

Labour market

As a direct consequence of the closure of mining industries, Nord-Pas-de-Calais lost around 45 percent of its industrial jobs between 1975 and 1995. From 1962 to 1999, taking into account other industrial sectors such as steel and textiles, the region lost about 325,000 jobs.

Even though the major loss of employment occurred in textiles (80 percent) and steel and coal industries (50 percent), almost all industrial activities were affected. This was only partially compensated for by new jobs in the service sector (Veltz, 2004). At regional level, the unemployment rate reached 19 percent by the end of the 1980s with a particularly high rate for young people (25 percent). It started to decrease from 1996 onwards, until the economic crisis of 2008 with a level of 13 percent in 2010 (9.6 percent at national level).

Over the long term, an increasing gap can be observed between regional and national indicators (see Figure 2 for the evolution of unemployment between 1980 and 1996). The decrease in unemployment was stronger in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, indicating a rapid catching up process. However, the recent economic crisis shows that the region is still fragile, given the external economic turmoil, and that efforts must be pursued to strengthen its endogenous development potential.

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Figure 2: Evolution of unemployment in Nord-Pas-de-Calais (Eurostat)

Source: Eurostat, 2012.

During the 1990s, public authorities played a strong stabilisation role with an important increase in public-sector jobs. During this decade, when employment decreased by 24 percent in the private sector, it increased by 37 percent in the public sector (Veltz, 2004). The fact that unemployment continued to increase despite public support during this period shows the magnitude of the economic recession and the necessity of sound economic restructuring.

Given the high unemployment rates, the capacity of human resources to adapt to modernisation and transition processes was a major concern. In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, traditional industries did not require a high level of training and skills. For decades, this situation had a strong influence on the training system and on the preference for short studies. At the beginning of the 1990s, the Nord- Pas-de-Calais region had one of the lowest schooling rates in France. Training facilities and programmes had to be adapted to develop new competences, train thousands of jobless people, and promote long-term initial training for a growing young population (people under 20 represented 27.8 percent of the regional population in 2008, compared to 25.1 percent at national level). Despite significant improvement of training facilities and qualification in the region, there is still a higher rate of young people going through vocational courses and apprenticeship in Nord-Pas-de- Calais than at national level (40 percent against 32 percent at high school level). In parallel, with more than 150 000 students, this region is now sixth in France in terms of the number of students per 1,000 inhabitants (23.74 in 2009). However, young people still have difficulty finding jobs and often have to migrate to other French regions to be recruited.

Infrastructure

In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, industrial activities and proximity to densely populated areas in Southern England, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany have fostered strong infrastructure development since the 19th century.2 Nord-Pas-de-Calais is one of Europe’s main regions for the transport of

2 Around 100 million people live in an area of 300 km around the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region.

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However, in the mid-1970s, when the first consequences of the economic crisis had already become tangible, public infrastructure in Nord-Pas-de-Calais lagged behind that of other French regions.3 In this context, infrastructure constituted both a need (through the necessity to achieve higher standards) and a means (to boost activities to counteract the economic crisis and limited private investment).

For decades, infrastructure has been developed according to the requirements of large industries with a focus on the transportation of goods and raw materials. At the local level, urban and inter- urban mobility was not well developed. Under the ‘paternalist’ management system, the strategy was not to promote mobility but to maintain labour forces in specific geographical areas in which the means to support them were available (housing, education, health services, leisure, etc.).

At the national and regional levels, the 1970s also marked the beginning of large investment dedicated to highway development in France. The first highway was built between Paris and Lille in the 1960s (Autoroute A1 or Autoroute du Nord) and is now one of the busiest in France. In 1985, the density of the highway network in Nord-Pas-de-Calais was four times higher than the national average. In 2010, 627 km of highways were built in the region, compared to an average of 514 km in other French regions.

Map 1: Transport and logistics infrastructure in Nord-Pas-de-Calais in 2010

 627 km of highways  1,552 km of railways  145 km of coastal lines  3 large maritime ports  576 km of freight waterways  20 river ports with traffic exceeding 100,000 tonnes  1 international airport

Source: CRCI, 2010. The density of the railway network in Nord-Pas-de-Calais was double the French average in 1985, and two-and-a-half times higher in 2010. The main change has related to the increase in electric lines and a parallel reduction in non-electric ones. Overall, railway density remained stable between 1985 and 2010 in the region, whereas it dropped by 15 percent in France in the same period (see Figure 3).

3 In 1975, public infrastructure in Nord-Pas-de-Calais constituted 6.5 percent of French total. The region accounted for for 7.5 percent of the total population (Veltz, 2004).

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However, despite 1,552 km of railways, railway transport remains underused, only accounting for 11 percent of the transport of goods in 2012 (compared to the national average of 14 percent) (CRCI, 2010). Taking into account the ongoing development of road infrastructure and persistent congestion problems in the vicinity of the main urban areas, the promotion of intermodality and alternative transport systems constituted an increasingly important issue for local and regional authorities during the 2000s.

Figure 3: Evolution of the density of motorways and railway networks in Nord-Pas-de-Calais

Source: Eurostat, 2011.

Another characteristic of the region is its 680 km of waterways, including 576 km capable of use for commercial purposes. This places the region first in France in terms of the density of its waterways. Nevertheless, in 2012, waterways only accounted for three percent of the total transportation of goods in the region. This is comparable to the national average, despite Nord- Pas-de-Calais’s better infrastructural endowment in this field. This rate is especially low compared to the use of waterways in other countries of North-West Europe (43 percent in the Netherlands, 12 percent in Belgium, and 15 percent in Germany). The opening of the wide-gauge ‘Canal Seine Nord Europe’ has the potential to create direct connections between Paris and the North of Europe but recent government decisions postponed this project.

The port of Dunkirk occupies fourth place in France and its activities represent 7.5 percent of regional GDP. The port of Calais specialises in Channel transport for passengers and goods and ranks first in France for passenger numbers). However, the performances of both Dunkirk and Calais have tended to stagnate or decrease in recent years, whereas maritime traffic has increased in ports in Belgium and the Netherlands.

In terms of infrastructure, the port of Boulogne is strongly focused on fishery activities (it is the leading French fishing port). Boulogne has been the European leader for years in the field of transformation of sea products - this led to the establishment of the Aquimer competitiveness pole in 2005.

Economic activity depends upon factors additional to transport infrastructure, including available land, premises and logistics systems. As such, one of the main challenges for Nord-Pas-de-Calais

LSE 11 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais was to convert its considerable stock of infrastructure dedicated to former industries, into new facilities and a new working environment more appropriate for higher value-added, knowledge- based and/or service-oriented activities.

Since the 1980s, and with regard to business premises and industrial space, local and regional actors have pursued a process of brownfield renewal and the upgrading of facilities aimed at attracting enterprise. This led to an increase in investment, moderated by the challenge of maintaining an overall coherence and balance between different sub-regional areas with different territorial assets (accessibility, services, logistics, etc.) and which were often competing to promote their own local development projects.

The upgrading of business infrastructure also required new means of information management and communication. Increasing economic and social needs related to the knowledge economy also incentivised information and communication technology development. Since the early 2000s, this has led to stronger involvement from public authorities and private bodies in this field. In 2006, 96 percent of enterprises with more than 10 employees were connected to the internet. There is a high level of access to ADSL in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, but it is estimated that the development of optic fibres will require €500 million of investment up until 2025.

Spatial distribution of economic activities

The economic geography of Nord-Pas-de-Calais is structured around various territorial levels, with two sub-regional local authorities (the Départements) and 15 employment areas.

The presence of only two Départements creates a duality in the region that has often been problematic for the decision making process, necessitating trade-offs in decisions governing the location of territorial development projects. One key geographical aspect is the presence of Lille in the ‘Nord’ that has played a strong attractive role in the region over the past 20 years. In 2012, Lille is the second city in France behind Paris in terms of the number of international headquarters located there.

In 2007, 1.16 million inhabitants lived in the urban area of Lille (almost 30 percent of the regional population), which was twice the population of the second urban area (Douai-Lens), which had 546,300 inhabitants. Other urban areas such as Valenciennes, Béthune or Dunkirk had fewer than 300,000 inhabitants.

With regard to the spatial distribution of economic activities, Nord-Pas-de-Calais is primarily characterised by the consequences of the industrial transition process in the former mining area. There are declining activities in Valenciennes, Douai, Lens and Béthune. The economic crisis also affected the other main urban areas in which specific industries were concentrated, such as Roubaix-Tourcoing and Cambresis (textiles) or Dunkirk and Avesnois (steel).

In the employment area of Béthune-Bruay, where the transition process started sooner than in the rest of Nord-Pas-de-Calais (due to a steep decline in the mining and steel industries in the 1970s), the economic situation became less critical than in other areas in the 1980s. with a better diversification of activities (agri-business, food sector, capital goods for car industry). Béthune- Bruay saw improved industrial performance and better development of the tertiary sector.

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Map 2: Main cities and employment areas of Nord-Pas-de-Calais

Source: Author’s elaboration.

In the coastal area, Boulogne and Calais benefited from stronger development in tertiary and tourism activities, with the presence of ports, tourism facilities, attractive natural areas and proximity with England. Boulogne also developed activities in the transport and wholesale trade sectors, with a higher concentration of SMEs than the rest of the region.

In each of these areas, the 1990s were characterised by a steep decline in traditional industries and the deterioration of territorial assets (specifically, the environment and living conditions) which strongly reduced their capacity to attract new population and businesses. Their main challenge was to be able to diversify their economies or generate new opportunities by transforming traditional industries. For example, this occurred in Valenciennes with the transport sector and the knowledge economy during the 1990s and the 2000s.

Since the end of the 1990s, different patterns and different types of needs concerning attractiveness and economic activity have been observable at sub-regional level. According to a recent study (INSEE Nord-Pas-de-Calais, 2012a), the majority of employment areas show only limited productive and residential attractiveness (see Maps 3 and 4). Within Nord-Pas-de-Calais, only the Lille area can be considered as strongly attractive to workers and businesses. Since the 1990s, an increase in residential attractiveness has taken place in Flandre-Lys and Berck-Montreuil, two areas with more diverse economies. Although the situation was also favourable in Saint-Omer in the 1990s, it deteriorated during the 2000s as a primary result of increasing economic difficulties related to the glass industry.

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Map 3: Demographic and business attractiveness of employment areas (end of 1990s)

Source: INSEE Nord-Pas-de-Calais, 2012a.

Map 4: Demographic and business attractiveness of employment areas (end of 2000s

This situation illustrates important sub-regional disparities, and the difficulties in creating new economic development opportunities in former industrial areas such as Douai, Lens or Béthune. Conversely, Valenciennes’ experience with the transport industry demonstrates an interesting perspective, in that territories managed to enhance existing assets with economic, institutional and political support.

Apart from the (difficult) conversion of former industrial areas, it should also be pointed out that, in the last few years, there has been an increase in the attractiveness of less urbanised areas such as Berck-Montreuil and Artois-Ternois, which have favourable environments for tourism, leisure activities or retired people. This demonstrates the increasing importance of non-manufacturing activities in territorial economies, and the need for territorial assets to include environment, services, culture and non-technological innovation (Davezies, 2008).

In a different manner, the case of Lille highlights the necessity of further improving metropolitan services which contribute to development and represent attractiveness for actors located within and outside the region. Despite its increasing role, Lille remains a ‘regional’ metropolis that still has difficulties in competing with other large European cities. To do so, it would be necessary to establish Lille as a centre for top metropolitan jobs4 that are still more developed in other French

4 Top metropolitan jobs contributed one-third of job growth in France since the 1990s.

LSE 14 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais cities such as Lyon, Toulouse, Montpellier and Grenoble. Developing complementarities with Paris or Brussels could also be further investigated (i.e. moving beyond territorial competition).

Environment

In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, the protection of the environment was identified in the early 1970s as an essential condition for economic development. The first regional park in France was designated in Nord-Pas-de-Calais in 1968 (Parc naturel regional Scarpe-Escaut). Two others were designated more recently; the Avesnois regional park in 1998, and the Caps et Marais d’Opale in 2000. These three parks cover 25 percent of the regional territory, which is one of the highest proportions in France.

Besides natural areas, one central issue for local and regional authorities in the context of industrial transition has been the land management of increasing brownfield sites, derelict urban areas and a high level of pollution. The environmental and geographical impact of former mining industries is especially strong, given that the mining area in the middle of the region covered 2,000 km² in area, and was 100 km in width.

Environmental problems were exacerbated by the relatively dense urban environment and the considerable overlap between residential and industrial areas. Besides mining industries, metal working and textiles were strongly integrated within urban areas, and had a major impact on cities and urban planning (in Lille, Roubaix, Tourcoing, and Dunkirk). Half of the brownfield sites were located in suburbs close to natural areas and had a very negative effect on the environment.

Since the 1980s, a key issue has been the treatment of 300 mining spoil heaps, which have constituted one of the most visible remnants of the former industrial activities. Public authorities intervened to support greening activities, environmental protection measures and the implementation of new economic and leisure activities.

In 2010, the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region still accounted for half of the nation’s industrial brownfield sites. In 2006, 1,500 sites required specific agreements (Installations classées), including 81 ‘Seveso’ sites presenting high-level industrial risks. In the region overall, mining subsidence resulted in around 6,000 hectares of depressions requiring pumping and drainage (DREAL, 2012).

In this specific context, a public body was been set up (Etablissement Public Foncier, EPF) tasked with supporting municipalities in their land management strategies, assisting in cleaning processes and promoting local development activities. Since the 1990s, the EPF has planted over 10 million trees on thousands of rehabilitated brownfield sites. These interventions have also contributed to realising the regional framework of green and blue corridors.

In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, these environmental improvements represent a significant factor in the drive to attract people and economic activity. This has been a major concern over the past 30 years and represents specific challenges in a highly urbanised region. The need for environmental improvement and enhancement is highlighted by the recent development of the Site des Deux Caps natural area, which constitutes a regional landmark for tourism activities.

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Social cohesion

The Nord-Pas-de-Calais region differs from other French regions because of its industrial profile, its demography and the consequences of successive economic shocks.

In 1989, economic and social indicators were well below national and EU averages. Unemployment was 19 percent, wages were about 80 percent of the national average, and GDP per capita was only 80.3 percent of the EU average. During the 1990s, unemployment constituted one of the main preoccupations for regional authorities, with ongoing layoffs in industry that had direct consequences on levels of poverty, social cohesion and health for families facing long-term unemployment.

At the national level, one of the main tools used to support Nord-Pas-de-Calais has been the social transfer system. It directed high levels of public funding to the unemployed, to combat poverty, protect fragile populations and to develop social housing. It also required stronger involvement from local and regional authorities in social issues, for which ESF programmes constituted an important support.

In addition to a depressed economic situation, the regional population was confronted with insufficient public services and a degraded natural and urban environment. At the start of the 1990s, there were considerable needs in the fields of housing and urban planning for populations living (and often isolated) in a large number of small towns. Spatial planning and urban development strategies had to encompass around 560 mining boroughs (cités minières) spread throughout 138 municipalities. This pattern of urbanisation was not favourable for economic and territorial development, and it generated pockets of poverty and social exclusion.

Addressing these development challenges required important urban renewal projects running parallel to the strengthening of local social services. In 2007, there were 74 ‘sensitive urban areas’ (Zones urbaines sensible, ZUS)5 in the region, this being the second highest regional concentration of problem suburbs after Ile-de-France (IRS, 2007). Since 2003, the ‘National Agency for Urban Regeneration’ (Agence Nationale pour la Rénovation Urbaine, ANRU) has supported regeneration projects in the most derelict urban areas. Economic, social and environmental difficulties were major reasons for out-migration, with most employment areas experiencing out-migration between 1989 and 2010. The migratory deficit was -0.40 percent between 1990 and 1999, and 71,000 people left Nord-Pas-de-Calais between 1999 and 2004.

This was partly compensated for by natural growth, which was (and is still) one of the highest rates in France (a birth rate of 13.7 percent in 2005, compared to 12.6 percent at national level). Since the 1980s, Nord-Pas-de-Calais has been one of the most dynamic for natural population increase. In any case, sub-regional differences have always been strong between attractive areas such as Lille or Arras, and less dynamic ones such as Avesnes-sur-Helpe, Dunkirk or Lens. The latter lost population between 1999 and 2007 (INSEE Nord-Pas-de-Calais, 2010).

5A ZUS is characterised by degraded living conditions due to geographic, economic or social factors. It generally features disequilibrium between housing and employment. It is an ‘infra-urban’ territory defined by the public administration as eligible for interventions within the framework of urban policy.

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These territorial disparities can be confirmed by the Human Development Index elaborated for infra-regional areas in Nord-Pas-de-Calais (Conseil Régional, 2009b). Three areas have especially weak indicators: the former mining area, the South East of the region (more rural), and the Boulogne area (facing a difficult transition process). Conversely, the Lille and Arras area have human development indicators well above the regional average (see Map 5).

Map 5: Human Development Index in Nord-Pas-de-Calais (IDH2)

Source: Conseil Régional, 2009b.

This situation illustrates the difficulties inherent in generating sound socioeconomic improvement in areas confronted with structural problems. It also demonstrates the need to coordinate existing intervention tools, and to improve synergies between governance levels.

During the 2000s, despite a strong reduction in unemployment between 1997 and 2008 (from 19 percent to 13 percent) and despite important public investment in local development projects, social indicators in Nord-Pas-de-Calais still lagged behind national averages. In 2010 regional GDP per capita, at €20,270, was still 10 percent lower than the national average (ranking Nord-Pas-de- Calais 20th among 26 French regions). The structure of households contributed to maintaining this situation, because of the fragmentation of families, an increase in single-parent households, and greater numbers of retirees.

In 2010, a national comparative study showed that Nord-Pas-de-Calais was amongst the French regions with the lowest social health indicator (see Map 6).6 These indicators were especially negative regarding health (life expectancy), poverty and indebtedness. In 2004, life expectancy in the region was the lowest in France at 77.7 years (compared to 80 years at national level).

However, with significant support provided by public authorities during the 1990s, the situation improved in the field of education. Today, the economic and social situation of young people

6 The social health indicator calculation takes into account incomes (inequality, indebtedness, poverty, and salaries), employment, education, health, housing and social integration.

LSE 17 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais remains a major concern, especially with regard to social exclusion and unemployment (Nord-Pas- de-Calais had a youth unemployment rate of 19.5 percent in 2010). This is accentuated by demographic trends; 28.2 percent of the population of Nord-Pas-de-Calais is under 20 years old. This is the highest equivalent percentage of all French regions, and is 4.5 percent higher than the national average.

Map 6: Regional disparities according to the social health indicator in 2004

Source: Conseil Régional Nord-Pas-de-Calais, 2010c.

The situation also improved with regard to overall quality of life, basic social infrastructure and urban renewal. In 1992, 16 percent of low income households were living in housing lacking internal sanitation or WCs. This rate fell to four percent in 2006, which can be linked to the increase in social housing - which is especially prevalent in Nord-Pas-de-Calais (in 2006 there were 78 social housing places for every 1,000 inhabitants in the region, compared to the French average of 69) (INSEE Nord-Pas-de-Calais, 2006).

Enterprise

For a long time, the business environment in Nord-Pas-de-Calais was strongly influenced by the domination of large industrial enterprises and numerous specialised sub-contractors, which constituted the core of the regional economy.

During the 1990s and in parallel with the transition process, this profile had a dual effect on regional socioeconomic development. The closure of large enterprises had direct and immediate

LSE 18 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais consequences for the subcontractors who had constituted their supply chains, and whose production was usually dependent upon a limited number of contracting companies. Due to this hierarchical system, small and medium-sized enterprises were not accustomed to seeking out other clients, or to developing new products, which in turn reduced their innovative and adaptive capacities.

However, the situation differed between sectors. For example, the textiles industry maintained an entrepreneurial culture that enabled transformative and innovative strategies. This sector was heavily impacted by the economic crisis and international competition, but it has been able to improve its competitiveness through new products with greater added value.

Conversely, coal and steel industries turned to administrative activity such as management systems, locating decision making and innovation centres outside of the region. This strategy has been a major handicap to their transition process.

During the 1990s, business creation rates were quite low, in an economic environment which was not favourable to entrepreneurship. The weight of large businesses was an obstacle to promoting entrepreneurship and a more diversified economy, but it was also part of a mass employment approach, aimed at providing as many jobs as possible to a large number of industrial workers. In the region as a whole, there were major difficulties in enacting structural economic adjustment, as generations of entrepreneurs and workers had only experienced traditional industrial activities.

In early 2006, Nord-Pas-de-Calais had 130,000 businesses for a population of 4,019,000. This was one of the lowest rates per 1,000 inhabitants in France (32.3, against 48.4 at national level). This structure was also characteristic of other regions in the North and East of France (Picardie and Lorraine), in which large businesses are predominant in the economic landscape.

In the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, the number of businesses in relation to the population is especially low in the employment areas of Valenciennes, Douai, Sambre-Avesnois, Béthune-Bruay and Lens-Hénin, which shows a correlation with the former mining areas. Conversely, the concentration of businesses in 2006 was much higher in the Lille and Berck-Montreuil areas.

However, since 2003, there has been a significant increase in business creation in this region, with especially positive trends in sectors such as real estate, trade (retail businesses) and consultancy. From a geographical point of view, this tendency has been stronger in the Lille and Roubaix- Tourcoing areas. It is also positive in industrial areas such as Valenciennes, Lens-Hénin, Calais and Douai, which have a higher rate of business creation than the national average (INSEE Nord-Pas-de- Calais, 2009a).

This evolution is related to specific factors such as the high unemployment rate that encouraged people to create their own start ups, aided by recent laws in favour of entrepreneurship: the ‘law for economic initiative’ (loi pour l’initative économique - loi Dutreil in 2003), the ‘law for SMEs’ (loi en faveur des PME - 2 August 2005), the ‘law for the development of services for individuals’ (loi relative au développement des services à la personne - 26 July 2005), and the ‘law for the modernisation of the economy’ (Loi de modernisation de l’économie - 4 August 2008). Collectively, these laws created the status of ‘auto-entrepreneur’ and greatly simplified the administrative process required to set up a business.

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At the regional level, this has also been supported by the establishment of the ‘Regional Plan for Creation and Transfer of Businesses’ (Programme Régional de Création et Transmission d’Entreprises, PRCTE) that coordinates activities supporting business creation.

Nevertheless, SMEs (and, in particular, self-employed people) remain vulnerable, given the economic difficulties. They require further support that could be also fostered with the development of an innovation culture and the promotion of new economic sectors.

Innovation

As mentioned above, the business environment in Nord-Pas-de-Calais was not initially favourable to entrepreneurship and innovation, with large firms and dependent subcontractors.

During the 1990s, the economic crisis and the transition process incentivised firms to improve their competitiveness, refine their processes and adapt their production methods. There was a need for stronger innovation and research activity in both the private and the public sectors. On the public sector side, ‘research’ has the potential to contribute to the overall catch up process, in a period in which public spending and public services lagged behind in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region.

Largely through public sector efforts, the R&D workforce increased by 50 percent between 1990 and 1999 (compared to +30 percent at the national level). However, despite high levels of public funding, investment levels in research did not significantly increase in relation to regional GDP. In addition, in parallel with the greater attention paid to public research, the share of investment in private research declined.

In 2005, investment in research activity in Nord-Pas-de-Calais was €555 million. This only represented 0.7 percent of regional GDP. By comparison, €4 billion was allocated for research in Rhône-Alpes, and €2 billion in Midi-Pyrénées and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (INSEE Nord-Pas-de- Calais, 2005). As per the previous decade, the focus on public sector research remained significant, with an increase of 10 percent in human resources between 1999 and 2005 (when it stabilised in the private sector).

This situation highlights the problems resulting from insufficient investment in private research, and the difficulties encountered in initiating new processes with private actors, who have not always considered research to be a key strategic issue, or have not had sufficient human resources to promote internal research activities. In 2010, the share of engineers in SMEs in Nord-Pas-de- Calais remained lower than the national average, and only a small proportion of SMEs in the region possessed human resources specifically dedicated to innovation.

In the public sector, universities in Nord-Pas-de-Calais were important contributors to research and innovation, but only limited investment was dedicated to other bodies such as the ‘Scientific and Technologic Public Body’ (Etablissement Public à Caractère Scientifique et technologique, EPST) and the ‘Public Body with Industrial and Commercial Vocation’ (Etablissement Public à Caractère Industriel et Commercial, EPIC), which are essential for developing fundamental and applied research and promoting innovation to the private sector. In 2002, regional universities represented 71 percent of R&D public spending, compared with only 35 percent at the national level (INSEE Nord-Pas-de-Calais, 2005).

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Accordingly, high expectations were placed on the capacity and excellence of competitiveness poles to trigger research activities in the main regional economic sectors.

In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, the promotion of innovation has been a crucial issue in a period of high economic risk, following the 2008 economic crisis and in the context of increasing international competition. In addition to the competitiveness poles, the region set up a ‘Regional Innovation Strategy’ (Stratégie Régionale de l’Innovation, SRI) in 2010 with the support of the EU Commission. It also launched a series of initiatives in favour of innovation and entrepreneurship, through the ‘Platform for Innovation and Enhancement of Research’ (Plateforme innovation-valorisation de la recherche) and the ‘2000 SMEs Scheme’ (Plan 2000 PME) dedicated to the promotion of innovation in SMEs.

Structural adjustment

In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, structural adjustment began after the Second World War, with the nationalisation of the coal industry. The steel industry was restructured in 1948 with the establishment of Usinor. A large-scale modernisation process was launched at that time, with the first highway between Lille and Paris in 1954, the development of the steel industry in Dunkirk, and the development of the Renault industry in Douai in 1972.

The economic crises in 1973 and 1979 accelerated the transformation process. The last blast furnace was closed in 1978 in the Valenciennes area, the last steel plant was closed in 1984 in Denain, and the last mining pit was closed in 1990 in Oignies. Whereas these industries represented 42 percent of regional GDP in 1975, they fell to 27 percent in the mid-1990s and further decreased to 18 percent in 2008 (compared to the 14 percent national average).7 These changes, however, progressed slowly. Traditional industries still accounted for a large share of regional employment in the 1990s (in, for example, metallurgy, chemicals, textiles, and the automotive industry).

‘Substitution’ industries such as the car industry also presented interesting opportunities for the reclassification of workers. In this sector, support was provided by public authorities until recently. In 2004, Nord-Pas-de-Calais ranked as the second French region, and the third in Europe, for the automotive sector, with seven car manufacturers and a labour force of around 55,000 people.

This demonstrates that structural adjustment is not a one-way process. For Nord-Pas-de-Calais, a major issue during the last 20 years has been the transformation of its industrial profile whilst also taking into account short-term economic consequences (unemployment) and existing socioeconomic assets (its industrial and working-class regional profile).

In line with the arguments of some economists (Veltz, 2004), rather than moving towards a ‘post- industrial’ economy, Nord-Pas-de-Calais developed an ‘industrial and service economy’ promoting new sectors such as information technology and health, and also maintaining activities connected to more traditional sectors such as transport, food and textiles.

7 CCI - Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie Région Nord de France (2012a), Livre Blanc sur l’Industrie du Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Lille.

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In this context, the continuous increase (since 1975) in the service sector’s share of regional employment must be highlighted (see Figure 4). This trend has been due to the externalisation of services that were formally managed by industrial firms, as well as to a significant increase in public services. The latter represented 16.6 percent of regional employment in 1975 and 33.3 percent in 2007. Although the evolution of this sector is not exclusive to this region, the extent of its transformation is exceptional in comparison with other French regions.

Figure 4: Evolution of the structure of employment in Nord-Pas-de-Calais between 1975 and 2007

Source: INSEE Nord-Pas-de-Calais, 2011.

This trend illustrates the necessity of pursuing the extension of market services, and supporting private sector actors in the development of new economic activities and new products. Changes from the end of the 1990s include the greater attention paid by regional authorities to ICT and the knowledge economy.

More recently, the establishment of seven competitiveness poles contributed to the structural adjustment, with innovative clusters launched in the fields of transport (I-Trans), textiles (UP-Tex), maritime industry products (Aquimer), the trade and retail industry (PICOM), nutrition and health (NSL), materials and applications for sustainable use (Maud), and recycling technology (TEAM 2).

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3. PROGRAMME EVOLUTION AND RELEVANCE

3.1 Explicit and implicit strategies and their evolution

The implementation of ERDF regional programmes in Nord-Pas-de-Calais began in a period in which various tools and policies aiming at countering socioeconomic decline and fostering territorial development were already being implemented.

During the 1970s and 1980s, one of the aims of public policies in France was to avoid the economic collapse of industrial regions such as Lorraine and Nord-Pas-de-Calais. This was supported by short- term policy in favour of business and the population, to aim of which was to reduce the direct economic and social impact of the economic crisis. The process of transition, initiated by DATAR in 1983 in former mining areas (conversion du basin minier), supported more competitive production means, but tended to maintain an economic structure based on large enterprise and a low-wage workforce.

Between 1975 and 1990, the region was ranked second in France in terms of development of public infrastructure (almost doubling in that period) with strong support from local and regional authorities. As early as 1986, specific actions were implemented - with the support of EU funds - for the steel, textiles and clothing industries. An Integrated Development Operation (IDO) of €54.74 million (2000 prices) was launched in the mining area at that time.

From 1989 on, programmes evolved in two main ways.

 First, the catching up process and the evolution of the regional context was manifested through the adaptation of the regional industrial profile, the modernisation of infrastructure, the protection of landscape, and the structure of the employment base (with a strong increase in services). Underlying the objective of triggering the transition process - which required significant structural adjustment - regional and local authorities also implicitly tried to support existing industrial assets, which still accounted for numerous jobs and economic activities.

 Second, the content of EU regulations provided recommendations and guidelines for the elaboration of regional programmes. Under this influence, the establishing strategies required continuous negotiation. EU regulations frequently expanded their requirements of regional authorities which could find relevant means and processes in ERDF programmes to tackle territorial development challenges.

3.1.1 Facing the direct consequences of a severe economic and structural crisis: 1989-93

As explained in Chapter 2, the economic crisis in Nord-Pas-de-Calais began in the 1960s and 1970s with the sudden closure of mines and a rapid increase in unemployment. To address this situation, the first ‘hors quota’ ERDF funds were mobilised between 1984 and 1989 in favour of the textile and steel industries. In 1989, the economic situation had not improved. Nord-Pas-de-Calais suffered from high unemployment rates, a concentration of workers in low-demand sectors, weak development in high-technology activities, and net annual emigration rate of around 10,000 from the labour force.

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In this period, the reform of the Structural Funds allowed the establishment of regional transition strategies and expanded to involve a broader range of local and regional stakeholders in the process of economic and social renewal. Between 1989 and 1993, Nord-Pas-de-Calais received the largest allocation of EU funds of all French regions (around €485 million of ERDF and ESF, in 2000 prices). State authorities played a strong role in the orientation of regional strategies and EU programmes through the definition and implementation of State-Region Planning Contracts. The Ministries of ‘Equipment’ and ‘Industry’ had particular influence in the fields of infrastructure and enterprise, using ERDF programmes to support major investment projects.

As specified in the industrial and social transition plan, the main objectives at that time were:

 to improve the image and attractiveness of the region by resolving the effects of past industrial activities (dealing with industrial and urban brownfield sites);

 to better promote its favourable geographical position (with regard to transport, the environment, and tourism);

 to support businesses and economic diversification (employment, productive investments); and

 to improve research, education and skills (through the modernisation of training facilities and programmes).

These objectives, set up more than 20 years ago, acted as guidelines for subsequent programme periods, although there were significant variations in the allocation of funds. From the first programme period, the challenge was presented by the need to set up coordinated and effective strategies among territories in Nord-Pas-de-Calais which were strongly influenced by their industrial histories, and which faced severe economic and social difficulty.

Two aspects of the establishment and implementation of programmes must be highlighted in order to clarify the scope and effects of EU funds. The 1989-1993 period has been divided in two sub- periods, each with its own Community Support Framework (1989-1991 and 1992-1993). This division did not assist the strategy-building and the coordination efforts of stakeholders. In addition, each programme included a large number of measures and sub-measures, intended to allow local actors to finance projects in their own respective territories.

Between the first and second sub-period, the Community Support Framework was simplified, moving from four distinct programmes (three ERDF and one ESF) to one single multi-fund programme. The programme period began with a strong emphasis on labour market and training (32 percent of the total CSF including ERDF, ESF and co-financing), support to SMEs (25.8 percent) and infrastructure and communication (25.7 percent). Other priorities such as tourism, R&D technology and innovation, the environment and living conditions each accounted for between two and eight percent.

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Table 1: Structure of programmes between 1989 and 1991 CSF 1989-1991 CSF 1992-1993 Main objectives of the programme: Main objectives of the programme: - To improve the image and attractiveness of the - As compared to 1989-1991, to maintain the main region objectives with stronger focus on Tourism, - To better foster the favourable geographic training and research activities position of the region and its infrastructure - To strengthen the capacity for diversification and innovation of the regional economy - To improve training programmes and skills Three ERDF programmes One ERDF/ESF programme 1: Planning, attractiveness and environment Priorities: (Priorities 1 and 2) 1. Support for SME start-ups and development 2: Economic development, competitiveness and 2. Labour market and training development (Priority 3) 3. Infrastructure and communications 3: Training and Research (Priority 4) 4. Environment and quality of life One ESF programme 5. Tourism Transversal training actions for each specific Priority 6. R&D, Technology and Innovation

The ESF played an important role during this period by supporting vocational training, investing more than €134 million through Objectives 2, 3 and 4. In 1993, as in 1992, vocational training operations with a more innovative content were implemented in fields such as; training in new occupations; the training of instructors; and training courses for new entrepreneurs.

The ESF supported the establishment of ‘employment and training centres’ which provided various reception and consultation services, and made it possible to compile records of trainees’ skills before training courses commenced. The ERDF, for its part, contributed to the financing of infrastructure and facilities for these training centres.

An ongoing difficulty in this evolution was whether to develop activities directly in favour of economic actors (and so decrease funding dedicated to SMEs), or to support R&D and innovation in a region that was lacking an entrepreneurial and innovative culture. It should be emphasised that the overall economic climate during this period was not favourable towards measures dedicated to economic development, with enterprises adopting a ‘wait and see’ attitude and avoiding risk-taking with new investment. Also evident was a tendency to concentrate funds on activities and fields of intervention which local and regional authorities were more familiar with, this having a more direct short-term impact (and included, for example, local investment, spatial planning, and infrastructure).

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Table 2: Summary of programme priorities between 1989 and 1993

Priorities Evolution between 1989 and 1993 1. Support to SMEs (creation and development): - Reduction in the number of measures between productive investment, seedbeds, services, craft, 1989-1991 and 1992-1993 (rationalisation) access to financing - Reduction in funds dedicated to SMEs 2. Labour market and training: support to - Stronger focus on training facilities (infrastructure) universities, technology, facilities for vocational and less on training programmes training, training centres, secondary schools - Increase in infrastructure projects 3. Infrastructure and communications: industrial (communications) renewal, accessibility of renewed areas, road infrastructure - Stronger programme focus on environmental issues - Stronger programme focus on tourism 4. Environment and living conditions: water, rivers, urban renewal, local development projects - Slight decrease in EU funds dedicated to R&D, 5. Tourism: hostelry; international promotion of the technology and innovation region; social sheltering; tourism and leisure facilities 6. R&D Technologies: transfer of technology; public research

It should be pointed out that from the outset the strengthening of innovation and R&D was considered to be a strategic issue for the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. It helped to improve technology transfer between businesses and contributed to developing public sector research, in universities whose development during the next decade was to be significant (with the support of ERDF). This trend can also be observed in initial training and the development and modernisation of colleges and high schools. With the devolution process started in the early 1980s, this became one of the key competencies of regional and departmental self-governing authorities.

Efforts in the field of tourism were also made, with an increase in funding between 1989 and 1993 (from 1.95 percent to 6.12 percent of the CSF). The financial allocation for tourism remained modest in general terms, but tourism has been identified as a permanent theme in all four programme periods, parallel to local and regional authorities’ increasing interest in culture. Despite trade-offs which have increased attention directed towards other economic and social issues, tourism was a key element of local and territorial development strategies, especially from the perspective of increasing the ‘attractiveness’ and ‘visibility’ of the region.

Reference should also be made to the long-term focus of INTERREG programmes on the promotion of tourism and culture between France, England and Belgium (through the expansion of hotel capacities, the creation of new facilities and services, and so on). At the regional level, one interesting example of this was the promotion of a ‘tourism de mémoire’. Dedicated to military sites and monuments, such as the Canadian memorial in Vimy or the Coupole d’Helfaut (sites for V2 rockets in WW2), it is now based upon several cultural and tourism routes across the region. The INTERREG programmes have also represented an opportunity for beneficiaries to pursue activities in this field when it was not considered to be a priority for regional programmes.

In parallel with ERDF programmes, Community Initiatives such as RECHAR, RENAVAL and RESIDER (1989-93) or KONVER and RETEX (available for 1994-99) focused on the conversion of traditional industries (specifically, the steel, naval, coal, defence and textile industries). These programmes, implemented between 1990 and 1999, encompassed the diversification of activities, environmental clean-up, and the renewal of industrial sites. They allocated around €110 million (FF598 million)

LSE 26 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais during this period and were strongly connected to regional programmes through common monitoring and programming committees.

When comparing implicit and explicit strategies in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, the will to implement the transition process by supporting businesses, industrial and urban renewal, education and training, etc. can be identified on the one hand. On the other hand, despite economic difficulties, traditional industries persisted as an important source of employment and were symbolic to a generation of workers and local authorities.

Taking into account the great difficulty of converting a the labour force adapted to the mining and steel industries into one orientated towards higher value-added activities and services, the actual objective was not so much to promote a new development model, but was more to alleviate the effects of the economic crisis, improve the environment, and support businesses and jobs that could still be saved. Where difficulties were encountered, such as lower fund absorption capacities in innovation and business creation, funds could be reallocated to other measures without fundamentally changing the strategic orientation of programmes.

During this period there was no significant modification in the programme, and the focus remained upon three main fields: support to businesses, support to human resources, and rehabilitation/modernisation of brownfield sites, including communication infrastructure.

3.1.2 Stronger intervention requires stronger strategies: 1994-99

In the 1994-99 period, the main change concerned the classification of three employment areas within Objective 1 (Douaisis, Valenciennois, and Avesnois). The Objective 1 programme was implemented through one Single Programming Document (SPD) for the whole period.

As per the 1989-93 period, two different Objective 2 programme documents were elaborated for two different sub-periods (1994-96 and 1997-99). Once again, this created a challenging situation with regard to the overall coherence of activities. The large number of measures implemented in the four Objective 2 SPDs between 1989 and 1999 (126 measures in total) belies the clear difficulty in targeting funds at a limited number of shared priorities.

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Table 3: Structure and priorities of programmes between 1994 and 1999 Objective 1 Objective 2 Main objectives of the programme: Main objectives of the programme: - To reverse the downward economic trend - To build on the development capacities enabled - To promote a culture of innovation by major infrastructure (high-speed train, Channel Tunnel, European teleport, universities and - To promote economic cohesion and research centres) competitiveness One Single Programming Document One Single Programming Document 1994-1996 Priorities: Priorities: 1. Research development and technology 1. Support and revival of economic activity 2. Human resources development 2. Training, research and technology 3. Territorial regeneration 3. Quality of life, image and natural environment One Single Programming Document 1997-1999 Priorities: 1. Support and revival of economic activity 2. Training, research and technology 3. Quality of life, image and natural environment

From a statistical point of view, the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region was not eligible for Objective 1 funding. However, the Objective 1 status of the bordering region of Hainaut in Belgium was considered to be a source of potential imbalance for the industrial and mining areas of Nord-Pas- de-Calais. To address this situation, the regional and local authorities asked for a modification of the EU regulation, which they obtained despite the reluctance of DGXVI and the French authorities.

Although this contributed to rebalancing development perspectives at the cross-border level, one consequence was the shifting of the Objective 1 border inside Nord-Pas-de-Calais. The employment areas of Cambrai, Lens and Béthune, which were also facing difficulties, could not benefit from Objective 1 status because they were not contiguous with the Belgium border. This reduced intervention possibilities favourable to businesses and territorial development in these areas, despite their having comparable needs to the eligible mining areas.

From a financial point of view, this new classification brought significant additional means to the region, with €488.69 million for the three employment areas encompassing 21 percent of the population. In comparison, the Objective 2 area received €352.9 million for 65 percent of the population.

For statistical reasons, the employment of areas of Hazebrouck and Saint Omer, as well as the main parts of the employment areas of Montreuil and Arras, were eligible for neither Objective 1 nor Objective 2 subsidies. With regard to Lille, the southern part of the employment area was not eligible (see Map 7).

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Map 7: Eligible areas for Objectives 1 and 2 (1994-1999)

Source: Nord-Pas-de-Calais Region.

From a strategic point of view, the two Objectives highlighted similar issues, leading to a focus on stimulating economic activity, R&D and innovation, human resources (combating unemployment and providing training) and territorial development (infrastructure, the environment, and urban, rural and industrial renewal). In 1989-93, the main strategic guidelines had also included less explicit objectives aimed at supporting traditional industries, minimising unemployment and maintaining social cohesion, which had been strongly threatened by the ongoing transformation process.

For Objective 2, one priority was to improve the coherence of existing and new infrastructure with other large projects such as the High-Speed Train, the Channel Tunnel, the coastal ring road (rocade littorale), the A16 highway, and the Euralille project. ERDF programmes had only a limited international dimension and were essentially focused on regional or sub-regional development. Major interregional and/or international infrastructure was recognised as advantageous to territorial development, but not as an objective that could (or should) be pursued to improve the socioeconomic development of the region.

The declining industrial areas on the coast (Dunkirk, Calais and Boulogne), which were already eligible for assistance during the 1989-1993 period, were now joined by: the cantons of Montreuil, Etaples and Berck; the coalfield which extended to the cantons of Vimy and Vitry-en-Artois (previously eligible for assistance under RECHAR I); the Lille-Roubaix-Tourcoing conurbation (with the exception of its most rural areas); and Cambrésis.

One characteristic of this period was the stabilisation of the economic situation in Nord-Pas-de- Calais (and in France). In this context, EU and national financing dedicated to the revitalisation of economic activity were reduced slightly, taking into account the progress observed in the restructuring of small and medium-sized industries. This choice raised the question of short-term

LSE 29 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais versus long-term strategies, and highlighted the difficulties in precisely assessing the evolution of fundamental strengths and weaknesses of a region facing structural change. This also exacerbated the difficulties faced by local authorities dealing with economic issues that were not within their usual fields of intervention.

Despite this evolution, ‘support for and revitalisation of economic activity’ remained a major investment field, with 42 percent of the budget It was close to the second main priority - ‘living conditions, image and the environment’ - with 37.8 percent. With regard to the latter, the upgrading of urban areas was a major concern, but was supported by the launch of the URBAN Community Initiative (1994-99), which significantly increased intervention capacities for the most derelict urban areas.

Training, research and technology were less significantly subsidised (19.5 percent) in this period. Nevertheless, support to public research, training, and training facilities still constituted key issues for public bodies pursuing convergence with national development indicator averages in the development of colleges, high schools and universities.

Table 4: Summary of programmes priorities between 1994 and 1999 Objective 1 Objective 2 Priorities: Priorities: 1. Support for and stimulation of economic 1. Support and revitalisation of economic activity: industrial competitiveness, endogenous activities: business support, SMEs, technology, development accessibility and energy efficiency 2. R&D and technology: promotion of a culture 2. Training, research and technology: support for of innovation, business support centres of excellence and networks, cooperation 3. Human resources development: training and between education and industry, training employment for young people, combating facilities and training programmes unemployment and exclusion 3. Living conditions, image and environment: 4. Local regeneration: economic, industrial and industrial and urban renewal, communication urban renewal, transport and environmental infrastructure, tourism, natural and cultural protection heritage

The Objective 1 strategy was to complement and significantly increase efforts to reduce disparities with the rest of the region. For former coal and mining areas, a key objective of the programme was to improve the physical, economic and social environment through major investment in urban and industrial renewal. This is reflected in the focus on Priority 4 - ‘Territorial renewal’ (accounting for 37 percent of the budget) - which addressed the principle of ‘territorial attractiveness’, encompassing brownfield site renewal, transport, and protection of the environment, amongst others. Until recently, this Priority remained emblematic of the will to change the urban, industrial and environmental fabric in conjunction with strong support from the Structural Funds.

In a context of transition, the focus on infrastructure represented various positive aspects for local and regional authorities. It was a source of employment for the building sector and related economic fields. It corresponded with the familiar institutional capabilities of public authorities and generated direct and visible results for the population (including, for example, improvements in quality of life and the fight against pollution).

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In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, there has been ongoing discussion about the expected and real economic consequences of infrastructure development, and the difficulties in elaborating integrated strategies which take into account the promotion of services, new competences, mobility, business, and the marketing of major public investment. The Objective 1 programming process was an apt illustration of the difficulties and contradictions that can take place when defining explicit and implicit programme strategies. The first draft presented by the French authorities was judged by the Commission as not being fully coherent with regional diagnoses, lacking an integrated strategy, and not presenting satisfactory solutions to regional needs. The Commission also pointed out that excessive attention was paid to communication infrastructure. The main consequence of this feedback was the modification of the general structure of the draft programme (finally adopted in July 1994), an increase in the ESF contribution (from 16 percent to 19 percent), a reduction in ERDF funding for road infrastructure (from €79.49 million (16.31 percent) to €33.28 million (6 percent) and the addition of a new Measure focused on ‘urban deprived areas and the fight against exclusion’ (€8.9 million).

This process demonstrates the difficulties in establishing integrated territorial development strategies for local and regional actors who were confronted with immediate and short-term difficulties. Alongside the progressive reduction of the State contribution, the scope to use EU funds bolster budgets for costly investments (such as infrastructure) should also be mentioned. In such cases, taking into account their direct socioeconomic effects, allocations could be part of a more implicit strategy aimed at maintaining public investment in areas affected by economic recession.

A main distinction between the Objective 1 and Objective 2 programmes during this period was the sizeable support of Objective 1 for human resources in Nord-Pas-de-Calais (Priority 3, accounting for 21 percent of the total budget). It supported interventions in favour of initial training, combating unemployment, and supporting vulnerable socioeconomic and/or demographic groups (such as young people and/or the long-term unemployed). The ESF played a strong role alongside the ERDF in improving industrial productiveness (through developing labour force skills), the living conditions of the population (through social support in coordination with urban planning initiatives) and health (especially through the fight against alcoholism, drug use, and related healthcare facilities).

The explicit strategy described in programme documents tended to support a transition process through the promotion of training activities, infrastructure, environmental protection, research and economic revival. However, an ‘implicit strategy’ could also be identified, the aims of which were to support local public policies and maintain a precarious balance in sub-regional territories strongly affected by the economic crisis. The implicit strategy also included support for declining industries and the launch of investment projects which, until the end of the 1990s, sometimes lacked in overall coordination between regional development authorities and partners.

3.1.3 Towards diversification and new development perspectives: 2000-06

In the 2000-2006 period, Nord-Pas-de-Calais remained eligible for the Objective 1 and Objective 2 programmes with a territorial coverage similar to that in 1994-1999. Objective 2 included two sub- areas: one ‘nominal area’ dedicated to the economic and social transition of industrial, rural or urban areas (45 percent of the regional population) and one ‘transition area’ comprising

LSE 31 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais municipalities which were able to progress without the support of EU funds (and in which 19 percent of the regional population resided).

Map 8: Eligible areas for Objective 2 (2000–2006)

In this new period, Nord-Pas-de-Calais received around €1.3 billion for Objectives 1, 2 and 3, representing 10 percent of Structural Funds in France (€405.67 million for Objective 1 and €636.18 million for Objective 2). With this budget, the EU became the main external contributor to the region, preceding the State authorities’ participation in the State-Region Planning Contract. Nord- Pas-de-Calais entered a ‘transitional phase’ in anticipation of the cessation of the Objective 1 ERDF contribution at the end of the period (due to the statistical effect of EU enlargement to include Central and Eastern European countries). Between 2000 and 2006, the region maintained strong continuity with the previous period, through a focus on economic recovery (Priority 1), training, employment and solidarity (Priority 2) and territorial development (Priority 3). Its contribution was significant in the three selected employment areas, especially for the financing of major projects.

In Nord-Pas-de-Calais overall, new investment took place to develop and open up business areas and economic development poles (roads, logistic platforms, waterways, transport services, public transport, and so on).

From a strategic and operational point of view, a challenge during this period was the spatial fragmentation of intervention areas. This was especially the case for urban policies, which had varying eligible EU programme areas on and for domestic public policies on the other. This generated a dispersion of means and projects and reduced the coordination capacities between these different tools.

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Table 5: Summary of programme objectives and priorities between 2000 and 2006 Objective 1 Objective 2 Main objectives of the programme: Main objectives of the programme: - To increase socioeconomic convergence with - To promote economic development in favour of national and EU development levels employment (employment, sustainable economic - To lay the foundation for sound socioeconomic development) cohesion - To promote territorial sustainable development activities Priorities: Priorities: 1. Keeping the economic upturn going: to 1. Promotion of job-creation and economic support economic diversification, centres of development: to support information society, excellence, the creation of firms, technology research, technological development, and transfer, the improvement of research tourism, to promote networking, financial capacities, communication infrastructure engineering and training 2. Training, mutual assistance and 2. Laying the foundation of economic and social employment: to integrate unemployed people cohesion: to support measures for young people and excluded persons, to promote education, and employees, to improve access to information training, apprenticeship and vocational training and communication technologies, to update 3. Spatial improvement and upgrading: to communication networks and infrastructure improve territorial attractiveness and quality 3. Promoting territorial initiatives for sustainable of life, to protect natural areas and upgrade development and solidarity: to promote local industrial wastelands, to promote tourism and development activities, craft, services, and cultural facilities, to promote energy saving business areas, to support ports and technology platforms, urban policy and health 4. Diversifying suburban agriculture

Since 2000, the regional government has been directly involved in programme and monitoring committees, becoming a true ‘co-pilot’ of EU regional policy in the region. During this period, State authorities and the regional government provided almost the same public contribution of around €346 million each. This led to a strengthening of the regional partnership and a more balanced share of responsibilities. From 2000 onwards, a progressive change in the local and regional governance process could therefore be observed, manifested in the desire to better structure regional priorities and regional intervention tools. Despite some difficulties with the selection of eligible areas, as already mentioned, overall programme coherence was increased by the fact that programmes could be implemented through a single seven-year programme period.

In comparison with previous periods, the content of strategy also evolved, as can be highlighted in the intervention of the Commission after the mid-term review in 1997, which led to an increase in the budget dedicated to ICT. This was an expression of growing attention paid to the priorities put forward by the Lisbon agenda. At the regional level, the validation of the Global Grant for ANVAR8 in 2000 was going in the same direction.

In terms of strategy, this created a stronger focus on the necessity to better accompany and support ongoing structural changes. For example, it included setting up a strategy for a ‘digital region’ consisting of the promotion of ICT technologies and services in Objective 1 employment areas. ICT constituted a priority for the Objective 2 programme as well. In parallel, a regional

8 ANVAR : Agence Nationale de Valorisation de la Recherche (National Research Promotion Agency).

LSE 33 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais initiative in favour of ‘economic intelligence’ helped to structure EU-funded projects for partnership-building and cooperation in industrial sectors.

The Objective 2 programme emphasised the necessity to strengthen SMEs that remained quite vulnerable as subcontractors of large businesses. In the field of research and innovation, the strategy showed a greater consciousness of the lack of connection between research and economic actors. In particular, there was a reduction of 19 percent of private spending in research between 1998 and 2002 in the region, whereas spending for public research, especially in the fields of biology-health, informatics ICT, transport and environment, increased by 36 percent.

During this period, the initiative of State authorities to support ‘competitiveness poles’ in French regions must be mentioned as a key driver for ongoing innovation and research initiatives. Although the direct effect for the ERDF programme was not very significant initially, it contributed to structuring the regional strategy towards a few industrial and economic sectors. This would have stronger implications for strategy-building and the projects programme after 2006, with seven competitiveness poles developed in Nord-Pas-de-Calais with the support of ERDF programmes.

The development of tourism also remained a key preoccupation in ERDF programmes, with for example the strengthening of ‘culture’ as a shared endeavour between local and regional bodies. In 2004, the selection of Lille as a European Capital for culture was a good expression of the overall explicit strategy aiming, since the 1990s, to improve the visibility and attractiveness of the region.

Between 2000 and 2006, the way ERDF funds were used is in line with explicit strategies stated in the programmes. This is due on the one hand to the catching up and learning process at sub- regional level, which gave local actors the scope to envisage longer-term territorial development perspectives. It is also due to more targeted strategic guidelines provided at EU and national levels that helped these actors better coordinate their actions around new fields of intervention (ICT, knowledge economy, technology centres or competitiveness poles, etc.).

3.1.4 Transformation, realism and critical choices: 2007-13

For the 2007-2013 period, Nord-Pas-de-Calais received €700.9 million ERDF (including a ‘bonus’ of €70 million for Hainaut), €380 million ESF and €61.5 million EARDF. These amounts show a clear decrease in comparison with 2000-2006 (more than 30 percent).

The suppression of infra-regional area designation and the implementation of measures through a single ERDF programme constituted a positive environment for setting up a coherent strategy and the mobilisation of local and regional stakeholders.

According to interviewees, the most significant example of strategic change in the implementation of EU funds since 1989 was the strong shift towards Lisbon priorities in 2007. This orientation was considered on the one hand as an ‘external’ impulse from the EU level with the obligation to adapt the regional strategy and working methods to people and institutions that were not fully prepared for such a change. On the other hand, it was considered as an opportunity to move forward and accelerate the change process with the active mobilisation of regional authorities.

In 2007, ambitious objectives were defined, with 67 percent of ERDF and 100 percent of ESF targeted on Lisbon priorities, which is above the national average. Innovation was not absent from

LSE 34 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais domestic public policies, but the new programme period increased the mobilisation of public authorities and public funds. This has become especially obvious with the aim of the regional government to obtain and manage a Global Grant dedicated to Priority 1, representing 33 percent of the budget of the overall programme.

Table 6: Summary of programme objectives and priorities between 2007 and 2013 Main objectives of the programme: - To promote knowledge economy, innovation and sustainable development - To consolidate economic revival - To overcome the legacy of the past - To provide inhabitants with equivalent opportunities throughout the territory Priorities: 1. Research and development, innovation, support to businesses 2. Environment, sustainable practices and risk prevention 3. Accessibility (transport and Information Society) 4. Territorial strand (sustainable urban and territorial development)

In the continuity of 2000-2006, the ‘competitiveness poles’ contributed by focusing domestic and EU strategies towards better-targeted sectors (transport, textiles, trade, sea products, nutrition and health, etc.). For local and regional actors, the key issue was not only to promote new economic sectors, but also more generally to generate a favourable environment for innovation with a focus on human resources, support to SMEs, networking between business, and research and training centres.

Complementing the competitiveness poles, the elaboration between 2007 and 2010 of a ‘Regional innovation strategy’ with the support of the EU Commission was the occasion to mobilise experts, public authorities and private bodies in a global discussion on innovation in the region (Conseil Regional, 2009a). It was elaborated in close coherence with the Contrat de Projet Etat-Région and the Regional Economic Development Scheme (SRDE, 2005).

The work on the Regional Innovation Strategy (RIS) was also an opportunity to update domestic tools such as the ‘Platform for Innovation and Promotion of Research’ (Plateforme Innovation- Valorisation de la Recherche) and the ‘Innovation Promotion Plan’ (Plan Innovation-Valorisation - 2008). The RIS is implemented with the support of a specific body, the NFID (Nord France Innovation Development) funded by State and regional authorities and the ERDF programme. Concretely, the Regional Innovation Strategy has been a key aspect of the mid-term evaluation and clearly influenced the strategy of the second part of the period.

The thematic concentration, however, is considered carefully in a region that suffered from excessive economic and industrial specialisation. In particular, the concept of ‘smart specialisation’ constitutes a useful strategic and methodological tool but requires sound expertise to be implemented in a constructive and long-term fashion.

Regarding other priorities, the 2007-2013 ERDF programme maintained a focus on accessibility with a stronger interest afforded to sustainable urban transport and services. Accessibility also includes information society, with the intention to develop better e-services including health and open data systems to improve the relation between people and public administration. In line with the

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‘knowledge society’, e-services and information technologies are also identified by local and regional authorities as a source of growth and employment.

In the field of environment and land restoration, the focus is no longer on the basic treatment of brownfield sites and former industrial areas. The programme promotes a more qualitative approach with the requirement to include the development of new activities. Water management, biodiversity and natural risks remain subjects of concern, but energy (renewable or energy efficiency) constitutes an emerging issue regarding its environmental and potential economic impact.

The social dimension of EU programmes remains a difficult issue. The clearer separation between the ESF and ERDF programmes led to more economic and territorial development approaches in ERDF objectives. The idea is to maintain the attention on the former Objective 1 area and to use territorial development projects as a source of economic and social inclusion. The question of the articulation between ERDF and ESF remains challenging, especially with the increasing social difficulties following the 2008 economic crisis.

With the strong involvement of regional authorities in innovation (Global Grant for the management of Priority 1 and setting up the Regional Innovation Strategy) and the multiplication of activities in favour of entrepreneurship at regional level, there is a strong convergence between projects implemented and the overall strategy of the programme. This can also be illustrated by the satisfactory programme level of ERDF funds, showing the adaptation capacity of local and regional stakeholders to these new priorities.

3.2 Relevance of programmes to regional needs

This Section appraises the relevance of programmes across the different programme periods. Relevance is defined as the appropriateness of programmes (in terms of strategic goals, objectives, priorities, and expenditure allocation) in meeting regional needs as perceived at the time in which the programmes were drafted.

1989-1993

In this first period, there were needs in economic and social support because of a dramatic loss of jobs in industries and lack of perspectives in an overall weak economic context. It was decided to focus strategies on the direct consequences of transition with support to businesses (productive investments, transfer of technology, improvement of productivity), treatment of the most polluted areas, and support to human resources (initial and vocational training). In a short-term fashion, this strategy was relevant to save businesses and jobs, even though the situation of enterprises (SMEs or larger ones) remained quite fragile.

In a more structural way, the region needed investments in basic infrastructure in the fields of communications (modernisation of railways and roads), environment (environmental clean-up, sewage plants), initial training and higher education (new premises, modernisation of existing buildings). With EU programmes, this development and modernisation process (started in the 1970s) could be pursued and strengthened with stronger intervention capacities.

LSE 36 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais

Regarding regional needs and the regional development process, coordination between actors and setting up coherent development strategies appeared as key issues from the outset. On the side of ‘needs’, it was difficult to articulate the priorities of local actors that lacked expertise and who were often in a position of competition in the access to subsidies. On the side of programmes, the ‘partnership’ principle and the objective of promoting regional economic and social cohesion brought positive perspectives. A first aspect is related to the obligation to involve a wider set of local and regional partners in discussions and negotiation (municipalities, social partners, intermediary bodies, etc.). This contributed to broaden the exchange and negotiation processes to a wider set of actors including local authorities, public bodies, civil society, etc. A second aspect relies on the change in relations between regional and State authorities. Whereas negotiations for the elaboration of State-Region Planning Contracts were based on a face-to-face interaction between local and regional authorities on one side and State authorities on the other, the setting- up of EU programmes pushed these different partners to discuss and find consensus in front of a third actor, the EU Commission. This increased the ‘regional’ point of view as compared to a ‘national’ approach that was influenced by the strategies of ministries. As a result, the diversity of socioeconomic situations in the different employment areas was taken into account better and activities were fine-tuned according to territorial and local needs.

However, the multiplication of programmes and sub-programmes, as well as the implementation of tens of intervention measures contributed to reduce the coherence of the overall strategy and of its impact on the regional and sub-regional territories. The launch of ERDF programmes in a context of economic and social emergency generated a lot of expectations. Each local actor wished to provide support to specific sub-regional territories, which reduced the capacity to generate a coherent strategy at regional level.

1994-1999

Between 1994 and 1999, Nord-Pas-de-Calais benefitted from major inputs with the opening of the Channel Tunnel, the high-speed train and the creation of Euralille, which represented opportunities for the region to strengthen its development potential. EU programmes took these opportunities into account with significant efforts on infrastructure to improve the coherence between existing and new infrastructure. In addition, regional and local authorities agreed on the necessity to improve the ‘image’ and the ‘attractiveness’ of the region.

With the slight economic improvement during the second part of the 1990s, the pressure on enterprises decreased. The need for direct support was less urgent, and as a consequence the allocation of EU funds on economic renewal was reduced in the Objective 2 area (1997-1999). The ex-ante evaluation highlights however the necessity to avoid too high a concentration of funds on infrastructure (urban development, communications, industrial renewal) and to better prioritise local development, networking or promotion of market services. In the face of this need for local development and support to SMEs, one of the main difficulties remaining was the capacity of ‘small’ partners (SMEs) to get involved in ERDF projects, due to a lack of experience and expertise capacities (European Commission, 1997).

In the new Objective 1 area, funding was significantly increased. The drafting process of the programmes is a good illustration of the different perceptions of needs between local, regional, national and EU authorities. As for Objective 2, local and regional authorities insisted on

LSE 37 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais infrastructure which could have direct and visible impact on territories. For the Commission, taking into account the already well-developed regional infrastructure network, there was a need to pay greater attention to human resources, training, employment and social inclusion (which were taken into account in the final draft of the programme).

Whereas economic restructuring remained a major priority during this period, there was a difficulty in setting up tools and strategies that were able to modify the socioeconomic situation. Local and regional actors tended to intervene on issues where they had competences, and the social approach was promoted with a sense of emergency to support fragile populations. For this reason, although the financial allocation was quite coherent with regional needs, the challenge was to implement projects in coherent territorial development strategies and avoid a spread of local and isolated initiatives. Strategy-building was still insufficient during this period, while the use of two distinct implementation areas contributed to better mobilise public authorities, especially in the Objective 1 area.

2000-2006

From a strategic point of view, the 2000-06 period is a continuation of the previous one for Objective 1, with a focus on economic recovery, employment and territorial development in employment areas still facing heavy structural difficulties. One of the main objectives remained the catching up process, with a focus on large projects and infrastructure, including upgrading of industrial wastelands, local development facilities for tourism and cultural activities, and the promotion of intermodality in communications.

This catching up process also required a capacity to adapt the economic and industrial fabric to socioeconomic changes. This was not an explicit objective during the previous periods. From the end of the 1990s (1997-99 programme), a slight change could be observed with more attention paid to innovation, connection between businesses and research, and the knowledge economy. In the field of accessibility, ICT, sustainable transport and intermodal platforms progressively took the lead.

These specific needs, oriented towards prevention rather than cure (with the support of a ‘sustainable development’ approach), were better taken into account with measures in favour of information technologies and the knowledge economy in the Objective 1 and 2 areas. However, programmes could not provide an adequate answer to the lack of investment in private research, whereas public research and especially universities were explicit objectives.

During this period, external factors such as the launch of the national policy of competitiveness poles helped to better adapt strategies to needs in the field of innovation and competitiveness. In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, six competitiveness poles were selected in 2005: Pole Aquatique (fisheries industry), Industries du Commerce (distribution, ICT, logistics), Up-Tex (textiles), I-Trans (transport), Matériaux domestiques (chemicals, materials, food), and Nutrition, Longévité, Santé (nutrition, health, longevity).9

9 The selection process occurred within the Inter-ministerial Committee for Planning and Territorial Development (CIADT) of 12 July 2005.

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Concerning culture, local and regional authorities used EU programmes from the perspective of modifying the image of the region and improving its attractiveness for individuals and businesses. In this case, EU programmes brought a relevant contribution in the way that they opened up possibilities that would not have been supported by regional development strategies alone.

2007-2013

In Nord-Pad-de-Calais, research and innovation have been supported in a more effective way since 2000, preparing the ground for further development. In addition to the catching up process that occurred in public research, programme authorities insisted on the necessity to improve research in and for enterprises and to pursue technology transfer. However, the main change was clearly observed in 2007 with the earmarking of funds for innovation and competitiveness, which required a more explicit involvement of businesses, and public and private research bodies.

In 2012 and despite this progress, regional and local authorities highlighted the risk of a regional decline in the face of increasing international competition and insufficient regional performance in the fields of research and innovation.

Beyond strategic choices, one key issue remains the coordination of public authorities, private bodies, entrepreneurs, research centres, universities and training centres towards new development perspectives. This requires stronger entrepreneurship, high levels of skills, innovative financial means, and specific management and governance processes between public and private stakeholders.

In this regard, questions in Nord-Pas-de-Calais concern the mobilisation capacities of SMEs and the way they consider their participation in ERDF funded projects. SMEs have often been dependent upon larger enterprises, with limited entrepreneurship culture and limited internal expertise capacities. In a difficult economic context, they cannot afford to take risks unless they can rely on clear rules with enough visibility.

Generally speaking, businesses in this region express their need for well-identified sources of financing, clear rules, and limited legal uncertainty (even if they accept economic uncertainty). For many of them, the administrative burden and the uncertainties related to the respect of the competition rules reduces the relevance of participating in ERDF programmes.

The respect of the earmarking principles shows that the higher the expectations and concentration of funds, the higher is the level of support and expertise needed, since public authorities often intervene in fields up to the limit of their traditional competences. One example would be the concept of ‘smart specialisation’.

Considering the objectives set at the start of 2007-2013 and the work achieved at mid-term, there has been a mobilisation of stakeholders regarding the necessity to promote a more flexible development model, more adaptive and reactive in the face of economic difficulties. Regarding the ‘relevance’ of programmes, there is a greater consciousness that financial means and strategies also require an adequate political, institutional and administrative setting.

Especially in the case of innovation, difficult choices must be made that necessitate leadership and political commitment. More technically (as will be mentioned later in the report), the improvement

LSE 39 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais of skills, competences, entrepreneurship, competitiveness and innovation often rely on a multitude of ‘intermediary bodies’ whose contribution to the process should be better specified and rationalised. If a ‘relevant’ programme also needs to take these aspects into account, there is an indirect ‘collateral positive impact’ of the operational programmes on the overall administrative setting (professionalisation of intermediary bodies and final beneficiaries, stronger monitoring and evaluation capacities, consolidation of skills and means).

Table 7: Comparison of regional needs and programme responses Regional needs Response Project focus 1989-93 Increasing industrial and urban In line with domestic policies Industrial and urban brownfield sites; closure of with a focus on infrastructure renewal; productive industries; increasing and businesses investments; unemployment; insufficient infrastructure; initial and territorial strategies vocational training 1994-99 Need for industrial and urban More efforts on former mining Large-scale projects renewal; potential with new area (Objective 1 area); efforts (infrastructure, logistic, infrastructure (Channel Tunnel, on infrastructure but stronger communication…); high-speed train) but still low emphasis on human resources environment; vocational structural adjustment, low and social issue; desire to training and improvement dynamism of SMEs and high improve the ‘image’ and of training infrastructure; unemployment ‘attractiveness’ of the region continuous support to businesses 2000-06 Slight catching up process but Still focus on large projects and Continuity on social and economic indicators infrastructure but increasing infrastructure with more still below national and EU concern about innovation, ICT, sustainable development average; low entrepreneurship, sustainable development issues approach (transport, low private research, high environment, culture…), unemployment project on ICT and knowledge economy 2007-13 Risk of economic ‘drop off’ due Strong influence of EU Increase of projects on to insufficient competitiveness regulations on Lisbon strategy. innovation, networking and innovation; still low Stronger coordination with and entrepreneurship socioeconomic figures domestic policy (employment, (competitiveness poles); more entrepreneurship, education…) qualitative approach of industrial renewal

Longitudinal view

The relevance of programmes to regional needs cannot only be assessed with regard to general strategies and objectives set. In the case of Nord-Pas-de-Calais, the confrontation between short- term and long-term needs shows that ‘relevance’ requires coherence between various actors, priorities and intervention means.

Some of the best examples are related to the development of SMEs in the promotion of innovation. If there was a strong need to progress these two issues since the 1980s, it would have been relevant to provide high levels of funds only if target groups (SMEs, research bodies) were able to mobilise and generate expected projects. However, these potential stakeholders were not ready for this, and the overall socioeconomic environment was not favourable to a rapid shift in this direction. EU programmes have not been elaborated as ‘independent’ or ‘external’ tools, but as part of a complex interconnection of local, regional, national and EU public policies. In that sense, the

LSE 40 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais evaluation of ‘needs’ shall take into account parameters that include economic, social, historical, geographical or environmental factors.

In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, programmes have generally been relevant to regional needs, as they took into account challenges that were obvious priorities for a large majority of local and regional actors (fight against unemployment, support to businesses, urban and industrial renewal, improvement of life quality, etc.). In that case, authorities were able to identify the fields of intervention where synergies could be easily generated between EU and domestic funds. This was generally related to their traditional intervention fields or to issues that could produce short-term and visible results in favour of local communities (such as local facilities improving life quality and services).

However, a divergence might be observed in the way this programme intended to address these needs. During the first programme periods, the influence of ministries and State services remained strong with, on the other hand, an increasing desire by local actors to influence the programming process and obtain contributions in line with their own needs (as perceived at local level). Objectives were relevant, but the methodology and decision-making process barely led to a genuine and well-structured regional/territorial strategy and implementation process.

From the first to the current programme period, the programmes evolved with the EU Commission’s intention of tightening the scope for intervention and increasing qualitative requirements. One of the first aspects was the EU Commission’s preference to reduce to focus on communication infrastructure in the first Objective 1 programme (1994-1999) with a better target on economic and social issues. This led also to a more qualitative approach to industrial renewal, with the need to add social or economic development activities to demolition or cleaning projects. The Lisbon agenda played a structuring role by providing local and regional bodies with additional means and stronger legitimacy to intervene in a field (innovation and competitiveness) that corresponded to strong needs but which was politically sensitive (risk of increasing layoffs to improve business competitiveness).

This gave regional actors the opportunity to modify their approach to ‘regional needs’ with a stronger prospective view and the capacity to elaborate better-structured development strategies (which was one basic regional need).

This change shows an improvement of the relevance of programmes in their capacity to take into account current and future needs and create conditions for better adaptation capacities of local and regional actors. The drafting process of strategies also improved, with better coordination and stronger methodology, more in line with SMART evaluation criteria.10 In particular, programmes became more specific and targeted. They experienced a clear improvement of evaluation capacities from 2000 with the implementation of the centralised PRESAGE system in France. The objective of ‘performance’ or ‘result-oriented’ programmes has been taken into account more recently and should become more consistent in the next programme period (2014-2020).

10 SMART evaluation criteria refer to Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-oriented and Time- bound criteria.

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Table 8: Needs and imputed objectives for eight thematic axes THEMATIC AXES 1989-93 1994-99 1994-99 2000-2006 2000-2006 2007-present Objective 1 Objective 2 Objective 1 Objective 2 (phasing-out)

Needs Obj. Needs Obj. Needs Obj. Needs Obj. Needs Obj. Needs Obj.

Enterprise development + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 = 4

Structural adjustment ++ 4 ++ 4 ++ 4 + 4 + 4 + 5

Innovation ++ 3 ++ 4 ++ 4 + 4 + 4 + 5

Environmental sustainability ++ 4 ++ 4 ++ 4 + 5 + 5 + 5

Labour market ++ 5 ++ 4 ++ 4 ++ 5 + 4 + 2

Social cohesion + 3 + 4 + 4 + 5 + 5 + 2

Spatial cohesion + 3 + 5 + 3 + 4 = 3 + 3

Infrastructure + 4 + 5 + 4 = 5 = 4 = 3

Needs Scale (evaluation of the region at the start of the period) ++ Very high need: the region is highly deprived on this axis + High need: the region is somewhat deprived on this axis = Average need: the region is around the national mean on this axis - Low need: the region is above the national mean on this axis -- Very low need: the region is already a European frontrunner on this axis

Imputed Objectives 5 Very high effort, this axis is a central aspect of the regional development strategy 4 High effort, this axis is an important element in the regional development strategy 3 Average effort, this axis is included in the regional development strategy but is not particularly important 2 Low effort: this axis is only marginally considered in the regional development strategy 1 No effort at all on this axis

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4. EXPENDITURE ANALYSIS

4.1 Financial allocations

It is estimated that over the past 40 years the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region received nearly €5 billion of Structural Funds including the ERDF, ESF and funds dedicated to agriculture and fisheries. It is one of the French regions that received the highest amount of EU funding.

EU support increased significantly in 1994 when the employment areas of Avesnes, Douai and Valenciennes were designated as Objective 1 areas (doubling the ERDF contribution) (see Figure 5). The ERDF allocation was maintained at a high level until 2007-13 due to persistent structural difficulties. Alongside ERDF, the ESF played a major role to support fragile populations and the unemployed, and to improve competences that remain a key issue for this region.

After 2006, even though the employment areas of Hainaut received a specific allocation of €70 million (ERDF+ESF), there is an overall reduction in the Structural Funds allocation due to the phasing-out process and the suppression of Objective 3. As the 2007-2013 programme period is not yet complete, Figure 5 provides only a partial picture of expenditure per year.

Table 9: ERDF and ESF allocations 1989-2013 (in million Euros, 2000 prices) Programme Period ERDF ESF TOTAL Objective 2 1989-91 €98.70 €57.03 €155.73 Objective 2 1992-93 €154.13 €41.96 €196.09

Individual projects 1989-91 €15.74 €15.74 (infrastructure)

Individual projects 1992-93 €23.53 €23.53 (infrastructure)

Total €292.1 €98.99 €391.09

Objective 1 1994-99 €372.68 €91.43 €464.11 Objective 2 1994-96 €292.65 €60.20 €352.85 Objective 2 1997-99 €332.95 €68.88 €401.83 Total €998.28 €220.51 €1218.79

Objective 1 2000-06 €271.90 €97.26 €369.16 Objective 2 2000-06 €556.20 €78.70 €634.90 Total €828.10 €175.96 €1004.06

Objective 2 2007-13 €602.44 €327.26 €929.70 Total €602.44 €327.96 €929.70

TOTAL €2,720.92 €822.72 €3,543.64

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Figure 5: Annualised actual expenditure (2000 prices)

As mentioned above, the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region has been one of the French regions that received the highest amounts of EU funds. Due to the fact that this region also has the fifth highest GDP in France in absolute value, expenditure did not exceed 0.8 percent of regional GDP. For 2007- 2013, this amount will decrease with a less important contribution of EU funds as well as stronger targeting of available public financing on Lisbon priorities.

4.2 Expenditure compared with allocations

4.2.1 Evolution of actual expenditure over time in the eight selected thematic axes

The analysis of the evolution of expenditure over time shows both regularity in the evolution of thematic axes and clear influence between them since 1989. In the following graphs, expenditure includes ERDF, ESF (in the case of multi-funds programmes) and domestic counterparts. It must be noted that figures for 2007-2013 are not complete, as all available funds have not yet been spent for this period.

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Figure 6: Expenditure by measure target/need and programme period (in million Euros, 2000 prices)

Source: Authors’ analysis of programme documentation.

From the outset, ‘enterprises’ constituted a major source of expenditure with significant expenses in favour of productive investment and technology (modernisation of machinery and processes, transfer of technology). The objective was to improve productivity and update tools and products in a very competitive environment. This theme also includes the location of new enterprises that could generate high levels of expenditure, with for example the implantation and development of international firms such as Toyota (€900 million of investment) and Toyotomi from the end of the 1990s to the present. In the case of enterprises, the importance of private and other public investments parallel to the ERDF contribution that generate high levels of global expenditure should also be noted.

The decrease of expenditure for ‘enterprises’ in 2007-2013 must be connected to the progressive increase of expenses in favour of ‘structural adjustment’ dedicated to the strengthening or development of new industrial sectors and networks (enterprises, research, training). This increased after 2007 with the focus on Lisbon priorities and the implementation of competitiveness poles. From a methodological point of view, this shift does not mean that ‘enterprises’ benefit from a lower level of support. They receive support through a different heading which focuses more on innovation and networking.

‘Innovation’ follows a similar trend to ‘enterprises’ in a much more modest way, with almost no expenditure in 1989-93, and progress until 2007 when ‘structural adjustment’ projects take the lead. In this category, an increase in expenditure can be expected in the current period with a high mid-term programme level.

Expenditure related to ‘environmental sustainability’ has regularly and constantly increased. This is related to the importance of environmental projects in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, which has been boosted by sustainable development objectives (Gothenburg Agenda). This issue should also be considered in connection with ‘structural adjustment’ which, in some cases, includes treatment and renewal of former industrial areas.

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‘Labour market’ has been a priority in Nord-Pas-de-Calais with a strong mobilisation of the ESF in favour of vocational training throughout the four programme periods. Between 1994 and 1999, the high levels of expenditure were also matched by ERDF investments in favour of initial training (infrastructure, high schools) and a specific accompaniment of ESF for the development of ‘competence poles’.

Expenditure in favour of ‘social cohesion’ increased continuously until 2006 with, for 2000-2006, the combination of ESF projects in favour of fragile population and a stronger focus of ERDF expenses on ‘urban and rural regeneration’ (local development, accessibility, health, social support, handicap, gender equality). Between 1994 and 1999, €26.5 million ERDF were invested, which constituted the highest expenditure rate in French regions in this field. This included diagnoses, restoration of urban wastelands, accessibility, anti-noise measures in the vicinity of motorways, etc.

It is more problematic to evaluate the expenditure related to the ‘spatial distribution of economic activity’ (rebalancing economic activity and income across different areas within the region), as many actions that would have territorial affects are registered under different items (enterprises, structural adjustment, infrastructure endowment, etc.). However, this issue increased in expenditure until 2006, with a focus on infrastructure for businesses in Objective 1 areas.

4.2.2 Comparison between intended and actual allocations

For the four programme periods, the differences between intended and actual expenditure have different origins.

From one period to another, the influence of project size on programmes is important. Large projects, which have been numerous in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, have sometimes encountered implementation difficulties, forcing authorities to modify the programme in order to ensure good implementation conditions or avoid disengagement. Such a change could have significant impact on budgets. One of the recent examples is the Louvre-Lens. The project was programmed in the course of 2000-2006, requiring the transfer of funds from different measures. However, the difficulty in launching the project and implementing it in due time meant that its implementation was postponed until after 2007. For this reason, funds had to be reallocated to different measures, creating delays in the programme.

In this situation or in the case of delays in the implementation of a large number of projects, authorities could ask the EU Commission to postpone payments, as happened in 1995. At that time, delays in projects implementation represented 14.2 percent of the total ERDF allocation.

A second reason is related to the ‘absorption capacities’ in the related intervention fields, namely the availability and capacities of potential beneficiaries. Usually, the mid-term evaluation was the occasion to observe the use of funds in the different Priority Axes and to transfer funds from the ‘less successful’ to the ‘more successful’ ones in order to ensure that all ERDF funds were used. These changes did not necessarily have a strategic purpose, but they usually amount to less than five percent of the overall budget.

Between 1989 and 1993, the region benefitted from additional ERDF under the ‘Community reserve’ (or Windfall) by €5.9 million. It has been more specifically used in favour of ‘research’, ‘technology

LSE 46 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais transfer’, ‘tourism’ and ‘industrial and urban renewal’ that constituted successful measures. The overall economic context also influenced the spending of funds. With the slowdown of economic activity in 1992-1993, funds were transferred from measures such as ‘business incubators’ towards productive investments for companies (including existing and new ones).

Between 1994 and 1999, adjustments occurred in the Objective 1 area, for it appeared that some measures were more successful than others: among the successful measures was the support to mixed housing development zones (from €18 million initial support to €20 million), business real property (from €5.5 million to €11 million), and urban regeneration (the initial programme was tripled).11 Some actions in this sector even had to be re-planned in 2000-06.

In other respects, the funding forecasted for social and health measures (Measure 5 of Sub- programme IV: Alcoholism and drug addiction prevention) was partly transferred to other measures, in view of the lack of project holders able to lead the projects. Regarding funds, planning delays in the farm sector and a certain lack of dynamism led to a transfer of about €8 million from the EAGGF to the ERDF.

From a more strategic point of view, large projects such as the Louvre Lens highlight the willingness of regional authorities to intervene during the course of the programme when they consider that an issue or a project constitutes a major interest for the region.

Between 1994 and 1999, some changes occurred in the strategy, as for instance the addition of a Measure on Telecommunication and Information Society in 1997 on the initiative of the regional authority. In the following period (2000-06), decisions were taken to modify initial allocations of funds in favour of projects or priorities that were particularly important for regional or local authorities. This was the case with ‘urban and social restructuring’, which benefitted from transfers from other Priorities and from the entire performance reserve. It included projects for local public transport that were especially costly for municipalities. In the Objective 1 area, even though it was not explicitly mentioned in the programme documents, there was a shift of expenditure from economic development (Priority 1) to catching up priorities focused more on infrastructure. This also tended to reduce the overall ERDF budget dedicated to the environment.

11 In the district of Valenciennes, this was due to the arrival of the automobile firm Toyota in 1997. The Japanese firm attracted other enterprises and investments in R&D.

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Figure 7: Allocations and expenditure by thematic axis across regional programmes (expressed as percentage)

For 2007-2013, the mid-term evaluation highlights a strengthening of measures related to research and innovation, with €40.8 million indicating a good mobilisation capacity on this issue. In the field of environment, although the overall Priority 2 remains stable, there is a transfer from different measures to ‘energy efficiency in housing’, which constitutes one of the main changes during this period (€18 million).

As mentioned for the 2000-2006 period, the project ‘Louvre-Lens’ was launched with contributions from Priorities 1, 2 and 3 to Priority 4 (‘Territorial strand’). It benefited from €10 million in additional funds.

In the field of ICT, funds of €18 million are reoriented towards the general improvement of ICT accessibility for SMEs and population (accessibility and use of ICT).

Beyond strategic choices and strategic changes, it must be kept in mind that local and regional stakeholders also have a more pragmatic preoccupation with the need to adapt to concrete difficulties and ensure a good programme and degree of implementation. In this regard, a change in ‘strategy’ can result in trade-offs between institutions, each one taking into account the ability of the others to properly manage and monitor funds that they control (especially with the increase in Global Grants). The articulation between ESF and ERDF is one example, among others, of the difficulty in ‘changing the boundaries’ between institutions that operate under different systems and which can have different approaches to regional needs and priorities.

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5. ACHIEVEMENTS ANALYSIS

This chapter focuses on achievements of ERDF programmes in Nord-Pas-de-Calais since 1989. It highlights achievements recorded in programme evaluation documents over each period and their effects on regional development, on regional needs and on subsequent ERDF programmes. It also takes into account complementarities and synergies with other EU and domestic programmes and policies.

5.1 Reported & actual achievements

This part provides an analysis of the reported achievements for each programme since 1989, by thematic axis, as well as unreported achievements, unexpected effects and implementation issues that have affected the nature of reported or actual achievements. Each period benefited from the achievements of the preceding period with an improvement in regional assets and governance practices for the implementation of EU and domestic policies.

The analysis is based on data reported in final implementation reports, the PRESAGE monitoring system, and evaluation reports (especially mid-term and final evaluation reports) that illustrate the achievements of projects including what they delivered (outputs) and their immediate effects in the region (results). The outputs can include the number of businesses that have been supported, the number of people trained, the number of hectares of urban or industrial land that have been subject to regeneration or restoration, etc. Results refer to economic activities, labour market and job creation, and improvement of environmental quality as a direct consequence of these outputs.

However, the level of information varies significantly from one period to another depending on the monitoring and evaluation processes used at that time. For a large number of measures before 2000, there was no clear mention of quantified targets, outputs or results in the programming and evaluation documents. Apart from financial data, monitoring documents during this early period did not provide much information on the achievements of programmes, such as the successes and difficulties encountered. The results that are mentioned can also vary substantially from one source to another (Managing Authority, monitoring authority, sectoral bodies), and the split of programme periods into different phases makes it difficult to provide consolidated data when measures change from one phase to another. The situation improved significantly in 2000 with the implementation of the national electronic monitoring system PRESAGE.

This section starts with an overview of reported achievements at programme level. It is followed by an analysis by theme and by comments on the institutional factors that affected achievements.

5.1.1 Programme-level achievements

Figures mentioned in the following paragraphs are taken from the programmes’ formal evaluation reports. Summary tables of the main figures used for each programme period are provided. More extensive data taken from evaluation reports are available in Annex III ‘Reported achievements’. When no data is provided in the tables, this means that no information was available in the evaluation documents (for example, no initial target or no evaluation of outputs).

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1989-93

Information available on achievements significantly varies from one period to another. Between 1989 and 1993, reporting focused mainly on financial progress rather on results. The lack of sources limited the scope for aggregate assessment of the reported achievements.

According to the 1989-93 ex-post evaluation (European Commission, 1996b), 1,500 small and medium sized firms benefited from ERDF support during this period. This represented 30 percent of all businesses of 10 to 500 employees in the region and a total of €153M of ERDF support. Interventions included 80 technology transfer projects, material and non-material investment, support for executive recruitment, and external expertise. Through the modernisation and adaptation of productive assets the regional economy became better able to face the economic crisis, but evaluation reports do not specify the number of businesses that could be ’saved’, or their survival rates, over the following years.

With regard to human resources, the ex-post evaluation specifies that more than 110,000 people benefited from training measures, which far exceeded the programmes’ objectives (84,699) (European Commission, 1996b). Around 6,700 persons benefited from training measures for the creation of new economic activities, but no information is available concerning the real effect of these measures on business creation.

In the catching up process, local, regional and national authorities put the emphasis on strengthening educational and training facilities that led to the modernisation of 100 training centres with ERDF support. This represents an important tangible achievement for regional socioeconomic development, taking into account the lack of training facilities at that time in comparison with other French regions.

In terms of cost per job created, Nord-Pas-de-Calais belonged to the group of the best-performing regions (better than national average) between 1989 and 1993, which can be linked to investments in training and technological development. However, most jobs created were in large industrial units in specialised sectors such as the steel industry, textiles or the railway industry, which could not lead to significant economic diversification. At the same time, the growth of the service sector, supported by the slow increase in market services and strong support to public sector jobs was not sufficient to compensate for the loss from industrial restructuring.

A significant achievement of ERDF in this period (and in those which followed) was its intervention capacity on brownfield sites and urban derelict areas, which constituted a priority for local and regional authorities (300 actions on urban areas were implemented during this period). In five years, around 3,000 hectares of wastelands were subject to environmental clean-up, lot servicing (530 hectares) and greening processes.

More than 110,000 m² of premises were created or rehabilitated. This is far below initial expectations (250,000 m²), but the ex-post evaluation provides no further information about this figure. This might be related to the limited success of activities in favour of ‘incubators’, in a period in which it was still easier to save a large number of jobs in traditional industries than to create new ones via support to entrepreneurship and SMEs.

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For these reasons, ERDF and domestic counterparts had a limited effect on economic diversification during this period, and the extension of the tertiary sector proceeded with a progressive increase in market services and the continuous growth of public services.

Between 1989 and 1993, large areas of land and premises remained to be renewed or developed. The difficulty for local authorities was to set up relevant territorial development projects addressing infrastructure, services, and accessibility. Through the following programmes, qualitative requirements increased to ensure that interventions affecting land or real estate would have real impacts on socioeconomic development.

Interventions in favour of culture and tourism, which would have increasing effects in the future, can be identified. During this first programme period, projects supported the upgrading of tourism services, hostels and catering. The launch of large projects such as Nausicaa benefitted from EU funds, and it still represents a major tourism asset today. Culture and tourism were constant considerations for local and regional authorities and were maintained as important intervention fields until recently, when EU regulations put the emphasis on innovation and competitiveness.

Table 10: 1989-1993 Programme - Main output indicators Actual Output SPD Target (A) C:B as % Approved Projects (C) N° of SMEs concerned by support 2,000 1,500 75% measures N° of projects dealing with technology - 80 - transfer N° of risk capital studies 60 - 0 % N° of R&D projects 11 - - N° of beneficiaries of training measures 84,699 111,102 131% N° of training centres modernised - 100 - Wastelands treated 2,200 ha 3,000 ha 136% Lot servicing - 530 ha

Surface of premises created or 250,000 m² 115,800 m² 46% rehabilitated N° of km of roads 60 km - - N° of water treatment plants - 2 - N° of urban operations - 360 - N° of km of treated rivers - 41 - Social sheltering : N° of bed spaces 2,500 - - created or modernised Tourism: N° of hostels rooms created or 500 259 52% modernised

Source: Commission Européenne (1996b)

1994-99

With the classification of French Hainaut in the Objective 1 category, important additional means were available to support the catch-up process.

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Concretely, employment increased by 12 percent in the Objective 1 area during this period. This was higher than the regional and national average (+8.4 percent and +5.6 percent). This is due in part to the creation of jobs in the public sector but also to businesses that increased their production and employment capacities. The contribution of ERDF projects is difficult to evaluate due to a lack of data, but it is estimated that these projects contributed to the creation of 3,220 direct jobs, 4,508 indirect jobs and to the retention of around 7,000 additional ones (European Commission, 2003a). Documents do not provide further information on the way figures have been calculated.

However, ERDF programmes have often been more successful in attracting large firms interested in the available workforce and infrastructure in Nord-Pas-de-Calais than in generating endogenous development on the basis of existing human resources and businesses. As mentioned in the ex-post evaluation report (European Commission, 2003a), the initial programme was based on supporting employment, but it proved to be much more successful in exogenous than in endogenous terms, with numerous foreign or non-local firms coming to settle in the area (in particular with the support of the Special Fund for Establishment).12 It must be noted that reports do not provide detailed information on the way these amounts were calculated. For jobs safeguarded, they correspond to enterprises that were in difficult situations and that could maintain their employment due to new investments and new development perspectives with the contribution of ERDF funds. However, it is not possible to figure out whether these enterprises would have really reduced their activities and dismissed workers (or how many) without ERDF support.

Until 1997-1998, ERDF projects were more involved in supporting traditional and declining industries than in promoting new economic sectors. Entrepreneurship remained low. The influence of large companies on subcontractors remained unchanged.

Interventions in favour of brownfield renewal continued with the treatment of 2,020 hectares of industrial land in the Objective 1 area and approximately 1,400 hectares for Objective 2. In 1994, it was estimated that the remaining stock of brownfield sites represented about 5,000 ha. Until this date, interventions were focused on the largest brownfield sites. From the end of the 1990s (1997- 98), projects have been targeted on smaller and more urbanised areas (with higher interventions costs), explains the decrease in hectares treated as compared to initial objectives (1,400 hectares for an objective of 2,400). In parallel, projects progressively evolved towards a stronger emphasis on business property rather than only cleaning and renewal activities. However, evaluation documents do not provide detailed information on the proportion of achievements corresponding to ‘greening’ activities, infrastructure development, housing, real estate building, or commercialisation.

Nevertheless, complete renewal accompanied by the location of new businesses has been quite rare, generally due to the unequal involvement of local actors and to the fact that many derelict areas were located far from the main communication infrastructure. In this case, the improvement of accessibility with local ERDF project (roads, bypasses) was not always sufficient to increase territorial attractiveness.

12 The Nord-Pas-de-Calais region benefited from a Special Fund for Business Location (Fonds Spécial d’Implantation - FSI), created in order to help big companies to settle on local territory. This support has been notified to the EU Commission.

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The effects of ERDF projects have been especially noticeable in the field of urban renewal. Three hundred projects were implemented in 131 cities in housing improvement, social support, health and cultural activities. Nord-Pas-de-Calais is one of the French regions with the highest amount of villages, cities and boroughs benefitting from interventions including roads, facilities and amenities, and social support. However, the final evaluation report does not provide much detailed information on these outputs (location of activities, share of the different kinds of interventions, etc.). Information is also lacking on their direct socio-economic consequences (results).

Regarding environmental indicators, it is estimated that ERDF projects directly contributed to sort and recycle 162,000 tons of industrial waste each year and participated in the improvement of air quality (reduction of gas emissions). In the industrial transition process, it is essential to also take into account the effect of the closure of many polluting industries, as long-term problems remained concerning water quality due to soil pollution. In 2009 and despite progress, Nord-Pas-de-Calais was still the second French region for the highest number of polluted sites (559) behind Rhône-Alpes (599).

Table 11: 1994-1999 Programme - Objective 1 - Main output indicators No data available for initial targets in the SPD

OP Target (A) Actual Output Approved Projects (B) (no data available) Direct jobs created (gross) - 3,220 Indirect jobs (gross) - 4,508 Jobs safeguarded (gross) - 7,000 N° of train stations renovated - 16 Development and maintenance of - 30 water streams (km) N° of redeveloped hectares (industrial - 2,020 brownfield sites) N° of m² renewed / demolished - 191,000 / 450,000 Urban renewal - 131 cities and 102,000 inhabitants N° of beneficiaries of training measures - 81,500

Source: European Commission (2003a).

Table 12: 1994-1999 Programme - Objective 2 - Main output indicators (Ex-post Evaluation) OP Target Actual Output Approved B:A as (A) Projects (B) percent 2,400 out of N° of ha of wasteland renewed Approx. 1,400 58 percent 4,000 N° of projects dedicated to environment and 50 - - energy savings N° of firms informed about innovation and More than - - technological support 150 N° of new labs 4 - - N° of additional students in high schools 16,000 75,000 in total

N° of jobs created thanks to firm real estate 500 - -

Source: European Commission (2003b), Annex 3.

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Table 13: 1997-1999 Programme - Objective 2 - Main output indicators (Final Implementation Report) Actual Output OP Target (A) Approved Projects B:A as % (B) N° of direct jobs created thanks to the measure dedicated to the support for 500 805 160% strategic set-up projects N° of jobs maintained thanks to the measure dedicated to the support for - 3,934 - strategic set-up projects

New areas of business premises (m²) - 455,200 - Rehabilitated areas of business premises - 134,300 - (m²) N° of jobs created thanks to the measure 500 3,888 617% dedicated to business premises N° of jobs created or maintained thanks to the measure dedicated to financial - 1,422 engineering N° of ha concerned by the measure - 2,087 - dedicated to business areas N° of places created or renovated for 7,000 3,576 51% high-skilled technicians N° of MWh/year of classical network energies substituted with renewable - 230,000 - energy 10-30% of energy N° of TEP/year energy savings 32,200 - savings N° of t/year of business waste treated - 378,288 - N° of m3/year of saved water - 412,686 - N° of t/year of pollutants avoided (COV, - 8,187 - HCl, NO...) N° of protected sites 7 N° of km² of natural areas having 861 benefited from ecological operations N° of people concerned by sensitisation No quantified target - 82,198 / year actions linked to environmental education N° of km. of rivers remediated 298 N° of studies carried out 49

Source: SGAR Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2003).

2000-06

Between 2000 and 2006, a modification in the regional development strategy can be observed. As a result of the guidelines provided by the Lisbon Agenda and persistent economic difficulties, local and regional authorities realised that stronger efforts needed to be made in favour of entrepreneurship, the knowledge economy and R&D.

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Regional priorities remained focused on support to enterprises but with a stronger focus on business creation as compared to previous programme periods. At the regional level, ERDF funds were mobilised in coordination with the activities of the Regional Plan for Creation and Transfer of Businesses (Programme Régional de Création et Transmission d’Entreprises, PRCTE). These activities led to the creation of around 3,000 firms and more than 150,000 people benefited from support measures and information promoting entrepreneurship through Objective 1 and Objective 2 OPs. Around 1,500 firms were set up through ERDF support. EU funds also contributed to improving entrepreneurship, with the development of ‘collective actions’ involving groups of entrepreneurs.

More generally, this period showed a growing interest in services, tourism, health, environment and ICT which contributed to structural adjustment (an example being the financing of IT laboratories for digital schools). 160,000 people were reached by ‘health’ measures (support and awareness- raising). In the field of ICT, there was difficulty in structuring activities around a regional strategy, as projects tended to develop on diverse intervention fields. Nevertheless, progress was made with initiatives such as ‘Digital Region’ and ‘Digital University in the Region’, which benefitted from ERDF support.

This was also stimulated by the contribution of ERDF projects to the setting-up of new competitiveness poles. The focus on ICT was particularly important, with almost 60 projects dedicated to broadband loops. In line with this evolution, the shift towards greater integration of R&D and innovation into businesses was also significant, even if the region remained below the national average concerning R&D performance during this period. Nearly 5,000 R&D jobs were created between 2000 and 2006 through both ERDF programmes. Around 16 percent of ERDF projects were implemented on issues related to innovation, which is one of the highest rates among French regions. One structural difficulty was the presence of a sizeable proportion of large companies with insufficient focus on design, research and innovation activities. Amongst the SMEs, most subcontractors still depended on these companies, and this situation was not favourable for entrepreneurship initiatives.

The final evaluation report and PRESAGE DATA during this period show that around 9,400 direct jobs and 3,916 indirect jobs were created in the Objective 1 area in Nord-Pas-de-Calais. This was mainly due to Measures 1.5 (animation of economic fabric, financial engineering), 1.1 (creation and transmission of businesses) and 1.2 (attraction of external businesses), representing 70 percent of the expected jobs. With regard to Objective 2, the global result was close to 3,579 direct jobs and 20,160 indirect jobs created.

During this period, very large regional infrastructure projects were also pursued, such as the Zone de l’Union in the Roubaix-Tourcoing area, which is a substantial urban renewal project encompassing the ‘European Centre for Innovative Textiles’ (CETI), innovative housing, economic activities, the regeneration of the Oignies brownfield site into a major economic and cultural site based on the enhancement of industrial and mining infrastructure, and the multimodal and logistics hub in Dourges. These projects corresponded with the will to support higher quality urban renewal activities, with longer term socioeconomic impact.

Efforts for the reclamation of former industrial sites were maintained in 2000-2006, with more than 400 hectares of wasteland sites treated, with a more important focus on finalised projects dedicated to the development of new activities. Overall, the ERDF contributed to the development

LSE 55 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais of more than 1,000 hectares of business areas (zones d’activité) during this period. However, the evaluation and monitoring systems do not provide precise data on the longer term achievements of these projects. As has been mentioned, successful initiatives are well identified but there is no integrated evaluation covering all employment areas of the region.

Table 14: 2000-2006 Programme - Objective 1 - Main output indicators Target (A) Output (B) Comments

N° of temporary - 11,661 theoretical regional jobs linked to estimation the realisation of projects N° of direct and 8,620 Between 13,000 and 18,000 indirect jobs created Evaluation method N° of jobs maintained 8,430 - not reliable enough

Source : ADE (2005a), Evaluation finale du programme Objectif 1 2000-2006 de la Région Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Rapport final.

Table 15: 2000-2006 Programme – Objective 2 - Main output indicators Target (A) Output (B) Comments

N° of estimated temporary regional jobs linked to the - 16,000 realisation of the projects N° of estimated direct and Around 20,000 Between 20,000 and 25,000 indirect jobs created N° of estimated maintained Method not - - jobs reliable enough

ADE (2005b), Evaluation finale du programme Objectif 2 2000-2006 de la Région Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Rapport final.

2007-13

The main characteristic of the 2007-13 programme period is the strong strategic shift towards innovation and competitiveness objectives. Since 2000, local and regional authorities have been aware of the necessity for stronger structural change. The EU regulations clearly accelerated this process.

However, with the PRESAGE monitoring system, only a limited amount of data is available regarding ERDF achievements due to the small amount of projects completed in 2010. The mid-term evaluation is focused on expenditure and does not provide much information on project outputs and results.

In the mid-term, the PRESAGE monitoring system specifies that between 2007 and 2012 around 18,600 projects managers were aided in the creation or transfer of businesses (50 percent of the target for the overall period).

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Even though it is too early to form a clear picture of the overall achievements during this period, it is of note that by the end of 2010, 95 percent of ERDF dedicated to the creation and transfer of businesses had been programmed.

In terms of structural adjustment, one of the most significant ERDF achievements has been its capacity to foster local and regional authorities towards better structured-development strategies, especially in emerging sectors. Measures dedicated to creating a positive environment for growth and competitiveness, as well as supporting actors and territory, have a high level of programme funding, with projects addressing the promotion of partnerships, the implementation of sustainable development policies, exploitation of new economic fields (renewable energy, biotechnologies), protection of the environment, risk management, sustainable transport, etc.

In terms of innovation, the region strengthened its research capacity in order to catch up with more skilled regions through the implementation of the Regional Innovation Strategy. At the same time, ERDF projects contributed to the process of industrial restructuring through support to the creation and transfer of businesses. But from 2009, a decrease in the number of R&D projects linked to competitiveness poles can be noticed, certainly due to the economic crisis.

With regard to sustainable development, this issue became a major transversal objective during this period and was more strongly taken into account in ERDF projects. In particular, rather than increasing conditionality, project managers benefitted from stronger support to take sustainable development criteria into account in their projects, whatever their field of intervention. In relation to ERDF project outputs, progress must still be made in 2012 to reach the objectives set for the overall programme. Since 2007, 262 km² of natural areas have been preserved as compared to an objective of 402. In the same way, 9,968 TEP/year of energy have been saved against an objective of 18,861, and 859 tonnes of waste have been recycled against a total objective of 3,464 (which is rather low).

The effect of the 2007-2013 OP on the labour market is more difficult to analyse, since this was no longer a central issue in the programme. The situation is similar for social cohesion, except for the specific measure dedicated to energy efficiency in social housing, which is currently used to support innovative and pilot actions in this sector.

In the field of infrastructure, the current period continues the significant achievements with a set of large projects increasing the visibility and attractiveness of the region, such as the Louvre-Lens Museum, the ‘Zone de l’Union’ in Roubaix-Tourcoing (mixed development area), the second phase of the Valenciennes’ tramway, the public transport project ‘VIAVIL’ on the Val de Sambre territory, and the LICORNE project (Lille International Campus Opportunities for Research and innovation).

Concerning the Louvre-Lens, the ERDF contribution is significant with €30 million from a total budget of €150 million. In the ‘Zone de l’Union’, the ERDF is providing €5 million for the development of the CETI (European Centre for Innovative textiles) representing almost 23 percent of the budget (€22 million). In the field of communication infrastructure, the implementation of the second phase of the tramway in Valenciennes represents a budget of €42.7 million including €7 million of ERDF (16.4 percent). Another large project, ‘VIAVIL’, presents a comparable overall budget (€40.4 million) with €12.8 million ERDF (31.7 percent). For the LICORNE project, the ERDF budget is much smaller (€3 million from €30.6 million), with a significant contribution from private

LSE 57 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais partners (77 percent of the total budget). In total, the ERDF appears to be a major contributor in the implementation of these large territorial projects. It not only contributes to the financing but also plays a significant role for the programming of such infrastructure, which represents considerable investment for local partners.

From a geographic and spatial point of view, efforts are largely concentrated on urban areas with projects such as the conversion of the Boulon industrial site aimed at promoting ‘street arts’ in a cross-border approach, or the re-industrialisation of the SELNOR site in Lesquin, close to Lille.

The spatial influence of ERDF projects is becoming more significant with the support for excellence or competitiveness poles set up in the region. The fundamental change as compared to an approach based on the designation of discreet areas (zonage) is the focus on networking and the articulation of competences that can be located in various cities or employment areas. However, it should be mentioned that competitiveness poles in Nord-Pas-de-Calais did not develop many connections with partners in other French regions (with the exception of I-Trans with Picardie).

Table 16: Objective 2 (2007-13) – PRESAGE monitoring system Output (source: % of Target (source: projects’ projects’ final achievem tender - not the OP) report) ent N° of sensitisation actions 8,632 17,948 207% N° of collaborations inter-enterprises labs 21 6 28% N° of cooperation between enterprises 306 36 12% and research institutes N° of ‘creation and transfer of enterprises’ project managers 36,402 18,598 51% accompanied Tonnage of waste recycled(t / year) 3,464 859 2.5% N° of long-term jobs created 2,204 227 10% N° of km of public transport implemented 32.4 8.1 25% Ecological corridors 876 166 19% Natural areas preserved (km²) 402 262 65% N° of R&D jobs created 695 35 5% Saved energy (TEP/year) 18,861 9,968 53% Rehabilitated surface (m²) 682,836 603,756 88% N° of TEP saved 54,740 23,916 44%

Source: PRESAGE monitoring system 2012.

5.1.2 Analysis by theme

When considering actual achievements of ERDF programmes and the expenditure per theme over the four programme periods, a significant focus can be identified on enterprises and structural adjustment that represents 39 percent of the total spending over the last 20 years. For these two themes, domestic counterparts have usually been higher than for the others due to significant contributions from businesses (in cases of large modernisation, development or implantation projects).

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Environmental sustainability, labour market and social cohesion presented comparable expenditure levels (around 12 percent each), which is in line with the relative importance of these three themes in the transition process in Nord-Pas-de-Calais.

Less expenditure has been dedicated to innovation, which received greater attention only from 2007 with the earmarking of funds on Lisbon priorities (8 percent). Regarding the spatial distribution of economic activities, this has been an implicit objective within the implementation of two specific intervention areas in the region (Objectives 1 and 2). However, even though the spatial dimension of investments was a strong issue, projects were also taken into account under other headings (enterprises or structural adjustment).

Figure 8: Expenditure in eight thematic priorities (in million Euros, 2000 prices)

Source: Authors’ analysis of programme documentation.

(i) Enterprise development

Support to enterprises evolved considerably between 1989 and 2007, though this theme was always present in programme strategies. During the four programme periods, it represented the most important field of intervention with 21 percent of overall expenditure representing around €2.4 billion. With the evolution of the regional development strategy and the improvement of the socioeconomic context, the support to enterprises moved from a focus on productive investments and the attraction of large businesses, to the improvement of the economic environment, innovation and, more recently, stronger emphasis on the development of an entrepreneurial culture more oriented towards the creation of SMEs.

During the 1990s, measures in favour of businesses were an important means of adapting the economic fabric, maintaining productive assets, transferring technology, improving competences and safeguarding jobs in industrial sectors confronted with massive layoffs. This industrial

LSE 59 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais environment could not be changed radically in the short term and projects were more dedicated to adapting existing activities than promoting a new industrial model.

Although the regional strategy and ERDF programme mentioned the need to innovate and create new businesses, evaluation reports do not provide detailed statistics and mainly refer to ‘enterprises supported’ in a broad sense.

The decision by Toyota in 1997 to set up its factory in Valenciennes with the support of domestic and EU funds is a good example of this process. Activities started in 2001, and by 2008 it represented €909 million of investment and 3,950 jobs. Considered to be a substitution industry, investment was motivated by the available workforce and a favourable geographic position in Europe.

The effect of the ERDF on the (re)location of such large businesses (as more recently with Sevelnord) is questionable, as this only represented a very small amount of the initial investment (less than 5 percent). Deadweight effects cannot be excluded, but specific studies on the motivations of entrepreneurs would be necessary to assess the importance of EU financing in firms’ decision making processes.

Between 1989 and 1993, EU and domestic support generated around €1.2 billion of private investment in more than 700 enterprises that contributed to the employment of 800 managers and technicians. Around 890 actions of consultancy were also supported for development or adaptation processes (European Commission, 1996b). Entrepreneurial successes can be acknowledged for example in the fields of agro-food, glass and large retailing, but they remained too limited to foster regional dynamics. According to the ex-post evaluations (SGAR NPC, 2003) the support to businesses and industrial sectors had positive effects with direct creation of jobs between 1994 and 1999 (3,256 jobs created and 8,275 maintained in Objective 1 and 1,031 created and 3,934 maintained in Objective 2 areas). These figures must however be treated with care, as the evaluation documents provides no further indication on the way they were calculated or on the contribution of domestic policies.

Despite these efforts, the modernisation of traditional industries was only able to ‘soften’ the ongoing transition process. Sectors like textiles continued to lose jobs and enterprises (for example, the textile industry in Roubaix). Nevertheless, the 1990s were characterised by a catching up process in the service sector with the development of public services or the development of other sectors like financial services. In this last case, 666 enterprises benefited from ERDF support up until 1999, with the creation of 2,713 direct jobs. The development of financial services continued, with an increase of 41.3 percent of jobs between 1993 and 2010.13 However, evaluation reports do not provide detailed information on the specific contribution of ERDF to this evolution.

Concerning SMEs, an effort was made to support enterprise creation (more than 500 projects funded under Objective 1), but no figure is available concerning job creation. Actions within Objective 2 promoted access to micro-funding for dozens of SMEs improving entrepreneurship and the professionalisation of managers. However, without longer term monitoring, it was not possible to assess the survival rate and provide additional support when necessary. The impact of ERDF

13 Source: Unédic 1993 to 2010.

LSE 60 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais measures on very small enterprises, in particular, was reported to be particularly low during the 1990s. Economic indicators remained worse than national figures in the early 1990s, such as firm creation rate (- 0.7 percent between 1992 and 1993) especially in the building trade (-3.1 percent) and services (-2.2 percent), while the enterprise failure rate increased between 1992 and 1993 (+1.6 percent). It has been necessary to wait until 2000 to see a more obvious focus and influence of domestic policies and ERDF programmes on entrepreneurship. The Lisbon Agenda encouraged local and regional authorities to go in this direction and fostered the setting-up of new intervention tools financed by domestic and EU funds.

For a few years, entrepreneurship was especially supported by the ‘Regional programme for creation and transfer of businesses’ (Programme régional de création et de transmission d’entreprises, PRCTE) or the Regional Plan for Craft Development (Plan régional de développement de l’artisanat). The influence of ERDF projects on entrepreneurship increased in parallel with this focus, and, between 2005 and 2007, more than 34,000 project holders were reached by information, awareness-raising and support initiatives in Objective 2 employment areas. In 2010, the level of business creation for Nord-Pas-de-Calais was even slightly higher than the national average (18.7 percent against 18.1 percent). However, the density of entrepreneurs for 10,000 inhabitants remains much lower than the national average (59 against 90) (CCI, 2012b).

It must be noticed that the increase of entrepreneurship between 2003 and 2007 was supported in France by different legal initiatives: the ‘law for economic initiative’ (loi pour l’initative économique - loi Dutreil in 2003), the law for SMEs (loi en faveur des PME - 2 August 2005), the ‘law for the development of services for individuals’ (loi relative au développement des services à la personne - 26 July 2005), and the ‘law for the modernisation of the Economy’ (Loi de modernisation de l’économie - 4 August 2008) created the status of ‘Auto-entrepreneur’ and greatly simplified the administrative process to set up businesses.

After a strong increase of business creation in Nord-Pas-de-Calais between 2006 and 2007 (+13 percent), which benefitted from ERDF support, there was stabilisation and a decrease in the economic crisis (-12 percent in 2009). Moreover, only a low number of innovative businesses were created during this period (between 2 percent and 4 percent of the total in France), and a low survival rate was observed after 5 years. One direct consequence has been to maintain significant ERDF support in favour of entrepreneurship with more than 18,600 business managers being involved in projects related to creation or transfer of enterprises since 2007.

ERDF projects continued to provide support for the PRCTE activities14 that is considered by beneficiaries as a key tool in the decision making process for business creation.15 It contributed to better structure intervention strategies in favour of SMEs (networking, improvement of competitiveness, financial engineering, training). ERDF projects also contributed to strengthening

14 PRCTE: Regional Plan for the Creation and Transfer of Businesses (Programme Régional de Création et Transmission d’Entreprises). 15 Conseil Régional Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2010), Evaluation du Programme Régional de Création et de Transmission d’Entreprise, Rapport Final.

LSE 61 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais regional initiatives such as ‘Je crée en Nord-Pas-de-Calais’, 16 reaching several thousand individuals willing to develop their own business.

Regarding business creation or development of new activities, one unexpected achievement of ERDF programmes has been to push beneficiaries to improve their project management skills and be able to address strict requirements regarding methodology and financial monitoring. This consequence at the project level reflects a larger learning process that also had positive consequences at programme level with the promotion of a project management culture and the improvement of monitoring and evaluation capacities.

However, as highlighted by interviewees, SMEs and entrepreneurs have often been confronted with administrative burdens and legal uncertainty when engaging with ERDF projects. One consequence of this has been to motivate potential beneficiaries to look for other source of financing. In this regard, ERDF is often more suitable for intermediary bodies supporting SMEs than for SMEs directly.

However, companies are faced with a wide dispersion of intermediary bodies and numerous systems elaborated to support SMEs in France. Enterprises and laboratories can receive relevant support from more than 70 operators, and around 314 different tools can be identified for business support in France (Cour des Comptes, 2007). In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, according to evaluation documents, one ERDF achievement has been to highlight this situation, to push for a better rationalisation of the institutional setting and a reduction of the number of intermediary bodies.

(ii) Structural adjustment

Since 1989, structural adjustment in Nord-Pas-de-Calais has been considered as both a necessity and a concern regarding its potential direct consequences for business and employment. This issue was particularly crucial in a region where addressing the main development challenge depended on its capacity to modernise and transform its traditional industrial fabric or develop new economic sectors to cope better with changing economic constraints and needs. This is illustrated by the important share of expenditure that reached €2 billion (18 percent of the total expenditure) between 1989 and 2010.

During the first two programme periods, one of the main ERDF achievements was to maintain businesses and jobs with productive investments, support to human resources, and improvement of competitiveness and adaptation capacities. This had positive effects in the Objective 1 area in the field of transport and railways around Valenciennes, which became a leading industry at national and international level. One of the most significant achievements in the field of transport was setting up a competitiveness pole (I-Trans), supported by EU funds. Today, this pole is considered as a ‘world class competitiveness pole’ and is among the best-performing ones in France, according to the 2012 national evaluation.

16 ‘Je crée in Nord-Pas-de-Calais’ is an initiative of the regional council that aims to reach every regional actor concerned with the creation and development of businesses. The project is structured around a website providing information and support to entrepreneurs or people willing to set up their own business. Institutions involved propose workshops, expertise, information on business opportunities, etc.

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ERDF programmes also contributed to strengthen the car industry, saving jobs and subcontractors with for example the support for the siting of Toyota near Onnaing, the development of Sevelnord and Toyotomi. However, the adaptation of these industries in continuity with former productive activities represents only partial achievement in terms of structural adjustment when Nord-Pas-de- Calais needs higher added-value and stronger conception activities.

In the process of structural adjustment, ERDF funds have also been mobilised in the Objective 1 region in order not to ‘lock’ the area of Valenciennes into transport industries. Local authorities decided to provide specific support to the development of ICT at the end of the 1990s, which led to the setting-up of the ‘Digital Image Pole’ (Pôle Image), which became another promising innovative development initiative at regional level.

By the end of this period, the weight of traditional sectors in the regional economy declined, due to jobs losses, but also to the development of new sectors that were partly accompanied by Structural Funds. In line with R&D projects, ERDF supported economic growth poles with an increasing involvement of local authorities, as can be seen with EURASANTE (health) and DIGIPORT (ICTs) in Lille, Transports in Bruay, environment in Dunkirk, and the food-processing industry in Cambrai. Food processing, which accounted for 13.4 percent of regional employment in 2010, has become one of the most important economic sectors in the region.

ERDF projects must be considered as part of an overall process. From a methodological point of view, evaluation documents analysed since 1989 do not provide relevant indicators that could be used to precisely quantify the specific contribution of ERDF to ongoing structural changes. As mentioned previously, ERDF funds contributed to maintain, modernise and attract businesses in traditional industrial sectors. Beyond financial support, ERDF programmes also contributed to modifying the economic and industrial culture in the region.

Since 2000, the transition process continued with a progressive change in ERDF projects. A good illustration is the textile industry and its transition towards more innovative, competitive and higher value-added activities. ERDF support to this industry during the 1990s and 2000s contributed to new developments around ‘technical textiles’ with the setting-up of the competitiveness pole Up-Tex in 2005. However, the textiles sector in Nord-Pas-de-Calais is still facing economic difficulties with international and even national competition with the promotion of other high value-added textile activities such as in the area of Lyon in France. Apart from ERDF or domestic funds support, the ability of economic actors in France to organise themselves in the face of increasing international competition is a key issue.

The focus on ICT has been significant since 2000, with a stronger positioning of regional authorities and a stronger mobilisation of ERDF projects in this field. In 2003, Lille had over 20,000 jobs and 4,000 businesses in the ICT sector and is now ranked as one of the most attractive places in France for ICT activities. The concrete contribution of ERDF to this trend can be measured on the one hand by the direct support to ICT businesses and on the other with the financing of ICT infrastructure and services (broadband local loops, ICT services digital public points, etc.).

In line with these improvements, Nord-Pas-de-Calais was one of the first regions to take part in the EU-funded IRISI programme (Regional Information Society Initiative). This led to the setting-up of the Excellence Pole EuraTechnologie in 2009 in Lille, which is especially dedicated to ICT

LSE 63 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais businesses from start-ups to large companies (€3 million ERDF from a €30 million global cost). This pole offers 150,000 m² of premises for businesses specialised in information technologies. It provides them with support to develop technologies, marketing and activities at international level. In 2010, EuraTechnologie hosted 100 ICT businesses representing 1,500 jobs.

This case of ICT development is an expression of a deeper movement that led local and regional authorities to increase their scope for intervention by creating better-structured development strategies. The influence of ERDF programmes in this regard has been obvious since 2000, with the orientations towards the Lisbon strategy that recently led to the setting-up of the Regional Innovation Strategy (RIS) with the support of the EU Commission. This contributed by giving a stronger impulse to economic poles and by better promoting economic sectors representing good development potential (ICT, health, agro-industry, digital industry).

Besides technological industries, structural adjustments in Nord-Pas-de-Calais also include services with specific reference to sectors such as tourism or culture that benefitted from ERDF support from the first programme period. In terms of surveyed investment, tourism represented a significant percentage of the final allocations of surveyed expenditure, 1.48 percent in 1989-1993, 4.74 percent in 1994-1999 and 4.28 percent in 2000-2006. Regarding achievements, tourist infrastructure and accommodation have been improved, increasing the attractiveness of major tourist areas such as the regional parks of Cape et Marais d’Opale and Scarpe-Escaut.

It must be noted that more than 50 percent of tourists in Nord-Pas-de-Calais come from abroad, with a majority from Great Britain, Belgium, Germany or the Netherlands. However, although Nord- Pas-De-Calais was ranked as eighth amongst French regions for tourism activities in 2003 (based on number of nights in hostels), this sector represents only 2.6 percent of regional paid-employment, which is one of the lowest rates in France.

In this sector, the difficulty for local and regional authorities has been to promote activities able to generate synergies and economic dynamism. In many cases, initiatives and ERDF projects were too modest and too local to have a measurable impact on regional attractiveness and regional development. EU funds, however, contributed to some major achievements, such as the National Sea Centre Nausicaa in Boulogne-sur-Mer, the Kursaal (Congress hall) in Dunkirk, the Site des Deux Caps or the tourist station Val Joly in Avesnois. Whereas facilities located close the coast prove to be quite attractive, the situation is mixed regarding the Val Joly. One main difficulty is the seasonality with quite weak frequentation during winter time, as well as a strong competition with other tourist centres in Belgium.

The situation with regard to culture is noted in the regional development strategy, and had clear interest from local and regional bodies since the first programme period. EU funds intervened at different territorial levels over the past 20 years with significant achievements in terms of territorial identity, innovation and local development. Despite a context of competition for the use of EU funds between local and sub-regional territories, ERDF projects generated cultural amenities that progressively constituted a coherent fabric at the regional level with a direct impact on the image of the overall territory. In this context, special reference must be made to regional, national and international museums such as the Musée Piscine of Roubaix (1998-2001), the Musée Matisse of Cambrai (2002), the Musée de la Dentelle in Caudry (2006-2009), the Métaphone of Oignies (2010- 2013), the Regional Pole of Street Arts (Le Boulon), and more recently the Louvre-Lens (2012),

LSE 64 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais which expects 800,000 visitors in the first year. Nord-Pas-de-Calais is the second region in France for the greatest number of museums per inhabitant.

With the Musée –Piscine (picture on the first page of the report), the objective was to create a Museum of Art and Industry in Roubaix, a city deeply marked by its industrial past (textile industry). This museum is located in a former spectacular art Deco swimming pool built in 1932 and closed in 1985 for safety reasons. In the early 2000s, a project was launched to renovate the building, producing a unique atmosphere that has no comparison in other French museums. The museum is dedicated to several artistic disciplines representative of local skills and industrial traditions and had more than 220,000 visitors in 2011 (first tourist facility for the number of visitors in the region).

The development of the museum also triggered a large movement of urban regeneration. It illustrates the extent to which a single cultural project may turn into a real local development dynamic, with impacts on the local economy, housing, and regional attractiveness. The same knock-on effect is expected in Lens with the Louvre-Lens Museum. This successful experience is a particularly good example of changes and structural adjustment which can be observed today in Nord-Pas-de-Calais as a result of support from EU funds.

With the recent shift in ERDF programmes towards Lisbon priorities, expenditure dedicated to culture and tourism decreased, and this is a matter of concern for local and regional actors for whom it constitutes a part of territorial and regional development strategies. Culture proved to have positive effects on the image of the region and on territorial attractiveness, such as tourism activities that still represent a significant and under-exploited development potential.

Regarding this issue, growing interest is raised by projects connecting innovation and culture, as is the case with the promotion of information technologies in the Louvre-Lens or the setting-up of a cluster dedicated to the use of digital technologies for culture such as the Digital Cluster in Lens.

(iii) Innovation

In the fields of R&D and innovation, ERDF achievements remained modest until recently. Even though this issue was clearly raised in the regional development strategy and in the first ERDF programmes as a priority, investments in innovation required favourable socioeconomic conditions that were not fully met during the 1990s. More recently, the focus was stronger with an evolution at EU, national and regional levels. Between 1989 and 2010, innovation-related expenditure represented almost €800 million (8 percent of overall expenditure).

Between 1989 and 1993, projects dedicated to innovation contributed to improve facilities, transfer of technology and productive tools, but they represented only one percent of the expenditure (see Figure 6). In the early 1990s, the few measures that were specifically dedicated to innovation had trouble generating enough projects (European Commission, 1996b; SGAR, 2003a & 2003b). However, until 1999, development perspectives increased in specific sectors such as biotechnology, agro-food processing or ICT that benefited from stronger domestic and EU support. In Objectives 1 and 2 areas, more than 400 enterprises received ERDF support for activities dedicated to technology dissemination, support to innovation or emergence of R&D businesses.

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Globally, the number of firms involved in a R&D strategy increased significantly with more than 1,000 in 1997-1998. During this first decade, ERDF projects supported initiatives such as the Technological Centre in Ground Transports (Centre Technologique en Transports Terrestres – Valutec), and the Railway Testing Centre (Centre d'Essais Ferroviaire) in the Objective 1 area. They represented significant R&D investments at local level and strengthened the pole of competence on transport in the Valenciennes area.

Achievements have also been noticeable in the support to the Centre for Experimentation and Enhancement of Sea Products (CEVPM - Centre d’Expérimentation et de Valorisation des produits de la Mer). Technological support led to the development of new products with a wider range of quality control and technical services. Important links have been established with the fishing industry, and the Centre developed an incubator for new technology companies in the sector.

However, during the 1990s, the number and scope of innovation projects were too limited to have a significant effect on investment, patents or to generate a wider knock-on effect on the overall regional economy.

This is confirmed with the implementation of domestic tools such as the Regional Fund for Technology Transfer (Fonds Régional d’Aide au Transfert Technologique, FRATT) and the Aid to Innovation and Dissemination of Technologies (Aide à l’Innovation ou à la Diffusion des technologies, ATOUT), which did not have the expected success in the Objective 1 area, with only 39 SMEs supported between 1994 and 1999.

The business fabric based on large companies and sub-contractors was not favourable for the promotion of independent innovation and R&D strategies.

According to interviewees, ERDF projects played a more significant role in the catching up process for universities and public research between 1990 and 1999. They especially supported human resources contributing to the overall increase of 50 percent of the number of researchers, engineers, technicians and administrators (+30 percent at national level). Between 2000 and 2005, this increase of human resources in science and technology continued.

With 3,300 researchers, Nord-Pas-de-Calais was seventh amongst French regions at the beginning of the 2000s. However, the increase in public researchers mainly concerned universities, and few investments were dedicated to other bodies such as EPST (Scientific and Technologic Public Body) and EPIC (Public Body with Industrial and Commercial Vocation), which are essential for the development of fundamental and applied research and promoting innovation in relation to businesses.

The discrepancy between human resources dedicated to research and private sector dynamism is highlighted by the profile of CIFRE contracts signed between young researchers and private businesses.17 Between 2001 and 2006, 78 percent of these contracts were signed with businesses located outside of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Region.18

17 CIFRE: Convention Industrielle de Formation par la Recherche. 18 Source: Association Nationale de la Recherche et de la Technologie, 2007.

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In parallel, a limited increase can be identified in the number of patents and private R&D expenses between 1995 and 2005. With 250 patents registered in 2005, the region was in 74th position in Europe.

In 2005, 56 percent of R&D investments in Nord-Pas-de-Calais were financed by public bodies and 54 percent by private actors. In this regard, ERDF achievements remain weak in favour of private investments that represent more than 60 percent of R&D investments in EU regions such as Vorarlberg, Stuttgart, Darmstadt, Luneburg or in French regions such as Picardie and Aquitaine.19

As for the 1989-1999 decade, the weak innovation and R&D indicators at the regional level understate the significant influence of ERDF projects at local and sub-regional level (

Important contributions include the creation of the Genopole in 1999 (one of the first 5 French poles on genomics) and the INRIA (National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automatics) which was set up in Villeneuve d’Ascq near Lille in 2001 (ERDF €890,000 for premises). In the Objective 1 area, EU funding dedicated to R&D was especially oriented towards excellence poles with more limited effects on SMEs.

However, with €570 million of R&D expenses in 2004, Nord-Pas-de-Calais was still ranked in 14th place among other French regions.

Since 2007, EU regulations have played a strong role in substantially increasing the importance of innovation in the regional development strategy. The focus in the new programme period on innovation and competitiveness constitutes a major change for local and regional actors. In terms of strategy, the shift certainly exceeds what could have been initiated by regional stakeholders without EU support, as many interviewees considered that this orientation was going too far or too fast for the regional economy.

However, this took place in a period characterised by a stronger mobilisation of public and private bodies, as can be seen with the launch of the competitiveness poles policy in 2005. At regional level, the political and institutional environment also improved with the setting-up of the Regional Economic Development Scheme (SRDE) in 2005 that created a more favourable context for future ERDF projects.

One of the main regional initiatives was the setting-up of a Platform for Innovation and Enhancement of Research (Plateforme innovation-valorisation de la recherche) in 2006, in order to support the creation of innovative businesses, regional attractiveness, financing of innovation, mobilisation of researchers, improvement of technology enhancement and transfer, etc. A regional innovation fund has also been set up for the financing of innovation (246 projects supported in 2008 for €24.8 million).

Regarding the ongoing 2007-2013 programme, the mid-term evaluation highlights the fact that Priority 1 ‘Research and development, innovation and support to businesses’ is the best-performing one (46 percent in September 2010) among the four Priorities of the programme. ERDF provides direct support to businesses or to larger initiatives such as competitiveness poles.

19 Source: Eurostat and Ministry of Research for France.

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It must be noted that this priority is directly managed by the regional government through a Global Grant and that these results demonstrate the ability of regional authorities to intervene in favour of innovation and competitiveness.

In terms of achievements, the 2012 national evaluation on competitiveness poles revealed that the functioning and activities of four poles in Nord-Pas-de-Calais among the six existing ones could be improved (Maud, Industrie du commerce, Up-tex and TEAM 2). This will require discussion and trade-offs between the poles, local, regional and national authorities to identify difficulties and make recommendations. On the other hand, the poles of I-Trans (world-class competitiveness pole) and Aquimer (national-class competitiveness pole) constitute good results in term of organisation and economic activities and generate positive knock-on effects on businesses involved in their respective intervention fields. They increase research potentialities, dissemination of information, coordination and exploration of new markets.

Beyond the promotion of competitiveness poles, the Regional Innovation Strategy provided an opportunity to mobilise local and regional partners and build up a conceptual and strategic framework for the promotion of innovation in the region. The Regional Innovation Strategy was produced with the support of the EU Commission, and benefits from €12 million ERDF support between 2007 and 2013.

One of its main contributions is the identification of Strategic Action Fields (Domaines d’Action Stratégiques, DAS) structured around three priority orientations:

- Sectors with strong international potential: railway transport, trade, health, nutrition and food; - Sectors with important regional and national economic potential: car industry, advanced materials, building and eco-construction, mechanics;

- Sectors with strong growth potential: energy, waste treatment and environmental clean- up, image and digital creation, e-health.

The objective of this approach is to foster new collaboration activities and new projects between economic actors and to better target public support on their specific needs. It also includes a broader reflexion on innovation with the awareness that ‘innovation cannot be ordered’ and that specific accompaniment is necessary to generate high-quality innovative projects.

In particular, the analysis of business needs revealed the crucial role played by human resources for the promotion of innovation, especially in SMEs (ADE, 2010). This need includes the availability and competence of managers and staff, the innovation culture or the necessity to make better use of innovation as a management tool, etc.

In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, this led regional authorities to provide stronger support to innovative SMEs with initiatives such as the ‘2000 SMEs Scheme’ launched in 2010 (Plan 2000 PME). The objective was to improve the capacity of intermediary bodies to foster innovation in SMEs through information, awareness-raising, support towards innovation projects, etc.

Concerning the economic promotion of R&D, dozens of projects have been financed by ERDF in relation to the ‘Maturation’ call for projects (technology transfer between businesses and

LSE 68 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais universities) and the creation of a specific tool focused on a collaborative loan for non- technological innovation. However, it is too early to have a clear picture of their achievements.

These different levels of intervention supported by EU funds, from the elaboration of strategic orientations to the concrete support to innovative projects in SMEs, show positive achievements, with innovation now being considered as a growing asset for the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region.

This is well illustrated by the success of EuraLille in ICTs, and the favourable development of the digital economy, trade, food industry, energy sector and e-commerce, despite a weak economic environment.

(iv) Environmental sustainability

In the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, environmental sustainability is at the crossroads of different major issues related to the economic development and industrial transition process. Thus, in order to assess the achievements of this thematic objective, it would be necessary to take into account projects implemented in the fields of social cohesion (urban renewal) and regional infrastructural endowment (generation or restoration of derelict areas). Nevertheless, projects explicitly dedicated to this thematic objective generated a significant part of the overall expenditure with around €1.3 billion (12 percent of total expenditure).

In the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, continuous attention has been paid to environmental issues since the 1960s with the creation of the first French regional park of Scarpe-Escaut. Since the end of the 1980s, ERDF funds contributed to strengthening an overall strategy aiming to protect natural areas in the face of continuous urban sprawl and the increasing footprint of economic and communication infrastructure. Concretely, this can be measured with the protection of 22,000 hectares of natural areas, the setting-up of contractual protection for 360,000 hectares of land and the preservation of 2,500 hectares of coastal areas.

Between 1989 and 1993, projects dedicated to environment already represented more than 6 percent of programme expenditure. Even though achievements remained modest in the remediation of rivers and the management of marine pollution, interventions in urban areas have been more significant with the upgrading of public spaces and the extension of green areas (360 interventions in urban areas during this period).

This trend increased in 1994-1999 with wider achievements with for example the protection of 365 hectares of natural areas, the development of 76 km of nature trail, and the remediation of 204 km of rivers and waterways.

ERDF contribution can be more precisely identified at different territorial scales with on the one hand small-scale improvements for municipalities (town planning, greening and on the other hand larger emblematic achievements such as the Site des Deux Caps in the coastal area between Cap Gris-Nez and Cap Blanc-Nez. It includes 7,000 hectares of protected areas, 23 km of coastline and five Natura 2000 sites. The concrete outcomes of this project included environmental protection, the improvement of amenities, tourist facilities, ecological enhancement, embankments, and soft transport systems between Ambleteuse and Audresselles.

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Nowadays, the Site des Deux Caps is recognised as a model project in terms of protection and enhancement of natural and built heritage. According to interviewees, it could not have been carried out to the same magnitude without ERDF support. It was an occasion for local authorities to work in a partnership way and represented a challenge for a better articulation between economic development and preservation of natural and fragile areas. At a wider scale, ERDF funds contributed to this project to improve the visibility of the region and its attractiveness, putting emphasis on an especially rich natural heritage in the region.

In a different way, ERDF programmes brought in a significant contribution for industrial and brownfield renewal. Their impact has been especially important with environmental clean-up activities, treatment or greening of thousands of hectares of derelict areas. Since 1989, it is estimated that ERDF funds contributed to depollute and green more than 7,600 hectares of land. This is a major issue in Nord-Pas-de-Calais that still accounts for half of the brownfield sites in France.

For interviewees, these interventions contributed to upgrading the quality of life of a large part of the population concentrated in the main urban and industrial areas. It also contributed to improving the image of former mining sites and of the overall region (for example the classification in 2012 of the mining area as World Heritage by UNESCO). Mining areas and mining heaps have also been considered as lands of specific environmental interest with the development of unique biodiversity (heat radiated by coal remains).

In connection to brownfield renewal, ERDF projects significantly contributed to the reduction of industrial pollution since 1994. Especially in the Objective 1 area, studies and analyses dedicated to ‘industrial pollution’ have been used to reduce the impact of iron and steel industries on the environment. Between 1994 and 1999, ERDF projects contributed to saving 21,300 TOE/year, reducing the emission of 67,000 t/year of CO² and treating 162,000 t/year of waste.

It must be noted that the decrease of industrial pollution in the region is also largely due to the de- industrialisation process and the closure of the most polluting activities since the 1980s.

Since the 2000s, the environment has been more clearly considered in Nord-Pas-de-Calais as a field of investigation mixing environmental purpose and new economic perspectives. With projects dedicated to environmental technologies, the ERDF contributed to better integrating environmental issues and energy management into firms’ strategies. It supported the development of green technologies (purification, recycling and co-generation), energy savings (renewable energies, heat networks, energy efficiency) and the setting-up of recycling networks for industrial waste. ERDF funds also supported the implementation of a network measuring atmospheric pollution (AREMASSE). They financed 160 actions raising public and firms’ awareness and supported 150 environmental pre-diagnoses for businesses.

All these activities represent specific expertise needs, competences, and potentially new markets for businesses, e.g. the creation of the National Research Centre in the field of soil pollution and the European Dioxines Study Centre in Douai.

Since 2000, there has also been a shift towards more prevention-oriented ERDF projects with the objectives of better informing the population, public and private actors, adapting behaviour and

LSE 70 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais preventing risks (information, education and awareness-raising). This is related to the generalisation of a ‘sustainable development’ approach that is directly promoted by EU regulations and programmes.

With the focus on Gothenburg priorities, public authorities in Nord-Pas-de-Calais increased their expertise capacities and developed their technical assistance to better inform and accompany beneficiaries in the conception and implementation of projects respecting sustainable development principles, setting-up the ‘Environmental Support Mission’ (Mission d’appui environnementale) in 2008.

The most recent achievements of ERDF projects in the field of environment include the integration in the 2007-2013 ERDF programme of a new priority dedicated to energy efficiency in social housing. Taking into account the important regional needs and the hundreds of millions of investments it represents, the strategy of regional authorities is to support a limited number of innovative or pilot projects whose achievements could be more widely disseminated with the support of other public or private financing tools.

(v) Labour market

Labour market, especially the fight against unemployment and the support to human resources, constituted a major stake in a region confronted with widespread layoffs and the need to restructure a large part of its economic fabric. This has been supported by ERDF projects but also by ESF measures that played a strong role in training activities. For these reasons, expenditure dedicated to the labour market has been high, with 12 percent of overall expenditure representing close to €1.3 billion.

Between 1989 and 1993, with a slacking economy and high interest rates, businesses adopted a wait-and-see policy, reducing the numbers of permanent jobs and increasing low-quality/temporary contracts. The number of unemployed people increased by 65,000 between 1990 and 1994 (+3.8 percent). It mainly affected old industrial sites (Valenciennes, Sambre-Avesnois, Roubaix-Tourcoing and Lens), whereas other parts of the region benefitted with a stronger increase in services.

In this field, concrete ERDF achievements are especially hard to measure due to the lack of relevant figures and the various domestic public policies that were implemented in favour of the unemployed. EU funds have been mainly oriented towards the development of training facilities (modernisation of 100 initial and vocational training centres) and improvement/adaptation of skills and qualification with the support of ESF (around 100,000 people benefitting from training activities during this period).20

Beyond these measurable outputs, the direct effect on education and increase of competences is more difficult to evaluate given persisting economic and social difficulties. Regarding vocational training, results have to be read having in mind the especially complex French institutional system

20 From an institutional point of view, the regional self-government had a general competence in the field of vocational training and apprenticeship since 1983. Then, the 2004 law (Loi du 13 août 2004 relative aux libertés et aux responsabilités locales) strengthened this position, the region becoming a major actor for vocational training activities.

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From 1994 to 1999, there was stabilisation in the unemployment rate after a strong increase since 1990. Against a backdrop of persisting economic difficulties, EU and domestic funds were impelled to protect traditional industries in order to avoid or reduce massive layoffs. During this period, 3,220 direct jobs and 4,508 indirect jobs were created with the support of ERDF (European Commission, 2003a). According to the ex-post evaluations, ERDF projects contributed to safeguard around 7,000 additional jobs. However, these figures are especially hard to confirm due to the insufficient evaluation and monitoring tools used before 2000 (a lack of indicators and no systematic and harmonised data collection).

With economic restructuring and available work force, Nord-Pas-De-Calais represented an opportunity for foreign investors, the region becoming the leading French region for foreign direct investment between 1996 and 1998 (54 decisions of FDI representing 2,855 jobs). Up until this point, ERDF constituted a means to provide attractive places for businesses and support their development.

This trend shows the limit of local (endogenous) development possibilities and the persisting importance of external factors on job creation. Within the region, the slight economic recovery during the 2000s concerned mainly services and has been mostly profitable for the area of Lille.

In the Objective 1 area, ERDF projects dedicated to ‘infrastructure supporting training and apprenticeship’ contributed to reducing unemployment through the development of innovative training tools and of individual pedagogy.

This evolution is however characterised by disparities due to the fact that new industries and new services hire a well-trained and young workforce, whereas almost no jobs are available for the less- skilled people. This tendency was even stronger in Lille with a large immigration of young people from other parts of the region.

Generally speaking, up to 2003 employment improved but the gap of 3 to 4 points with the national average remained. This raises the question of the effective contribution of ERDF projects to the convergence process with persistent low macroeconomic figures.

As mentioned previously (Section 5.1), evaluations carried out on employment in 2000-2006 showed that around 9,400 direct jobs and 3,916 indirect jobs were created in the Objective 1 area and 3,579 direct jobs and 20,160 indirect jobs in the Objective 2 area (PRESAGE monitoring system, 2012).

Since 2007 however, the focus on innovation and competitiveness reduced the ERDF contribution to job saving and job creation. This happened in a difficult period with strong effects of the economic crisis in 2008 (unemployment increased up to 13 percent in 2010 compared to 9.2 percent at national level in 2011).

With the focus of the regional development strategy and of the ERDF on Lisbon priorities, stakeholders also raised questions over the capacity of measures dedicated to human resources to contribute to the objectives of innovation and competitiveness. Looking at the way the ESF has

LSE 72 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais been implemented since 1989, and also considering domestic policies dedicated to employment, a rather ‘social’ approach can be observed. Beneficiaries of support and training measures are mainly low skilled people aiming to improve their employability. As a result of the Lisbon strategy, it was instead necessary to provide stronger support to entrepreneurs and highly skilled people committed to innovation and competitiveness processes. This highlights the difficulties in coordinating ERDF and ESF funds, even in the framework of multi-fund programmes. Interviewees expressed that their experiences of multi-fund programmes in Nord-Pas-de-Calais were not always fully satisfactory, and that closer strategic orientation between funds is required in order to meet current expectations.

(vi) Social cohesion

In the field of social cohesion, ESF projects made an important contribution especially in the Nord- Pas-de-Calais region whose population has been strongly hit by the consequences of economic crisis and industrial transition. However, ERDF projects have also been of primary importance, as social cohesion also includes urban renewal activities for which ERDF has been a strong contributor. For these reasons, the overall expenditure dedicated to social cohesion reached 12 percent of overall expenditure between 1989 and 2010.

In 1989, ‘Social cohesion’ was not identified as a direct and explicit objective of the regional development strategy and of ERDF programmes, but appeared as a transversal target with the improvement of education and training, the fight against unemployment, urban renewal measures, etc. This was possible during the first programmes with an interconnection between ERDF and ESF measures that were implemented under common strategic frameworks.

On the side of ERDF, key achievements can be observed in the field of urban development with hundreds of urban renewal projects implemented over the last 20 years. Since the early 1970s, economic difficulties reduced the activities of the building sector with very limited new building operations and insufficient upgrading of older housing (except in the areas of Lille and Côte d’Opale). The reaction of public authorities in 1994 was to focus projects on social housing where around 40 percent of the building stock had to be renewed. Considering the large investments needed and the decreasing support from State authorities, ERDF funds represented an opportunity for local actors.

Evaluation documents lack details on the specific ERDF contribution in this field, but it is estimated that at the end of the 1990s 60 percent of housing stock in the mining area was refurbished, which constituted one of the most significant performances among French regions. In the area of Lille- Roubaix-Tourcoing alone, around 8,000 slum housing units were demolished in 20 years and thousands of houses built or refurbished during this period. This directly improved the living conditions of the population and contributed to boost the local economy in former derelict boroughs that became more attractive for services and shopkeepers.

Besides housing, ERDF renewal projects upgraded public areas, green and leisure areas, roads, public facilities and public services, etc. In quite dense urban contexts, municipalities also mobilised ERDF projects to fight against noise with the setting-up of numerous anti-noise systems close to the main traffic roads. In port cities, this included heavier renewal operations in dock areas, including destruction of unfit housing and provision of new ones.

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For local and regional authorities, these interventions on housing and infrastructure constituted only one dimension of the process that had to be associated with specific support measures for fragile populations. On this point, ‘urban policy’ certainly constitutes the main intervention field where interrelated ERDF and ESF achievements can be found.

In the field of health, ERDF and ESF projects contributed to improving local services for people with drug or alcohol addiction that constituted the main public health issues in the region. They especially contributed to raise awareness with large information campaigns aimed at specific populations such as students, professionals, and people at risk.

From the end of the 1990s, the use of ICTs also contributed to improving social cohesion with better information and communication systems for youth, people at risk or elderly people. At school, initiatives such as ‘class pupitre’ (digital school) have been promoted in coherence with wider initiatives aiming to improve education and training systems (‘Digital Region’ and the ‘Digital University in the Region’).

However, even if it is possible to identify the number of people reached by ERDF projects, their achievements in terms of social improvement is much more difficult to assess. This is especially the case prior to 2000, because of the limited evaluation tools, and even after this date because of the difficulties in monitoring individual situations over the mid-to-long term.

Improvement can be observed in education and initial training in relation to large investments achieved with the support of ERDF projects in favour of colleges, high schools and universities. In 2009, the level of education for people between 20 and 24 was getting closer to the national average with 82.8 percent gaining their high school degree (Baccalaureat) as compared to 84.1 percent at national level.

Beyond education, social issues highlight the difficulty of evaluating interconnected achievements between ERDF and ESF, whose programmes tend to follow different objectives and methodologies. Taking into account various experiences conducted through mono-funds or multi-fund programmes, it appears that their respective implementation systems (regional for ERDF and national for ESF) constitute a permanent obstacle for their coordination.

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Map 9: Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. 2000-2006 eligible areas

Source : DG Regio.

Coordination difficulties also increased in Nord-pas-de-Calais between 2000 and 2006 with the selection of small sub-regional eligible areas that did not match the eligible areas of national urban policy (‘politique de la ville’). As with ESF, ERDF and domestic funds could not be coordinated on common boroughs or common neighbourhoods, which significantly hampered their achievements.

In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, there has also been a focus on the field of ‘culture’, considered since the early 1990s as a relevant tool to improve the quality of life, social inclusion and the image and attractiveness of the region. As can be seen with the recent classification of the mining area as world heritage by UNESCO, culture has been a permanent tool to change the relationship between the population and its past industrial history.

ERDF projects improved cultural endowment and cultural activities for local and regional populations with an increase between 1994 and 1998 including cultural services in deprived areas, animation, and specific activities dedicated to fragile population. The ‘culture approach’ reached a peak with the selection of Lille as the European capital of culture in 2004. EU programmes contributed to structure cultural activities in the region with special attention paid to museums that became a symbol of regional socioeconomic change and to the establishment of what is now called ‘the region of museums’.

In the 2007-2013 programme period, despite the focus of funds on Lisbon priorities, opportunities remain on social issues through the ‘territorial strand’ (volet territorial). This is the case with ERDF projects implemented in ‘isolated areas’ and the support for local development projects in the French Hainaut, for example. In particular, the inclusion in the Regional Operational Programme of a Measure dedicated to improving energy efficiency in social housing concretely contributes to reducing ‘fuel poverty’ (précarité énergétique) for this category of population.

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In terms of achievements, there could however be a better connection between ERDF and ESF activities whose respective contributions could generate stronger synergies. As an example, sub- regional authorities (‘Départements’) tend to make better use of public procurement and the building of public infrastructure to favour professional inclusion of specific populations. Achievements on this issue have not yet been very convincing with ERDF-funded projects, but changes in domestic policy requirements could help progress in this direction.

(vii) Spatial distribution of economic activity

In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, one of the main issues regarding the ‘spatial distribution of economic activity’ concerns the redevelopment of the mining area which was one of the sub-regions most strongly hit by the economic crisis. Unlike other French regions, this took the form of a specific and limited Objective 1 area between 1994 and 2006. It can therefore be assumed that ‘spatial distribution of economic activity’ is an implicit objective of a large part of economic development projects dedicated to the Objective 1 area. For this reason, the 7 percent of expenditure explicitly dedicated to this thematic priority is certainly an underestimate compared to overall programme achievements.

The economic, social and urban geography of Nord-Pas-de-Calais is strongly marked by former mining areas but also by the presence of more rural territories in the South and West of the region, and the presence of Lille as the main regional metropolis. This strong geographical contrast has been considered a major issue since the 1970s, with the desire to avoid the collapse of industrial territories and promote more balanced territorial development.

It must be noted from the outset that despite the explicit intention to use ERDF funds as a means to correct territorial disparities (as clearly illustrated with the creation of the Objective 1 area), the EU funds also generated competition between local and sub-regional authorities willing to improve their intervention capacities in territories hit by the economic crisis.

In this context, ERDF support must be considered as one aspect of the regulation game that also involves local, regional and national public financing. As an example, the creation of the Objective 1 area in 1994, on which a significant volume of EU funds would be concentrated, was also used by the Objective 2 sub-regional authorities in seeking stronger support from domestic policies (State Region Planning Contract).

For this reason, and considering the large set of parameters influencing territorial dynamics, the analysis of ERDF achievements regarding the spatial distribution of economic activities should be done cautiously.

Since the 1980s, the 15 employment areas of Nord-Pas-de-Calais show clear geographical specificities on which ERDF projects had different influence.

The ‘mining area’ was very active until the mid-1970s. It covered the employment areas of Valenciennes, Douai, Lens and Bethune and provided energy for metallurgy and steel industries, creating high geographical concentration of heavy industries. With the end of mining activities, part of the steel production moved to the coast (Dunkirk), which was also supported by shipyard activities.

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In 1994, the ERDF directly contributed to a continuous catching up process evidenced by a decrease in unemployment and a higher concentration of investment compared to the regional average. Examples of progress include the creation of new firms, the development of the car industry and the innovative transport industry, the implantation of the European Railway Agency and the establishment of the European Institute for Technological Research in Railway Infrastructure – Railenium - in Valenciennes in 2011.

Another sector where ERDF contributed to the development of Hainaut is the digital economy with the promotion of businesses specialised in animation, design, images, video games, and support for research, technology transfer and incubators.

However, results in this area are mixed, with a polarisation process and difficulties for successful industries to trigger wider development processes. As can be seen with the annual variation of population, former mining areas are still experiencing a negative trend even though the situation has slightly improved around Valenciennes. The situation remains difficult around Douai/Lens Hénin in the western part or Maubeuge in the east, despite efforts to rebalance economic activities. The negative trend in Dunkirk, Calais and Boulogne must be highlighted, where the situation deteriorated between 1999 and 2006. In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, the large majority of boroughs still have negative migration rates, except for the employment areas of Berck-Montreuil, Flandre-Lys and Artois-Ternois, which proved to be the most attractive between 1999 and 2006.

Map 10: Annual variation of population density 1982 and 1999

Sources: INSEE Nord-Pas-de-Calais, 2009b.

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Map 11: Annual variation of population density 1999 and 2006

Source: INSEE Nord-Pas-de-Calais, 2009b.

From a demographic point of view, these maps show the continuous concentration process in the area of Lille that has been further promoted by the opening of the Channel Tunnel, the high-speed train, the coastal ring road (rocade littorale) and the A16 highway. However, from an economic point of view, Lille must still strengthen its position as a regional metropolis between Paris, Brussels and London, which would require a greater development of high-level metropolitan services. Whereas this was not a priority for EU funds until 2007, it has been better promoted with the recent focus on competitiveness and integrated urban development.

Besides the steel industry, textile and clothing industries were especially developed in Lille- Roubaix-Tourcoing and Cambrésis. However, unlike Valenciennes, Douai, Bethune-Bruay and Dunkirk, which managed to maintain strong industries, Roubaix moved towards a more service- oriented economy (see Map 12).

Achievements such as the Technological Centre for Ground Transport and the Railway Testing Centre in Valenciennes show the importance of territorial assets (economic, social, institutional and political) for the successful development of ERDF projects. This raises the question of the capacity of ERDF to address the needs of territories and actors that lack expertise, strategic and methodological support to promote economic development activities.

The analysis of ERDF achievements related to traditional industries (car industry, railway and textiles) can be complemented with the specific case of the Audomarois employment area (Arrondissement of Saint-Omer). This area did not benefit from significant EU support as it was not eligible before 2007. The glass industry (Arc), which has been a growth engine for years, prevented the local economy from achieving an early transition process. This territory is now under strong economic pressure with the obligation to adapt its industrial activities. As highlighted by

LSE 78 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais interviewees, despite the absence of experience with ERDF projects, local authorities have shown good mobilisation capacities with financing opportunities offered since 2007. As for other sectors in the region, ERDF funds contributed to redevelop activities as can be observed with the recent support to Alphaglass, whose development in Arques has generated 370 jobs since 2008.

Map 12: Evolution of employment structure per sector (1975 to 2007)

Source: Recensement de la population 1975 à 2007 (INSEE).

Other employment areas in the south of the region had a more rural profile and lost population until recently, when a move from urban centres to suburban or rural areas can be observed.

On the coastal area, Boulogne and Calais benefitted from a stronger development of the tertiary sector with the presence of ports, tourism facilities, attractive natural areas and the proximity with England. ERDF projects were implemented in these different sectors and contributed to the support of tourism activities with improvement of facilities or better environmental management.

The Site des Deux Caps is a significant achievement of the desire to promote natural resources, regional visibility and attractiveness in this area. However, the creation of new businesses remains lower than the regional average (54 against 70 for 10,000 inhabitants in 2011), requiring stronger efforts from public authorities. In a general way, the difficulty is to better promote existing assets that have good economic potential (Site des Deux Caps or the 13 golf courses in the Côte d’Opale). Here, the question is related to the long-term management of ERDF investments in order to maximise benefits, especially when initial projects are successful in terms of attractiveness and sustainable territorial development.

Regarding territorial restructuring, structural difficulties still exist, despite important measures taken with the support of ERDF and ESF to reduce regional disparities. The employment areas of Artois and Hainaut still have a low level of revenue per capita when compared to the regional average (below €19,000 against €20,150 per annum in 2011). Forty percent of employment in Hainaut is still related to industrial activities and unemployment remains high in Maubeuge, Calais, Lens or Boulogne-sur-Mer (between 13 percent and 16 percent).

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In this context, it is questionable whether it would have been necessary and relevant to maintain stronger support for former Objective 1 areas. Differences between Nord-Pas-de-Calais and national socioeconomic indicators persist. The manner in which the Objective 1 area has been defined demonstrates that other surrounding employment areas could have been included, but were not because they were not contiguous with the Belgium border. Besides statistical eligibility, the classification of the overall region in one single category (as a competitiveness and employment area or as a future ‘transition area’) seems more appropriate for the implementation of an integrated regional development strategy. The main issue would be the capacity of local and regional stakeholders to define territorial priorities despite competition between sub-regional areas.

Concerning ERDF achievements, it might be necessary to develop a different view of regional balance which, until recently, relied on geographic comparisons to identify the most- and the least- developed areas. The ‘cluster’ approach, which can be observed for example with the ‘Digital Image Pole’ (Pole image) between Lille, Valenciennes and Wallers (regional cluster on movies and digital technologies), pushes towards a different approach to the spatial distribution of economic activities linked to the predisposition to connect competences, technological means and human resources from different parts of the region. As for competitiveness poles, they might currently be positively promoted by initiatives such as the Regional Innovation Strategy.

(viii) Regional infrastructural endowment

Regarding the eight thematic priorities chosen for the analysis, the development of ‘infrastructure’ also corresponds in a broader sense to achievements recorded under the ‘environment’ or ‘enterprises’ headings (land regeneration, brownfield site renewal, accessibility, etc.). For this reason, the 7 percent of total expenditure dedicated to ‘regional infrastructural endowment’ since 1989 is certainly an underestimate, taking into account the important investments in these three different categories.

One particularity of Nord-Pas-de-Calais is that it is one of the most urbanised and one of the best- connected French regions with a dense railway network (2nd freight railway network in France) and a well-developed road network (see Map 13).

However, the urban fabric and the development of transport infrastructure have been strongly influenced until the 1970s by the need for industrial activities, the location of enterprises, of workers, the movement of goods and raw materials. At the national and international levels, the region recently benefited from large projects such as the TGV Nord or the Channel Tunnel, which improved connections with London and Paris and increased the national and international position of Lille.

In the 1980s, regional infrastructure had to be modernised and adapted to changing economic and social needs, including the necessity to avoid congestion in a very densely populated region.

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Map 13: Urban areas and transport infrastructure in Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2002)

Source: Région Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Direction des transports.

Beyond communications, the regional infrastructural endowment was lower than the national average in this period requiring stronger investments (public services, schools, culture, etc.). Whereas Nord-Pas-de-Calais saw its share of population or GDP decrease compared to the national level, its weight regarding the stock of infrastructure continuously increased during the 1990s.

For regional authorities, ERDF funds were an opportunity to increase their investment capacities, triggering a catching-up process and using projects as a support for local economic development.

However, in a context of economic crisis, local and sub-regional interests prevailed in the 1990s, local authorities often being in a position of competition to access to EU funds. This generated numerous ERDF projects that had positive social and economic effects at local level, but that often missed coordination at wider territorial level. In parallel, selection criteria for ERDF projects were not very strict and required only limited analysis of future potential economic and territorial impact.

For this reason, the contribution of sub-regional road infrastructure to regional socioeconomic development was more subject to discussion between DG Regio and the regional authorities (urban bypass, national road 49 between Valenciennes and Maubeuge, national road 2 between Maubeuge and Avesnes-sur-Helpe, etc.).

Concerning railways, ERDF projects contributed to improving existing services and reducing travel time for passengers between urban centres such as Maubeuge and Lille, for example. As identified in operational programmes, inter-urban and urban transport facilities have been identified as key issues to improve quality of life and labour force mobility. ERDF achievements are especially

LSE 81 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais important with tramway infrastructure that could not be entirely paid for by local authorities, as can be seen with ongoing projects in Valenciennes and Douai. In this case, with the promotion of collective and non-polluting urban transport, the ERDF has a direct influence on the quality of life, the mobility of people and local development.

ERDF projects also contributed to promoting sustainable accessibility with multimodal and logistic platforms that proved to be especially important for the regional economy, taking into account the position of the region at the crossroads between France, England and Belgium. Reference should also be made to ports infrastructure in Dunkirk and the hub of Dourges, launched in 2003. For the region, a major issue was to ‘capture’ the traffic going through the North of France and propose logistic services or even transformation activities with higher added value. This strategy was implemented with major achievements with the support of EU funds.

The hub of Dourges (also called Delta 3) is a multimodal logistic hub connecting roads, railway and waterway infrastructure. Its mission is to attract manufacturers and logistic service providers and to create a development pole in the centre of the region. From an economic point of view, the ERDF generated a significant leverage effect with a contribution of €21 million to a total of €69 million. It contributed to the creation of around 1,000 jobs in regional, national and international businesses located in the 300 hectares of the entire site. This platform maximises the key geographic position of the region and the potential it represents for businesses.

Other effects include the development of environmentally friendly modes of transport, the decrease in traffic density and road accidents, and the decrease in CO2 and SO2 emissions. Delta 3 was implemented with regard to high environmental criteria encompassing building norms, landscape and urban development.

Despite the example of Dourges and other multimodal platforms in the region, it must be specified that ERDF infrastructure has seldom been oriented towards interregional or transnational accessibility, which is nonetheless a key aspect of regional economic development. On this question, as highlighted by interviewees, the connection between regional ERDF and INTERREG projects has always been quite limited, despite the potential mutual benefits of more integrated strategies and implementation processes between these programmes.

In terms of achievements, ERDF funds contributed to increasing the stock of available land or directly financed real estate and development projects in former industrial areas. Given the very large volume of brownfield sites to be dealt with, one option in the 1990s was to focus on environmental improvements and ‘greening’ thousands of hectares of land. Even if the improvements were not always accompanied by economic development strategies, they contributed to the overall environmental clean-up and restoration process that was indispensable to improve the image of the region and attract new businesses from outside the region.

Enterprises also benefited from investments in infrastructure for business areas and ports, with more than 250 projects financed between 1994 and 1999, which exceeded initial objectives. In Objective 2, ERDF financed 455,200 m² of new areas and 134,300 m² of rehabilitated areas corresponding to 3,888 jobs. During this period, there was still an important focus on the quantitative offer of premises and real estate for businesses. However, the evaluation documents

LSE 82 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais do not provide more precise information on the profile of beneficiaries, the location or the sustainability of jobs created or supported.

Regarding business areas, feelings are often mixed with on the one hand ‘extensive projects’ that did not always have the expected results and on the other hand successful ones such as the scientific park of the ‘Haute Borne’ near Villeneuve d’Ascq that benefited from EU funds. This site is characterised by a favourable geographical situation, a scientific context oriented towards high technologies, a preserved natural environment and high-quality facilities. The site of 300 hectares contains a concentration of 60 research centres with around 1,300 researchers. It was conceived on the basis of high environmental quality principles, and nine hectares were dedicated to innovative housing.

The improvement of infrastructure for businesses in parallel with the promotion of regional excellence poles (business clusters) contributed to improving the attractiveness of the region. It should be highlighted that in 2009 the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region was among the top five French regions for the location of international businesses (6 percent of projects and 7 percent of employment in France). However, these businesses are generally characterised by low technology- intensive activities (Conseil Régional Nord-Pas-de-Calais, 2009).

Other significant achievements of ERDF in Nord-Pas-de-Calais include projects such as the Zone de l’Union or EuraTechnologie which benefited from ERDF support. The Zone de l’Union in the Roubaix–Tourcoing area (80 hectares) is based on an extensive urban regeneration project. It was awarded the ‘Grand Prix national EcoQuartier 2011’. It is a formerly dense industrial area that included industries and housing for workers, but it was turned into an industrial wasteland in 1990- 2000, following the metallurgy and textile crisis.

The project consists of the conversion of wasteland into an ambitious project of a sustainable ‘city re-invented’, within the framework of Lille’s Agenda 21. It has been turned into an ‘eco-district’, with a strong social dimension (3,000 inhabitants and 3,000 jobs), mingling innovative housing, economic activities and a large urban park integrated into the Green and Blue Belt, with an important role played by associations. It also encompasses the ‘European Centre for Innovative Textiles’ (CETI).

In the same way, the mining area of Oignies has been successfully transformed into a major economic and cultural site based on the promotion of the industrial and mining heritage.

The mining pit in Oignies was the last to be closed at the beginning of the 1990s in Nord-Pas-de- Calais. The local authorities decided to renew the mining heap in order to improve the environment, to maintain cultural heritage, and to promote another image of the mining area. A large part of the transition and rehabilitation activities has been dedicated to music.

Future achievements cover several aspects. High-level logistic activities will be located in the ‘EuraTechnologie Business Park’ between Delta 3 and Oignies. Business tourism will be supported with attractive facilities (hotel, housing, restaurant, seminar rooms), and 3,000 to 6,000 m² of offices will be open to any activity.

For these two main examples, the Zone de l’Union and the former mining site of Oignies, ERDF funds created the opportunity to intervene on the different dimensions of a territorial development

LSE 83 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais project (land management, infrastructure, real estate, housing, etc.), which was essential to trigger effective development dynamics and increase territorial attractiveness as can be observed in both cases.

5.1.3 Institutional factors affecting achievements

The implementation of ERDF programmes can be perceived as a continuous ‘learning process’ for local, regional and national bodies since 1989.

During the 1990s, technical and administrative requirements were less binding than today for managing bodies and beneficiaries. From an institutional point of view, State services played a strong role providing strategic guidelines and technical expertise in the joint implementation of State-Region Planning Contracts and ERDF programmes. With the decentralisation process, the regional authority of Nord-Pas-de-Calais rapidly strengthened its management capacities regarding international and EU affairs.

In France, these authorities benefitted from the creation of DATAR in 1963. This was a significant move forward towards the setting up of regional development strategies and for the implementation of EU funds. DATAR provided growing assistance for the promotion of evaluation activities with technical support and training sessions. One important contribution since 2000 has been the setting up of the national data processing monitoring system (PRESAGE).

This overall institutional and professional environment played a strong role in the implementation of EU funds and showed good adaptation capacities with the increase of EU requirements related to evaluation, monitoring and control activities (European Commission, 2009a). In particular, joint committees have been progressively set up between State-Region Planning Contracts and ERDF programmes to improve coordination and efficiency. However, as highlighted during interviews with regional actors, debates still go on concerning the modality of this coordination process, for example with mixed arguments regarding the constitution of transversal or thematic committees.

Between 2000 and 2006, the effectiveness of programme was improved with initiatives taken by the Managing Authority concerning monitoring tools (updating of indicators, monitoring and alert systems, strengthening cooperation with the authority in charge of statistics (INSEE), strengthening human resources for monitoring activities, animation and consultation with beneficiaries, especially with municipalities, etc.) (ADE, 2005a and 2005b).

At the local and regional levels, ERDF projects benefitted from an increase in competences and professionalism in public institutions. However, the question of technical support and project engineering has been a permanent concern for municipalities, small towns and rural areas of Nord- Pas-de-Calais over the last 20 years (from interviews with regional actors). Especially when programme requirements increase, local bodies do not always have the necessary expertise to carry out analyses, to set up strategies, or to gather relevant public and private actors to design and implement ERDF projects.

Moreover, the superposition of three layers of self-government and State services (municipalities, departments, regions) with proper and sometimes shared responsibilities generates rather complicated decision-making processes. Even though ERDF programmes did not have effects on this

LSE 84 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais organisation, they pushed for the rationalisation of intermediary bodies (support to SMEs, vocational training, etc.).

With the increase of EU administrative requirements, one counterproductive effect might have been the determination of monitoring and control institutions to avoid any kind of administrative or legal risk. As mentioned by regional actors, these authorities have been progressively pushed to increase their own requirement to reduce legal uncertainty, thus creating administrative burdens for other partners and beneficiaries. On this point, the issue of ‘simplification’ appears as a crucial one, especially from the perspective of mobilising private actors that are particularly sensitive to administrative processes.

5.2 Complementarities and synergies

Over the past 20 years, complementarities between the ERDF and the ESF funds that have been allocated under common programming documents in different periods have been especially important. The connection between ERDF and other funds such as the EAFRD is less significant, especially when compared with other French regions such as Champagne-Ardenne, Aquitaine, Centre, Picardie and Poitou-Charente, all of which benefited more from the Common Agricultural Policy.

Relations have been a bit stronger with the EFF, fisheries constituting an important activity in the coastal area and especially in Boulogne (largest fishing port in France). Community policies have contributed a great deal to the development of fisheries in Nord-Pas-de-Calais with the modernisation of the fleet and support to shore infrastructure, including the support to fish- processing industries. They accompanied the industrial change and economic difficulties met by this sector.

In term of complementarity and synergies, the strongest connections are to be found between ERDF and domestic programmes and especially with the State-Region Planning Contracts. Since the end of the 1980s, these programmes have been conceived and implemented in close relation with a growing influence of ERDF on domestic strategies. Regarding expenditure and achievements, they brought comparable support with, once again, a growing influence of EU funds.

5.2.1 Complementarity between ERDF-funded programmes

Complementarity with the European Social Fund

In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, a major issue regarding the complementarity between funds concerns the connection between ERDF and ESF. This region has been and still is facing important social challenges regarding employment, education and health.

Since 1989, ERDF and ESF had to intervene on quite close issues, with for example the fight against unemployment. ERDF projects provided support to businesses with productive investments, while ESF intervened to improve or adapt competences with vocational training activities. It must be noted that in the Objective 1 area the ESF intervened mostly in favour of the unemployed, which was one of its priorities. In Objective 2 areas, the ESF intervention was more in favour of employees and SMEs. However, the leverage effect of EU funds on SMEs confronted with modernisation challenges remained rather low.

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Another striking example of complementarity relates to the improvement of training systems with strong ERDF support for training facilities (colleges, high schools, universities) and ESF contributions to the adaptation of programmes and support to fragile populations.

Besides specific cases such as these (a combination of hard and soft investments), comments on the articulation of these two funds are mixed. The fact that ERDF programmes have been implemented on a regional basis and that ESF was steered at national level was considered as an obstacle to stronger cooperation. In this regard, the implementation of ESF through decentralised State services or the use of multi-funds programmes did not bring a radical change, these two funds having specific intervention logics. The use of multi-fund programmes could even create opposition between State authorities concerning budget allocations, as occurred between 2000 and 2006.

In some cases, the ESF has been a means to mobilise fragile populations to work on ERDF infrastructure through professional integration projects (chantiers d’insertion). However, social actors consider that this possibility has not been sufficiently used, taking into account the large amount of ERDF projects that have been implemented in the region. Recently, the two ‘Departments’ of Nord and Pas-de-Calais decided to include the participation of this category of people more systematically in infrastructure projects (through ‘Territorial Contract’ (contrat de territoire) in Pas-de-Calais and through ‘Integration Clause’ (clauses d’insertion) in Nord.

Since 2007, the shift towards competiveness and innovation accentuated discussions on the compatibility between the ESF, which will remain quite ‘socially’ oriented, and the ERDF, which must support more innovative projects and industries. In particular, there would be a need to support entrepreneurs better through training measures, but this group does not constitute a priority for the ESF. On the other hand, with the socioeconomic consequences of the 2008 economic crisis, the ESF was influenced by the necessity to maintain significant support in favour of social cohesion measures.

Even if the tools continue to be managed under two distinct institutional systems, progress is expected on some issues for which closer or better-coordinated objectives could be set up. Reference might be made to ESF support not only for fragile populations and employees but also for entrepreneurs, alongside a stronger integration of professional integration activities in development, investment or infrastructure projects financed by the ERDF.

5.2.2 Complementarity with domestic regional policy

State-Region Planning Contract (CPER)

Launched in the mid-1980s, State-Region Planning Contracts have progressively replaced the former centralised Five-Year Plans (plans quinquennaux). Based on a ‘contract’ between the State and regional authorities in each region, they carry out analyses, set up priorities, and fix the respective financial contribution of each partner to reach common objectives.

Since their creation, the CPER have been strongly connected to the implementation of the Structural Funds. They are implemented on the same multiannual basis as the ERDF and their priorities are set in close relation with the EU programme documents.

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In Nord-Pas-de-Calais (as in many other French regions), the ERDF regulations during the 1990s allowed scope to include a broad set of activities in the programme documents. The influence of the French ministries was strong (especially ‘Equipment’ and ‘Industry’), and the CPER provided guidelines that had to be taken into account by regional partnerships in the definition of CSFs and SPDs.

Since 2000, the national authorities are becoming less involved in regional development policies parallel to the strengthening of regional authorities. On the side of EU funds, programmes are more targeted and the requirements related to implementation and monitoring of projects are stronger. During this decade, there has been a clear increase in the influence the EU programmes on the content of CPER, which is less influenced by national priorities, and the ERDF can be considered as ‘compensating’ for the reduction in the State contribution.

Since 2007, the regional contribution to the CPER exceeds the State contribution. For 2007-2013, the EU funds represent €1.13 billion (ERDF, ESF, EAFRD and EFF) and the CPER €3.076 billion in Nord-Pas-de-Calais (€3.063 billion for 2000-2006). The region is financing 48 percent of the CPER, the State 27 percent, and the two ‘Departments’ 25 percent

Table 17 below provides a precise idea of the connection between the priorities of the CPER and the EU funds for this period.

Table 17: Priorities of operational programmes versus priorities of CPER 2007-2013 Operational programmes CPER priorities 1. R&D – Innovation – support to businesses 1. To promote a regional economy that is efficient and innovative 2. Environment, sustainable development and 2. To protect the environment and ERDF risk prevention preserve natural heritage 3. Accessibility, transport and ICT 3. To make Nord-Pad-de-Calais a hub in the heart of Europe 4. Territorial axis 4. To strengthen territorial attractiveness Adaptation of labour force and unemployed, 5. To promote lifelong learning ESF social inclusion, human capital EAFRD: Competitiveness, preservation of See priorities 1 and 2 natural areas, quality of life and EAFRD / EFF diversification, LEADER EFF: Adaptation and development of sea products sector

Competitiveness poles

In France, 71 competitiveness poles (Pôles de compétitivité) have been selected since 2004. They benefitted from €1.5 billion from State authorities between 2009 and 2011.

The seven competitiveness poles launched in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region have been listed in Part 2 ‘Regional context and analysis of needs’. On the domestic side, projects can be financed through a ‘Single Interministerial Fund’ (fonds unique interministériel) (R&D projects and innovation platforms), with the contribution of local/regional government, the Caisse des dépôts et

LSE 87 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais consignations or the support of intermediary bodies dedicated to innovation and competitiveness (National Research Agency, OSEO).

On the EU side, different tools are used to support the activities of competitiveness poles. In the framework of the regional OP, sub-priority 4 of Priority 1 ‘to support R&D project of competitiveness poles’ highlights the complementarity between this domestic policy and the EU priorities.

However, many beneficiaries prefer to use other possibilities which are more specifically dedicated to research and innovation such as the Eurêka programme, the 7th Framework programme and the Competitiveness and Innovation programme (CIP). Especially for businesses, ERDF is considered as more complicated to use and less adapted to the requirements of the private sector.

‘Grenelle de l’environnement’

In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, the ‘Grenelle de l’Environnement’ and the focus on sustainable development took the form of a specific working group during the elaboration of the regional OP 2007-2013. The connection with the orientation of the EU regulation is strong, but specific influence of the ‘Grenelle’ can be highlighted:

- The implementation of ‘Trames vertes et bleues’ (green and blue corridors), which aim to reduce the decline of biodiversity. They are based on a regional plan of reservoirs of biodiversity and corridors that connect them. In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, a specific target for ERDF or EARFD projects is dedicated to the protection of biodiversity.

- The creation of a ‘Mission d’Appui Environnemental’ that supports beneficiaries to elaborate ERDF projects that respect sustainable development principles.

- The improvement of energy efficiency for social housing. This measure is supported by the French government and took the form of a new priority in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais OP after the mid-term evaluation (sub-priority 6 of Priority 2. ‘Energy efficiency in social housing’). The issue is particularly strong in this region with a large amount of social housing and the risk of energy insecurity for a growing part of the population

- The setting-up of a ‘Plan Fret Ferroviaire’ in 2009 (Rail Freight Plan) with €7 billion to be invested in France until 2020. In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, it concerns sub-priority 1 ‘Transport’ of Priority 3 ‘Accessibility’ of the OP, with projects related to the modernisation of networks and promotion of interoperability. Even though rail freight remains important in Nord-Pas-de-Calais (strong activities in Dunkirk, Dourges and Marquion Platform), the ‘Plan Fret Ferroviaire’ does not meet expectations in France with a decrease of its activities.

National Economic recovery plan

The global economic crisis started to have a strong impact on the French economy in the second half of 2008. The consequences are different depending on the region and its economic structure. Regions with ‘traditional industries’ such as Lorraine and Nor-Pas-de-Calais have suffered more than others, with an increase of social disparities, unemployment and poverty.

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In this context, the French government took a range of measures concerning the implementation of ERDF OPs as part of its ‘Plan de relance’, in particular to accelerate the implementation of the OPs and better target Lisbon priorities, sustainable development, digital infrastructure and energy efficiency in housing (circular dated 24 Nov. 2008 and 29 Jan. & 22 June 2009).

From a financial point of view, the State allocated €38.8 billion between 2009 and 2010 with the objective to ‘support today’s activities and prepare tomorrow’s competitiveness’.

The Nord-Pas-de-Calais region has been especially concerned by two main aspects of this plan. The ‘Plan Campus’ and the ‘Programme d’Investissement d’Avenir’ (PAI). For the ‘Plan Campus’, €110 million was allocated for the ‘Campus Grand Lille’ project (universities/higher education) and €384.7 million for 31 projects of the ‘Programme d’Investissement d’Avenir’ (research facilities, laboratories, transfer of technology, etc.).

These programmes have been elaborated taking into account coordination possibilities with the ERDF regional OP. They especially contribute to strengthening Priority 2 ‘strengthening international attractiveness of training and research system’ and sub-priority 4 ‘support R&D projects of competitiveness poles’ of Priority 1 ‘Research and development, innovation and businesses’.

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6. ASSESSMENT OF ACHIEVEMENTS AGAINST OBJECTIVES AND NEEDS (EFFECTIVENESS AND UTILITY)

The notions of effectiveness and utility raise the question of the assessment of the extent to which achievements met programme goals (effectiveness) and needs (utility). As will be demonstrated, the achievements of ERDF on regional development are mixed and do not always match the explicit objectives and expectations formulated in programme documents. Similarly, the identification of ‘needs’ can significantly vary depending on economic, social or political considerations.

As discussed in Section 5.1, the difference between reported and actual achievements might be a way to broaden the perception of the ERDF contribution to socioeconomic development, including the Fund’s capacity to alter intervention processes and the perception of regional development needs.

6.1 Overall achievements of ERDF programmes measured against programme objectives (effectiveness)

In this section, effectiveness must be understood as the extent to which programmes achieved their goals and whether, or to what extent, the intended results (as set in programme documents) were achieved through the intervention of the programme.

From a methodological point of view, programmes implemented before 2000 provide often a poor or vague definition of objectives. Objectives were not well identified and quantitative targets were specified only for a few intervention fields, with gaps in statistical series. Without this information, evaluators miss the landmarks and references that are necessary for a full and accurate assessment of effectiveness.

Reported results detailed in final reports or ex-post evaluation documents provide information on only a limited amount of issues. Even when outputs (and sometime results) are measurable, evaluation reports provide only a partial (and more or less accurate) view of the reality.

Socioeconomic analysis and triangulation between different kinds of sources (including interviews) provide a richer picture with the identification of ‘actual’ achievements. The assessment of actual achievements requires a wider approach of explicit objectives and quantifiable outputs and results.

In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, EU programmes identified different levels of needs and objectives corresponding to the overall ‘catching up’ process or general socioeconomic development, but also to more specific constraints related to local and sub-regional development challenges.

Generally speaking, when differences can be observed between intended objectives and actual achievements in this region, the following main explanatory factors can be highlighted.

- The first one refers to the modification of strategic choices during a programme period and the change of initial objectives. One recent illustration was the integration of an objective related to energy efficiency in social housing after the 2007-2013 mid-term evaluation.

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- The second one is the appropriateness (or not) of initial objectives with regard to the socioeconomic context. This was the case for example in the early 1990s with measures dedicated to incubators and entrepreneurship that generated only a very limited number of projects.

- The third one is the programming of large projects (especially important in a transition region such as Nord-Pas-de-Calais) that can be faced with technical, financial or administrative difficulties. This happened with the Louvre-Lens project that was de- programmed in 2000-2006 and re-programmed in 2007-2013.

- The fourth one concerns budgetary trade-offs between Measures or Priority Axes in order to ensure satisfactory programming of funding levels. In this case, the will to improve programme efficiency is motivated by budgetary and administrative purpose more than by strict regional development considerations.

- The fifth one refers to the case in which authorities involved in drafting programme priorities do not explicitly mention objectives that remain ‘hidden’ behind explicit priorities. Beyond ‘transition’ and ‘conversion’ objectives that necessitate structural change of the economic fabric, there may be a desire to also support traditional or large businesses for economic, social and political reasons.

Before 2000, the ERDF monitoring system was not complete enough to allow a very accurate analysis of the interplay between objectives and achievements and any possible discrepancies or inconsistencies.

To assess the ‘actual’ achievements, interviews have played an important role in allowing the research team to specify more exactly what changes occurred as a result of the ERDF interventions concerning the objectives set in programme documents. However, the same shortcomings can be observed as with the assessment of reported achievements when it comes to distinguishing the specific contribution of ERDF against others kinds of EU or domestic support (for businesses or employment created, for example). This has been particularly true for the achievements realised in the period from 1989 to 1999, when the project-specific objectives were not precisely quantified.

Table 18 below illustrates some main achievements against targets for programmes from 1989 onwards, showing that the degree of achievements is very variable from one topic to another and that successive OPs lack definition of clearly quantified targets. The comparison between intended and reported values is not always relevant though, as the method for establishing these target values was not always rigorous or based on a reliable methodology shared by all actors.

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Table 18: Programme objectives and targets for Nord-Pas-de-Calais ERDF programmes 1989- 2013 and reported achievements Programme Aggregate objectives/targets Reported achievements 1989-93 - 2,000 SMEs supported - 1,500 SMEs supported Objective 1 - 84,699 people trained - 111,102 people trained - 2,200 ha of wasteland treated - 3,000 ha of wasteland treated - 500 hostel rooms created or modernised - 259 hostel rooms created or modernised 1994-99 - no available target for job creation - 3,220 direct jobs created Objective 1 - no available target for wasteland renewal - 2,020 ha of wasteland treated - no available target for urban renewal - 131 cities reached by urban renewal - no available target for training activities projects - no available target for firms waste - 81,500 people trained recycled - 162,000 t/year of firms waste recycled 1994-99 - 2,400 ha of wasteland treated - 1,400 ha of wasteland treated Objective 2 - N° of new labs - no available achievements for new labs - 1000 direct jobs created (1997-1999) - 4,693 direct jobs created - no available target for new business - 455,200 m² of new areas for business premises premises - no available target for firms waste - 378,288 t/year of firms waste recycled recycled - 861 ha benefiting from ecological - no available target for areas benefiting protection measures from ecological protection measures 2000-06 - 8,620 direct and indirect jobs created - Between 9,400 and 12,500 direct jobs Objective 1 - 867 project manager accompanied for created creation or transfer of businesses - 491 project manager accompanied for - 116 enterprises created or transferred creation or transfer of businesses - 6,948,046 m² of gross area - 115 enterprises created or transferred - 336,965 people reached by health - 5,490,131 m² of gross area measures - 161,277 people reached by health - 64,400 tourists visiting supported facilities measures - 57 territorial sustainable development - 60,872 tourists visiting supported facilities initiatives - 69 territorial sustainable development - 1,110,000 tons of building waste treated initiatives - 1,108,596 tons of building waste treated 2000-06 - Around 20,000 (direct and indirect) jobs - 3,600 direct jobs and 20,160 indirect jobs Objective 2 created created - 307 firms created or transferred - 307 firms created or transferred - 224,292 users of tourist accommodations - 223,527 users of tourist accommodations - 2,967 km² of areas benefitting from - 5,447 km² of areas benefitting from ecological protection measures ecological protection measures - 420,960 tons of usual waste recycled - 357,429 tons of waste recycled - 65,818 people reached by health measures - 185,616 people reached by health at work measures at work 2007-13 - 2,204 long-term jobs created - 227 long-term jobs created - 92 digital services implemented - 15 digital services implemented - 21 inter-enterprises labs - 6 inter-enterprises labs - 306 cooperative collaborations between - 36 cooperative collaborations between enterprises and research institutes enterprises and research institutes - 3,464 t/year of waste recycled - 859 t/year of waste recycled - 402 km² of natural areas preserved - 262 km² of natural areas preserved

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In the early 1990s, a major objective of the regional development strategy and of ERDF programmes was to support businesses and economic diversification so as to save jobs and create new ones, in a context of decreasing industrial activities. A second objective, strongly correlated to the first, was to improve the image and attractiveness of the region by resorbing the effects of the past industrial activities. This could also be related to the development of communication infrastructure, the protection of the environment and the development of tourism or cultural activities. A third objective was to improve research, education and skills, with a more explicit focus on innovation and entrepreneurship later on.

These objectives sum up the main explicit goals of ERDF programmes that have been implemented since 1989 with different balance, articulation or focus from one period to another. Since 2000, this overall balance has changed under the influence of EU regulation (Lisbon priorities) and the stronger intervention of the regional government in defining the regional development strategy.

Enterprise development

Since 1989, enterprise development has been one of the key objectives of the regional development policy and of ERDF programmes. Expectations were high in terms of people and firms to be supported, as well as in terms of socioeconomic development perspectives.

Regarding business support, ERDF programmes have been quite effective in their capacity to reach a high number of enterprises during the 1990s, in line with the quantitative objectives set in the programme documents (excepting Objective 1 1994-1999, in which quantitative targets were missing). In a general way, it can be observed that outputs (number of businesses and people supported) have been quite coherent with objectives across the four programme periods.

Businesses improved their competitiveness with productive investments, modernisation of facilities and with large-scale measures in favour of labour forces through the strengthening of initial and vocational training. This is reflected in the GDP level that rose regularly between 1980 and 2008. If the GDP per capita remains much lower than the national average (80 percent in 2007), a catching up process has occurred since the mid-1990s (+1.5 percent every year against +0.9 percent at national level). Besides the support to existing businesses, business creation has been more difficult to monitor. There was a lack of quantitative targets and reported achievements before 2000.

Outputs focused on the promotion of entrepreneurship and the development of incubators have been below expectations, partly because of a particularly difficult socioeconomic context in that period (a lack of entrepreneurial culture, a lack of innovation culture, the economic activities of SMEs being dependent on larger firms, etc.). Figures concerning larger measures dedicated to business support (business creation, business modernisation, and business development) are very general and do not differentiate between support provided to existing businesses and support provided to new firms.

At the regional level (taking into account ERDF-funded and domestic programmes) business creation represented only 3.4 percent of the total in France in 2000. Between 2000 and 2006, ERDF projects exhibited more positive achievements concerning the number of project managers ‘sensitised’, ‘supported’ or ‘accompanied’ in the creation continuation of firms (more than 180,000 in Objective 1 and Objective 2 areas). When referring strictly to the number of firms created or supported,

LSE 94 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais achievements are in line with initial objectives but they remain quite modest when compared to what would be necessary at regional level (115 enterprises created in Objective 1 and 307 in Objective 2 with ERDF support).

The effectiveness of ERDF-funded programmes in 2007-13 has been mixed. Until 2012, around 18,000 project managers were supported in the creation or continuation of firms for an overall objective of 36,402. However, no data is available for the net number of business created during this period.

Though business creation and entrepreneurship was confronted with an unfavourable socioeconomic context in the 1990s, the situation has evolved since 2000 and public authorities have increased their intervention capacities in these areas. ERDF objectives have been more strongly connected to domestic initiatives like the ‘Regional Programme for creation and transfer of businesses’ (PRCTE) and by the end of 2010, 95 percent of ERDF aid dedicated to the creation and transfer of businesses had been programmed. In parallel, business creation reached 4.5 percent of the total in France, indicating a catching up process during the last decade.

In 2008, the creation of the ‘auto-entrepreneur’ status in France stimulated the creation of small and very small businesses in Nord-Pas-de-Calais despite the worsening economic situation. However, because of the will to provide support to new entrepreneurs, ERDF programmes and domestic policies accepted some projects with weak economic perspectives. Despite some improvement, the situation remains fragile and to increase the effectiveness of EU funds it would be necessary to improve the monitoring of entrepreneurs and to propose longer term support combining innovative financial tools and technical expertise.

Structural adjustment

In the regional development strategy and ERDF programmes, structural adjustment is mainly equated with the need to innovate and to diversify the regional economy. This is stated in a broad sense for public and private actors and until recently, there was no clear strategic orientation or guidelines on how to achieve this objective. In ERDF programmes, structural adjustment did not constitute a quantitative objective and no evaluation has been made of the specific contribution of EU funds on this issue.

The ERDF contribution to ‘economic diversification’ during the 1990s remained quite modest, due in part to the persistence of traditional industries and weaknesses regarding entrepreneurship and business creation. The main structural change during this period concerned the strong decrease of industrial jobs and in parallel the significant increase of services, especially public ones (+37 percent between 1989 and 1999). The influence of ERDF funds on this overall change has however been limited, even though the ERDF supported the increase of human resources in public research and universities.

The influence of ERDF on economic diversification and structural change is more recent and depends on wider socioeconomic and political criteria. From a strategic point of view, the focus on diversification and innovation increased in the 2000s as a result of the Lisbon Agenda. Correspondingly, there was stronger local and regional authority mobilisation in this area. This had an effect on ERDF effectiveness as the mobilisation of key players helped to put in place a more

LSE 95 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais positive environment for innovative projects. Reference can be made to the stronger focus of public authorities on specific fields such as ICT and knowledge economy, which created a ‘pull effect’ on this sector.

At a different scale, competitiveness poles played a structuring role in Nord-Pas-de-Calais. They contributed to better focus ERDF funds on diversified economic sectors such as transport, textile, trade, or sea products and to developing new ones in the fields of nutrition and health, advanced materials and recycling technologies. However, in these different cases, the effectiveness of ERDF funds is difficult to evaluate as there is no precise assessment of their contribution to the overall diversification process.

A specific case must be highlighted with tourism and culture, which have been permanent concern since 1989. Even with a limited share in the regional GDP (3.3 percent in 2010), tourism represented an opportunity for local development and territorial attractiveness and was identified as such in ERDF programmes.

During the 1990s, ERDF contributed to local improvements in the fields of hostelry, services or leisure facilities. However, quantitative objectives were often only approximately determined and evaluation tools were not accurate enough to precisely assess the contribution made by the ERDF to the different tourism activities. Even though tourism represented only a limited share of regional employment, it increased in a quite dynamic way representing 3 percent of jobs created in the region between 1996 and 1999 (INSEE Nord-Pas-de-Calais, 2002). This trend continued during the 2000s, Nord-Pas-de-Calais being the 12th region in France for the number of tourists (3.6 million) in 2011.

Beyond direct frequentation of individual sites or facilities, ERDF programmes have been effective in their capacity to use tourism and culture as a means to increase attractiveness and change the image of the overall region. This has been possible with the support to emblematic projects such as Nausicaa in Boulogne, the Kursaal in Dunkirk, the Site des Deux Caps, the natural regional parks, and the development of museums that now constitute major regional landmarks (Musée piscine in Roubaix and Louvre Lens).

Innovation

The objective of economic diversification in Nord-Pas-de-Calais is strongly related to the promotion of innovation for which similar remarks can be made regarding ERDF effectiveness.

Since 1989, innovation has been an objective in the regional development strategy and of the ERDF programmes. However, as for ‘structural adjustment’ the route to realising this objective was not clearly identified. Businesses were encouraged to innovate, which in many cases was pursued through the modernisation of productive assets and the transfer of technology aimed at improving competitiveness in the face of national and international competition. In this field, innovation activities have generally been taken into account as ‘support to businesses’ without differentiating between innovative and non-innovative activities. Across successive periods, a few figures can be found about ‘technology transfer’, ‘firms informed about innovation and technological support’ and ‘number of R&D jobs’ but data are insufficient to form a clear view about the effectiveness of ERDF programmes.

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During the 1990s, objectives in terms of innovation were too vague and the socioeconomic context was not favourable enough to generate substantial achievements. One of the most noticeable results was the strengthening of human resources in public research bodies and mainly in universities with an increase of 50 percent of the number of researchers, engineers and technicians between 1990 and 1999. At local level, innovation increased development perspectives in specific sectors like biotechnology, agro-food processing and ICT. Achievements were also in line with expectations concerning support to activities dedicated to technology dissemination or firms involved in a R&D strategy.

However, there was a decline in the number of patents until 1996, with patents per million inhabitants falling to 32 percent of the national value. Afterwards, and despite high levels of variation, the situation has stabilised until the economic crisis of 2008. In 2011, patents produced in Nord-Pas-de-Calais represented only 1.6 percent of the overall patents in France (270 for 16,757). This trend demonstrates the fragile innovation situation in Nord-Pas-de-Calais and the difficulty faced by ERDF programmes seeking to generate long terms results, even where outputs are generally in line with expectations.

Since 2000 and above all since 2007 – which saw the earmarking of innovation and competitiveness funds - the expectations on ERDF programmes increased, generating a knock-on effect on domestic policies. Besides quantitative targets, ERDF programmes implemented since 2000 have had a direct influence on the regional development strategy and on the mobilisation of local and regional stakeholders, as can be seen with the introduction of the Regional Innovation Strategy. From the interviews, changes that are observable today (competitiveness poles, innovation processes, development of a digital economy, etc.) would not have been conceivable 15 years ago.

The improving economic situation until 2008 created a more favourable environment for innovation. When considering the current programme period, Priority 1 (‘Research and development, innovation and support to businesses’) appears to be the best performing one. However, the projects implemented are too recent to evaluate the overall effectiveness of the programme in this field.

In terms of effectiveness, it is noticeable that progress in the field of innovation in Nord-Pas-de- Calais required a socioeconomic evolution more favourable to new economic development, a strong “top down” impulse from EU and national level able to mobilise domestic resources and the commitment of regional authorities on an ambitious regional innovation strategy.

Environmental sustainability

In the field of the environment, ERDF programmes have been especially effective in the support provided to environmental clean-up, restoration and brownfield renewal that was a major challenge for the region with the closure of mining and other heavy industries. It was especially noticeable in the mining area and in most of the urban areas with measures specifically focused on urban renewal implemented on a large scale until 2006.

With ERDF support, the objective to preserve the natural heritage has also been partly fulfilled with an extinction of natural sites, the restoration of rivers and the setting-up of blue and green corridors. However, ERDF programmes did not bring specific contributions to the fight against urban

LSE 97 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais sprawl that is an important issue in a region where housing, economic activities and infrastructure continued to expand during the last decades.

These interventions contributed to changing the image of the region and to improving territorial attractiveness, which has been an important objective of ERDF programmes since 1989. Even though the achievements of ERDF programmes at the regional level are difficult to quantify (as compared to the contribution of domestic policies), effects have been quite tangible for local populations. ERDF environmental intervention is considered to be one of its most significant achievements since 1989.

Recently, the development of sustainable transport systems with ERDF support (tramway, gas buses) constitute an improvement, but the ‘effectiveness’ of EU funds is hindered by the large scale investment that would be necessary to have a significant environmental impact. In particular, the development of railway services or waterways could be further explored but constitute investments going beyond ERDF possibilities.

In a more horizontal manner, ERDF programmes fostered the extension of sustainable development principles to numerous types of intervention, which increased the environmental sustainability of public policies. Even this achievement is more difficult to evaluate than projects directly implemented on environmental issues, it is considered by interviewees as one of the most effective means of promoting environmental sustainability.

Labour market

Over the past 20 years, the employment situation in Nord-Pas-de-Calais has been quite critical. This issue has been a key priority mobilising important ERDF and ESF resources. Despite these efforts, the unemployment rate stood 3 to 4 percentage points above the national and EU average.

Final evaluation reports indicate that ERDF programmes contributed to saving and creating around 20,000 jobs during the 1990s, in line with their initial objectives. For 2000-2006, ERDF evaluations showed that direct and indirect job creation largely exceeded expectations, be it in terms of long- term jobs or jobs related to projects implementation. However, the overall influence of ERDF programmes at regional level is rather limited. According to the evaluation reports, ERDF contributed to creating 20,000 jobs during the last 20 years (excepted “indirect jobs” or “jobs safeguarded”), but this represents only 1.2 percent of the active population in 1999 (1,675,000 people).

In terms of effectiveness, longer-term impacts can be noticed in the field of training and education. The ESF brought a major contribution within multi-fund programmes with training activities provided to around 190,000 people during the 1990s (which exceeded initial objectives). The ERDF also brought significant support with the upgrading of training facilities during the 1990s and the 2000s (colleges, high schools, universities) with a catch-up in the proportion of people getting high school diplomas and an increase in university students (third French region in 2009 with 159,000 students).

However, the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region has a limited attractiveness. Even though all higher educated people do not leave the region to find jobs, the overall migration rate is negative due to the low entrance level. From this point of view, the effectiveness of ERDF funds should be

LSE 98 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais considered with care, as trends have remained negative for the majority of employment areas during the past 20 years.

Taking into account the efforts made in the fields of initial and vocational training, this raises the question of the articulation between activities dedicated to the labour market and human resources on the one hand, and activities dedicated to business development on the other. The effectiveness of these measures cannot be observed separately and would probably necessitate a better articulation between ERDF and ESF activities.

Social cohesion

In the field of social cohesion, a distinction must be made between the contribution of the ESF that has been essential to promote social services and help the most fragile populations, and the contribution of the ERDF (more focused on the improvement of overall living conditions).

ERDF programmes have been especially effective in upgrading the urban environment and housing and the improvement of local social support complementing the significant ESF contribution. As for brownfield renewal, urban renewal was well identified in public policies which facilitated the definition of quantitative targets and the evaluation of achievements.

Regional actors consider that ERDF programmes brought a major contribution to the transformation of the built environment which is an important dimension of social life. One recent example was the classification by UNESCO of the mining area as a World Heritage site. Beyond potential economic benefits, it constitutes a change in the way the population sees its industrial past and therefore its future.

In terms of effectiveness, ERDF, in complementarity with ESF, contributed to maintaining social cohesion in the face of strong socioeconomic difficulties (unemployment, poverty, education, health). However, achievement and effectiveness remain mixed in terms of catching up, and high levels of disparities remain between regional and national indicators.

As for the labour market the coordination between ERDF and ESF appears to have been crucial to improving their effectiveness. In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, some measures have already been implemented at sub-regional level to better connect social and economic needs but the strategic and technical articulation between financial resources must still be improved.

Spatial cohesion

Regarding spatial cohesion in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, one main objective was to save the mining industry from socioeconomic collapse and avoid a further decrease of activities in the major urban areas. The classification of the mining area as Objective 1 in 1994 increased the intervention capacities and improved ERDF effectiveness with larger support to businesses, land planning and infrastructure.

However, the strong discrepancies within the mining area itself show that ERDF effectiveness strongly depended on local and territorial initiatives and on the capacity of actors to generate endogenous development dynamics. Then, urban renewal projects did not reverse demographic flows, which are still negative for the majority of middle-sized cities.

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Apart from the improvements observed in the employment area of Valenciennes, the situation is less favourable in Douai, Lens and Béthune, which have greater transition problems. The Louvre- Lens is a source of great expectations, but it is too early to assess the real effectiveness of ERDF investments on this specific project (INSEE Nord-Pas-de-Calais, 2012b).

Within the region, the area of Lille remains the most attractive one for people, students and economic activities. Apart from the identification of specific intervention areas (as with the Objective 1 area), ERDF programmes have only limited opportunities to modify the territorial balance. For this reason, the definition of eligible and ineligible areas at local level, and the changes that occurred in Objective 2 categories between 1989 and 2006, do not seem to have played a major role in alleviating sub-regional disparities. In that regard, the definition of one single eligible territory since 2007 simplified the drafting of strategies and the coordination of EU and domestic policies.

The geographic concentration of activities and the predominance of Lille are part of the development process, with, for example, the need to further strengthen the position of Lille to improve regional attractiveness in comparison with the surrounding international metropolises (which has never been an explicit objective of ERDF programmes).

Infrastructure

In the field of infrastructure, a key issue in Nord-Pas-de-Calais was to provide to people and businesses with upgraded services and facilities to improve their living and working conditions in the face of a continuous degradation of existing ones. ERDF programmes had ambitious objectives and different levels of effectiveness can be observed.

There have been important achievements in brownfield renewal and regeneration, usually in line with objectives set in programme documents. This constituted an important intervention field for public bodies. From an economic point of view, even though results were limited at the beginning of the 1990s with basic land restoration, successive OPs gave way to convincing, robust and integrated projects of national and even international visibility, combining housing, economic activities and social dimensions.

However, the support to infrastructure and the promotion of ‘business parks’ showed different results according to territorial contexts. Although some ERDF-funded projects were not fully satisfactory with low business development usually due to insufficient expertise and market analysis at the local level, ERDF programmes proved to be quite effective in their capacity to support major initiatives as has been the case with the logistics platform of Dourges, the Union Zone and the area of EuraTechnologie in Lille.

Regarding land-use planning, the surface of land renewed tended to decrease after 1999 because of the reduction of very large areas (already renewed) and the increasing cost for intervention on the remaining smaller ones.

In the case of communication infrastructure, the effectiveness is subject to debate. Goals have usually been met in the way that important investments could be made (urban bypasses, national and regional roads). However, the effectiveness in terms of territorial development is mixed, with remaining congestion of transportation networks around the main urban areas. Thus, the

LSE 100 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais connection between communication infrastructure and economic development strategies could be improved to maximise the effects of investments on socioeconomic development.

Overview

An overview of the comparison between objectives and achievements is provided in Table 19 below. This illustrates the extent to which particular thematic axes’ achievements have been above or below what was expected taking into account the levels of expenditure and commitment.

Overall, there are few thematic axes across the programmes where achievements have exceeded expectations. Enterprise development, innovation, environment and large infrastructure are the four topics that have been quite regularly taken into account in strategies.

It is of note that this assessment is influenced by the availability of initial targets and measurable achievements, which in turn are determinants of ability to evaluate each programme period. Generally, the effectiveness of programmes is evaluated according to the funds spent with limited capacity to assess mid-term results. The reliability of assessment increased after 2000 with the use of the PRESAGE system, though this can also differ according to the types of achievements that are measured. The recent focus on performance and more qualitative evaluation systems could provide more accurate data to assess the effectiveness of ERDF programmes.

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Table 19: Achievements compared with imputed objectives for eight thematic axes THEMATIC 1989-93 1994-99 1994-99 2000-2006 2000-2006 2007- AXES Objective 1 Objective 2 Objective 1 Objective 2 present (phasing- out) Obj. Ach. Obj. Ach. Obj. Ach. Obj. Ach. Obj. Ach. Obj. Ach.

Enterprise development ++ 3 ++ 3 ++ 3 ++ 4 ++ 4 + 3

Structural adjustment + 4 + 3 + 3 + 4 + 4 ++ 3

Innovation = 3 + 3 + 3 + 2 + 3 ++ 4

Environmental sustainability + 3 + 4 + 4 ++ 4 ++ 4 ++ 4

Labour market ++ 3 + 4 + 4 ++ 2 + 3 - 2

Social cohesion = 3 + 4 + 3 ++ 3 ++ 3 - 3

Spatial cohesion = 3 ++ 4 = 3 + 4 = 3 = 3

Infrastructure + 3 ++ 4 + 3 ++ 4 + 4 = 3

Imputed Objectives ++ Very high effort, this axis is a central aspect of the regional development strategy + High effort, this axis is an important element in the regional development strategy = Average effort, this axis is included in the regional development strategy but is not particularly important - Low effort: this axis is only marginally considered in the regional development strategy -- No effort at all on this axis

Achievements scale (end of period with respect to beginning of period) 5 Very high achievement, the results for this axis are much above expectations given the effort put in it and ex-ante conditions 4 High achievement, the results for this axis are above expectations given the effort put in it and ex-ante conditions 3 Average achievement, the results for this axis are those which could be expected given the effort put in it and ex- ante conditions 2 Negative achievement, the results for this axis are below expectations given the effort put in it and ex-ante conditions 1 Very negative achievement, the results for this axis are considerably below expectations or even nil

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6.2 Overall contribution of ERDF programmes to regional development (utility)

‘Utility’ is defined as the extent to which the overall achievements (reported and actual) meet the needs of the region.

With the end of the mining industry and the decline of traditional economic sectors such as metalworking, the steel industry, shipyards or textiles, Nord-Pas-de-Calais is one of the EU regions that have experienced the strongest economic recession during the last 20 years. Successive external economic shocks accentuated the recession in territories that were characterised by a strong industrial specialisation.

The transition process could not only rely on the adaptation of productive tools and the development of new economic sectors. It required the reorganisation of the overall territory with the requalification of former mining areas, brownfield sites, urban areas, the adaptation of workforce and competences, the upgrading of infrastructure, the promotion of a new economic culture and entrepreneurship, etc.

These tasks represented significant financial efforts for public authorities and required a coordinated contribution between local, regional and national levels. In this transition process, as has already been highlighted, the overall expenditure generated by the ERDF programmes represented less than 1 percent of the regional GDP. This needs to be borne in mind when appraising the utility of ERDF programmes: due to the significant financial effort that would have been necessary to trigger economic renewal and to the relatively ‘limited’ volume of resources that they entailed, the ERDF programmes were able to address regional needs only in part and were able to do so unevenly across intervention types.

On the whole, the utility of ERDF programmes was quite limited in the first two programme periods, particularly in the field of economic development (enterprise, innovation and structural adjustment), due to the very important needs faced and the scale of the weaknesses in key fields – innovation, entrepreneurship and skills - which were crucial for economic transformation. In these early years, the programmes have had a more noticeable impact on employment. The utility of ERDF programmes improved during the 2000,thanks to better synergies between EU and domestic public policies, and an improved ability to trigger structural change. The contribution of EU projects to environmental improvements has been quite steady across all four periods. This is probably the one key achievement in relation to regional needs.

Enterprise development

In the field of enterprise development, Nord-Pas-de-Calais needed to improve competitiveness and promote diversification. ERDF funds contributed initially to maintain productive plants and save jobs, which was a key issue for the region. In this sense, the contribution of ERDF was significant for public and private bodies requiring rapid support. Taking advantage of existing industrial assets, ERDF supported ongoing investment activities and promoted new ones, generating large private investments in sectors such as the transport industry, logistics or the car industry..

From a longer-term perspective, however, it was necessary to modify the economic profile of the region, realising a transition from heavy industry to higher added value activities better

LSE 103 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais corresponding to the globalisation process. However, economic diversification could not merely occur with additional financial means and strategic guidelines. It required an overall socioeconomic context, which was not in place during the 1990s. For this reason, ERDF was not able initially to address this issue. Improvements became more tangible from the end of the 1990s, thanks to more effective intervention capacities in favour of innovation and structural changes (see below).

There was a necessity to modernise the industrial fabric, which was traditionally dominated by large businesses with many dependent sub-contractors. This pyramidal structure hampered the innovation capacity of SMEs and accentuated the consequences of the economic crisis.

Business creation and the promotion of entrepreneurship have constituted an important regional need since 1989. However, for the reasons mentioned previously, measures implemented had only a limited impact during the 1990s.

Since the early 2000s, there has been an increase in business creation, in direct relation to the domestic support measures implemented. The utility of ERDF funds increased during this decade due to synergy effects between EU and domestic interventions. Even though the situation has improved, the region is still characterised by a low rate of very small businesses. This is particularly true for very small businesses with no employees, which in 2006 represented a share of 53.4 percent in the region, against a national average of 58.1 percent (INSEE Nord-Pas-de-Calais, 2009a). Thus, the overall utility of ERDF support in this area has been limited, as the programmes have not been able to unlock the potential of smaller businesses for the development of the region.

Structural adjustment

In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, and in line with previous observations, structural adjustments have been dependent on the weight of the industrial sector and of large businesses, which was not favourable to radical short/medium-term transformations.

Even though there was a need since the 1980s to modify the balance of the economic fabric - by reducing the share of industry and developing higher added value activities and the tertiary sector - it appears that ERDF achievements have been only limited during the 1990s as compared to the overall transformation need. Achievements of ERDF programmes have been more convincing in the up-grading or development of public services that were lagging behind at that time, in the education and higher education sectors for example. In the private sector, the increase of services during this decade was more the consequence of outsourcing from industries than the result of EU or domestic interventions.

The utility of the ERDF programmes has been more tangible in specific sectors - such as biotechnology, health, energy, food industry and, from the 1990s, ICT - that needed incentives to develop their activities.

ERDF achievements and utility became more important in the mid-2000, thanks to the selection of six competitiveness poles in Nord-Pas-de-Calais (transport, textiles, nutrition and health, advanced materials, sea products, trade and recycling technology). These poles have been mainly supported by domestic policy initiatives. The ERDF programmes funded business investment projects but contributed especially in methodological and strategic terms, for instance providing guidelines and

LSE 104 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais knowledge that was previously missing (e.g. the Regional Innovation Strategy met a need for a better knowledge and understanding of the regional profile and innovation potential).

Tourism and culture constituted important components of the region’s development potential, partly due to their ability to modify the industrial profile of the region. From the first programme period, ERDF projects contributed significantly to the emergence of local initiatives when the image, the attractiveness and the quality of life in sub-regional territories was declining. They met a social, territorial and economic need that could not be entirely supported by domestic funds and delivered a long-lasting legacy as many of the investments realised constitute today important landmarks for the regional identity and regional economy (e.g. the Musée Piscine of Roubaix, Louvre Lens museum, Site des deux caps, the classification of the mining area as World Heritage by UNESCO).

Innovation

In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, innovation constituted a key element of the economic and business restructuring process. As such, it has been identified as an important issue since 1989. During the first programmes, ERDF and domestic support mainly contributed to improving innovation in traditional economic activities (productive investment, technology transfer). Whereas needs were significant in terms of regional restructuring and modernisation, initiatives in favour of innovation were encountering a limited absorption capacity on the side of enterprises that often lacked relevant human resources (low rate of engineers and low entrepreneurship). The ‘utility’ of ERDF programmes in this sphere needs thus to take into account the wider socioeconomic context.

During the 1990s, ERDF funds contributed to increase public research that was strongly lagging behind at that time, compared to national and EU averages, particularly by strengthening of human resources and through the development of university research centres.

At the regional level, there was a strong need for a better interaction between research and businesses in order to generate innovation capable to trigger sound socioeconomic development. However, during this decade, only a limited number of projects were implemented to support institutions focused on applied research and innovation in businesses did not correspond to clear and well identified regional needs.

In this context, the utility of ERDF programmes was more significant in relation to a few major projects, like the Technological Centre in Ground Transport (Valutec), the Railway Testing Centre (Objective 1 area), the Centre for Experimentation and Enhancement of Sea Products (CEVPM) in Boulogne sur Mer and the Genopole in Lille. However, during this decade, the scope of innovation projects was too limited to have had a significant effect on investment or patents, or to generate a wider knock-on effect on the overall regional economy.

Since the early 2000s, the launch of the Lisbon Agenda and the persisting economic difficulties increased the need for deeper and more ambitious measures in favour of innovation. During this decade, beyond financial support and territorial projects, the utility of ERDF programmes has been especially important from a strategic point of view, since they provided references and guidelines to foster overall regional initiatives. In terms of utility, some local and regional actors considered that this evolution in favour of innovation was too fast and too strong for the regional

LSE 105 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais socioeconomic environment which continued to lack innovation and entrepreneurship culture. Concerns were especially expressed before 2007 with the earmarking of funds on Lisbon priorities. In this regard, EU regulations urged local and regional authorities to take measures that would not have been implemented in such a way without the ERDF programme.

Operationally, the ERDF programmes supported the implementation of the Platform for Innovation and Enhancement of Research in 2006. They contributed to promoting a culture of innovation with a stronger requirement for project engineering, a broader approach to innovation (technological and non-technological) and the provision of a methodological and strategic framework in connection with the Regional Innovation Strategy. Despite this progress, two limitations must be highlighted. On the one hand, territorial disparities remain regarding project engineering and the culture of innovation that would require more support in favour of specific actors or specific employment areas. Here, ERDF programmes have not yet provided an adequate answer.

On the other hand, the capacity of ERDF programmes to foster innovation in the private sector (in businesses) has proved to be too limited. This often shows a difficulty to precisely identify the specific needs of these actors and also the fact that ERDF, as a financing means, is not fully adapted to the needs and requirements of private bodies. One of the main remarks from economic operators is that involvement in ERDF projects results in excessive administrative burden and too much legal uncertainty, linked to the changing requirements and the obligation to respect complex competition rules (an external constraint that does not pertain to the policy per se). In this regard, the simplification of procedures and the implementation of new financial tools in favour of innovation constitute positive developments for local and regional authorities.

Environmental sustainability

Interventions in favour of environmental improvement constitute one of the fields where the utility of EU funds has been the most important in Nord-Pas-de-Calais.

For this region, the protection of the environment represented a strong concern. The region had densely urbanised employment areas and numerous large polluting enterprises. The first main need was to preserve the natural heritage and extend protected areas in the face of the increasing urbanisation of land. On this issue, ERDF projects since the first programme contributed to the extension of natural parks, the protection of coastal areas (site des Deux Caps) up to the recent setting up of blue and green corridors (22,000 hectares of natural areas benefited from ERDF support since 1989).

Besides strict environmental concerns, the utility of ERDF was to contribute to a wider socioeconomic approach especially in connection with tourism activities as mentioned earlier. The need in Nord-Pas-de-Calais was not only to protect the environment against anthropogenic activities and to improve quality of life, but also to promote the environment as a source of attractiveness for tourism, individuals and businesses.

Needs pertaining to the reduction of brownfield and environmental clean-up were especially high. ERDF aid has been used for clean-up measures and for the promotion of new activities for leisure and culture. ERDF directly contributed to the cleaning and restoration of thousands of hectares of

LSE 106 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais land (more than 7,600 since 1989) with specific protection measures for former mining heaps where unique biotopes had developed due to the heat radiated by the coal.

Local actors largely used EU funds in favour of environmental clean-up and greening with a direct visible impact in terms of quality of life for populations and economic actors. The ERDF contribution was essential for local bodies that could not bear the full costs of restoration, which represented an emergency for most of the former industrial sites.

However, the region still accounts for half of the brownfield sites in France and the pressure on natural areas remains strong, with continuous urban sprawl. On this point, solutions rely on political choices made for town and country planning and future territorial development strategies, which exceed the scope of ERDF programmes.

Labour Market

Concerning the labour market, there was a strong need to upgrade competences of labour forces that were traditionally mainly focused on low-skilled and industrial jobs. This appeared to be indispensable in the fight against a high unemployment rate with two-thirds of the employment areas having between 10 and 15 percent unemployment between 1989 and 2010.

In this region, the modernisation of skills constituted a challenge for people with low initial training or with very specialised competences, or for workers who had lost their jobs after the age of 50.

The ERDF and (especially) the ESF provided intervention tools that helped to improve the situation. Training and support measures were provided to more than 90,000 people during the 1990s. They have been especially useful to update competences and, in a more structural way, to improve training facilities that were lagging behind (colleges, high schools and universities). They had a direct effect on the number of young people who could go through higher education, thus adapting skills to the development of the service sector and to the diversification of industrial activities.

In 2012, with 159,000 students, Nord-Pas-de-Calais is the third French region. However, despite improvement and a slight catching up process, the share of people having at least a high school degree (Baccalaureat) is still 5 points behind the national average (24.5 percent against 29.7 percent in 1999, and 30.9 percent against 36.2 percent in 2005). Despite investment and training measures supported by EU funds, the professional integration of the youth population remains especially problematic in a region where 35 percent of the population is under 25 years old (2010 figures), with a national average of 30 percent.

Improving the competences and skills of entrepreneurs, and generating innovative activities represent additional needs. EU funds did not adequately address these - training projects mainly focused on initial training or vocational training for the workforce. This highlights the issue of coordination between ERDF and ESF programmes in the context of improving the competitiveness and innovation capacities of businesses.

Social cohesion

Due to the economic crisis and worsening economic situation between the 1970s and the 1990s, Nord-Pas-de-Calais has been faced with important social difficulties including constant high levels

LSE 107 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais of unemployment, a high poverty rate and a worsening health situation. Even the region benefitted from important national social transfers, they could not however solve the problems related to long-term unemployment, low wages or professional integration of young population.

In this context, EU funds (and mainly the ESF) increased the scope of population and target groups reached by social support actions in the different employment areas. However, in the field of social support, measures have often been essentially curative, the main issue being economic development and the reduction of unemployment on which social measures have only limited impact.

An important social issue for Nord-Pas-de-Calais was housing, with an increasing poverty rate and a continuous degradation of the urban environment since the 70s. In addition to brownfield renewal, which was usually strongly interconnected with urban areas, ERDF funds concretely contributed to upgrading housing and improving life quality. These interventions were particularly important for the region in the 1990s and up to 2006 by reducing precariousness and supporting local development opportunities including real estate operations, development of social services and local infrastructure. ERDF programmes presented an advantage in that they were able to generate concrete achievements in fields that corresponded closely with local and sub-regional authority competences.

Despite this important ESF and ERDF support, there have still been persistent low socioeconomic indicators in the region as compared to the national and EU averages. This must be connected to ongoing economic difficulties and also to the challenge represented by the social and economic integration of individuals and families that have faced uncertainty over a long period of time.

These difficulties demonstrate the need to improve the synergy and coordination between different EU funds and public policies dedicated to economic and social development. Until now, this has not been fully satisfactory and the recent focus of the ERDF on competitiveness and innovation raises the question of how to improve cohesion in territories still confronted with important socioeconomic challenges.

Spatial cohesion

Regarding spatial cohesion, a major regional need was to avoid the collapse of the former mining area and eventually generate a catching up process to reduce disparities with other employment areas.

From a socioeconomic point of view, a stronger focus of domestic and EU funds proved to be necessary regarding the scope of the difficulties encountered in Objective 1 area. The utility of ERDF was obvious, as it contributed to a progressive catching up with a greater increase of GDP and decrease of unemployment compared to the regional level. The case of Valenciennes is a good illustration of the capacity of the ERDF to respond to the mobilisation of local authorities and public and private actors and to generate development perspectives as was the case with the transport sector.

In terms of needs, there is however a tension between the necessity to reduce sub-regional disparities in employment areas confronted with major economic difficulties and the concentration of economic activities in the main development poles.

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Strong needs were also identified in cities such as Boulogne, where ERDF contributed to the modernisation of fisheries and the seafood industry, Boulogne being one of the main EU ports for fisheries activities today. ERDF also intervened in Dunkirk and Calais, but in these cases there has not been sufficient development of new economic sectors to compensate for the decrease of traditional ones.

In a different way, the absence of EU funds in employment areas such as Saint-Omer, which was not eligible until 2007, raises questions regarding the economic difficulties that the glass industry is now facing. During the 1990s, there was no obvious ‘need’ to provide it with specific public or private support. Since 2007, the area is eligible for EU funds and there is a strong mobilisation of public authorities to save the glass industry, as can be seen in the mobilisation of ERDF for the development of Alphaglass.

Generally speaking, the utility of ERDF funds is tangible with concrete achievements at local level that contributed to counter economic crises and trigger new development perspectives. The support to the Objective 1 area constitutes a good example of the ERDF’s potential where local authorities are strongly mobilised. It also exemplifies limits at the larger territorial level with persisting discrepancies within and between employment areas. Besides the Objective 1 areas, the utility of the definition of sub-regional eligible areas for the allocation of EU funds is questionable. ERDF funds had only a limited impact on sub-regional disparities and the area designation system sometimes complicated the coordination between EU and domestic actions.

Infrastructure

As highlighted in the regional context and analysis of needs, Nord-Pas-de-Calais benefited during decades of very important economic activities in a region of Europe characterised by a dense network of cities and communication infrastructure.

For these reasons, investments in infrastructure did not initially appear as the most important need at regional level, even though the region had to cope with old networks and facilities tailored according to the needs of industrial activities. Then, national and international projects were providing opportunities that could be developed without ERDF financing such as the Channel Tunnel or the High-Speed Train (TGV Nord). At local level, the development or upgrading of infrastructure was however necessary to trigger wider economic development processes. If one can observe a clear utility of ERDF projects with the development of infrastructures that were lagging behind (better accessibility, reduction of congestion, etc.), achievements in terms of economic and territorial development are however not always very tangible. This is for example the case with local roads projects whose impact on economic development was uneven from one employment area to another.

Conversely, support provided to railway infrastructure and services could have been stronger in a region where the use of railways for the transport of goods or passengers has important development potential. The necessity to increase the modal shift from road to other transportation means has more recently been taken into account at local level, with the contribution of ERDF to the development of tramways in cities such as Valenciennes or Douai.

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When considering economic activities, the support to logistic platforms such as Delta 3 in Dourges is more in line with the development potential of a region located at the crossroads of international transport systems. In the same, way, ERDF achievements regarding waterways could have been stronger in a region that is far below the surrounding countries in its use of this transport system.

The development of logistic platforms also relates to real estate and business infrastructure. Here, there was a strong need in Nord-Pas-de-Calais to upgrade facilities and develop new ones on former industrial brownfield sites. In this case the utility of ERDF funds has been significant with the support to projects around the Dourges logistic Platform or with the Zone de l’Union economic area, which have direct impacts on regional socioeconomic development.

In some cases, local ERDF projects were not fully relevant for territorial potential and had only limited socioeconomic development effects. Especially during the 1990s, this was due to a situation of competition between local authorities willing to attract economic activities without clear territorial development strategies. This improved since the 2000s with higher requirements for ERDF projects in terms of socioeconomic impact and with a clearer view of territorial development potentialities (waterways ports in Arras, Béthune and Douai; logistic platforms in Lille, Lens and Valenciennes, etc.).

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Table 20: Achievements compared with needs for eight thematic axes THEMATIC 1989-93 1994-99 1994-99 2000-2006 2000-2006 2007- AXES Objective 1 Objective 2 Objective 1 Objective 2 present

(phasing-out)

ds

Needs Ach. Nee Ach. Needs Ach. Needs Ach. Needs Ach. Needs Ach.

Enterprise development + 3 + 3 + 3 + 4 + 4 + 3

Structural adjustment ++ 3 ++ 3 ++ 3 + 4 + 4 + 3

Innovation ++ 3 ++ 3 ++ 3 + 2 + 3 + 4

Environmental sustainability ++ 3 ++ 4 ++ 4 + 4 + 4 + 4

Labour market ++ 3 ++ 4 ++ 4 ++ 2 + 3 + 2

Social cohesion + 3 + 4 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3

Spatial cohesion + 3 + 4 + 3 + 4 = 3 + 3

Infrastructure + 3 + 4 + 3 = 4 = 4 = 3

Needs ++ Very high need: the region is highly deprived on this axis + High need: the region is somewhat deprived on this axis = Average need: the region is above the national mean on this axis - Low need: the region is above the nation mean on this axis -- Very low need: the region is already a European front runner on this axis

Achievements scale (end of period with respect to beginning of period) 5 Very high achievement, the results for this axis are much above expectations given the effort put in it and ex-ante conditions 4 High achievement, the results for this axis are above expectations given the effort put in it and ex-ante conditions 3 Average achievement, the results for this axis are those which could be expected given the effort put in it and ex- ante conditions 2 Negative achievement, the results for this axis are below expectations given the effort put in it and ex-ante conditions 1 Very negative achievement, the results for this axis are considerably below expectations or even nil

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6.3 Key elements of success and failure

6.3.1 Good practices and successes

A number of good practices and successes can be identified in relation to capacity building, programme delivery (evaluation, monitoring, stakeholder involvement, animation and project selection), and programme achievements realised in specific fields.

From the outset State services played a strong role in the definition of strategies and in the implementation of EU funds through the intervention of Ministries and the involvement of specialised services in Prefectures at regional level. They brought institutional support, organisation and competences which were necessary for the launch EU programmes requiring strategic orientations, coherence and management capacities.

The implementation of ERDF programmes necessitated however an evolution in the management culture of state services towards more inter-sectoral cooperation and increased collaboration with local and regional bodies (in parallel with the devolution process started in the 1980s). The promotion of the partnership principle has been a key aspect in the region with, on the one hand, state services willing to find new partners for the financing of EU and domestic programmes (like the State-region planning contracts) and regional authorities obtaining stronger political endowment.

In the region, one good practice has been the early setting-up of a ’Pole Europe’ (that became ’Direction Europe’ in 2000) and the appointment of a Vice-President for Europe and technical advisers for ERDF and ESF within the regional council. This contributed to strengthen the multi- level cooperation for the implementation of EU programmes. From 1990, the regional council has been able to manage ESF projects directly. During this period, the ‘co-presidency’ of EU funds was set up between regional State services and the regional government and this improved the collaboration between the two. From a strategic point of view, this cooperation has been strengthened with the setting up of regional framework documents, such as the Regional Scheme of Economic Development (SRDE), the Regional Innovation Strategy (SRI), the Regional Strategy for Initiatives and Entrepreneurship (SRIE) or the Local Plans for Economic Development (PLDE).

Within this partnership, State services in charge of the management of EU funds brought significant expertise in all relevant intervention fields (employment, economic development, communication, environment, etc.). The close relation between EU programmes and State-Region Planning Contracts contributed to the rationalisation of this expertise and increased the cooperation between local, departmental and regional stakeholders (common transversal or sectoral evaluation, and programme or steering committees).

At the regional level, the delegation of a Global Grant to the regional government for the management of Priority 1 in 2007-2013 is a good example of the strengthening of competences and illustrates the potential for the transfer of further responsibility from state services to the region.

The expertise and professionalism of intermediary bodies also improved alongside increasingly stringent control and monitoring requirements. In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, EU programmes helped to

LSE 112 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais identify redundancy and organisational difficulties, and encouraged the rationalisation of public and intermediary bodies, improving their project management capacities.21

With regard to the delivery of EU programmes, good practices can be observed in the 1990s. The SGAR was responsible for drafting the SPD and overseeing its implementation in coordination with national ministries (notably DATAR) and regional and sub-regional authorities. In this period, the State administration created an evaluation unit within the SGAR with qualified staff in charge of socioeconomic analyses and public policies.

The evaluation unit developed a grid of indicators (Tableau de Bord) for measures and sub- measures financed by the SPD. All agencies and services in charge of the implementation of individual measures were requested to fill in a standardised information sheet for every project. The system was at that time more developed than the national software that only focused on financial management indicators. At the same time, the evaluation unit carried out econometric analysis of public policies such as assessments of grant aid schemes to enterprises and studies of the economic situation (degree of technological development of enterprises for example).With the multiplication of local evaluation and monitoring systems in France, the idea at national level was to set up a standardised national tool that would be applicable in every single region. In the early 2000s, this took the form of the PRESAGE system, which regional authorities must now use for monitoring ERDF programmes and state-region projects contracts. The development of this tool in Nord-Pas-de-Calais has been accompanied by information and training sessions, and one person in the SGAR has been appointed to deal with its implementation (correspondant PRESAGE). The PRESAGE software in widely integrated in working practices in 2012, which constitutes an asset to comply with future EU requirement regarding the integration of evaluation and monitoring systems.

Further, it was also necessary to increase the qualitative support to stakeholders. In 2002, this evolved with the setting up of a unit of two officers especially dedicated to animation and support activities at territorial level (Mission d’Animation et d’Appui Territorial – MAAT). This contributed to accelerate the implementation of measures where mobilisation or expertise was missing in sub- regional areas.

Further good practice examples can also be identified in the sphere of project selection. Since 2007, the selection and monitoring of projects improved with the setting up of thematic programming and monitoring groups, comprising experts and stakeholders specialised on socioeconomic development issues. This contributed to streamline the evaluation process before final decision by the programming committee.

Some initiatives proved to be successful in specific areas. Important cultural projects contributed to changing the identity of the region. Significant achievements included the establishment of a network of museums and the recent opening of the Louvre Lens. Promoting culture in an industrial

21 At present there is a willingness at national level to transfer the management of ERDF programmes from State services to the regional authorities. However, it is too early to assess what the concrete consequences of this would be on the design and implementation of future programmes. One key issue is the transfer of expertise and the increase of staff costs for regional authorities.

LSE 113 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais region was very challenging, but the consensus of local and regional actors on this issue created an overall coherence that progressively modified the regional profile.

Two industrial development successes can be mentioned, each based on different contexts and strategies. The transport industry capitalised upon long term experiences and generated development in the former mining area near Valencienne. This industry and its innovation capacities generated an industrial pole of international importance. Information and Communication Technologies constitute another success, with more recent but strong involvement from public authorities and the promotion of Lille as an attractive metropolitan area.

6.3.2 Bad practices and failings

Since the first ERDF programme in 1989, one key challenge has been to establish coherent and integrated development strategies at local and regional level. In front of economic difficulties, local stakeholders were often more concentrated on their own local priorities (local infrastructures, unemployment and environmental challenges) than on the promotion of wider development perspectives. The focus on local priorities generated a situation of competition between actors for the access to public funds which was not favourable for more strategic and longer term discussions.

The lack of strong criteria for the selection of operations in the first programmes or the focus on eligibility or administrative criteria also reduced the coherence with the strategic objectives set out in the ERDF programmes. More recently, the application of N+2 decommitment rule, despite improving financial discipline, increased the pressure on programming committees and led to a less strict selection of projects to avoid automatic decommitment.

Over the long term, one recurrent weakness has been the difficulty to assess the needs of beneficiaries, to identify (and quantify) clear objectives and to propose strategies and measures really adapted to needs. Firms in particular did not always find in ERDF programmes solutions to their problems. The lack support for small beneficiaries also reduced their participation to measures dedicated to innovation and entrepreneurship for example.

Institutionally, collaboration between the main stakeholders (State services, regional bodies, local authorities, civil society, etc.) improved over time. However, the complex administrative and institutional setting of public bodies involved in the implementation of EU funds also increased the administrative burden both for managing and monitoring authorities and for beneficiaries. The heavy workload on services in charge of projects assessment was also not conducive to a more qualitative monitoring.

The subdivision of responsibilities and competences between public authorities (or between administrative departments) has remained a sensitive issue until today (with the current transfer of the managing authority from state services to the regional authority), requiring time consuming and politically sensitive negotiations, which hampered the efficiency of delivery. Further, the overlap of administrative and political layers between local, sub-regional and national authorities, and the multiplication of the number of people involved complicated the decision making process.

The division of responsibilities between sectoral administrations can be considered as one of the main difficulties for the coordination of ERDF, ESF or EAFRD programmes in the region. Up to now, and notwithstanding the improvements realised (noted in the previous paragraph), this coordination

LSE 114 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais has not been fully satisfactory, and is both cause and effect of difficulties in articulating programmes based on common strategies and objectives.

Concerning the implementation of programmes, numerous specialised public services are involved in the monitoring and evaluations of projects. In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, 13 different services were involved in project appraisals between 1994 and 1999 and 16 services between 2000 and 2006. Even though they provided high-level technical competences, this generated compartmentalisation of activities and potential competition between authorities and services for the programming and monitoring of funds.

With regard to institutional arrangements, the duplication of intermediary bodies and the existence of numerous support measures were not always favourable to the implementation of effective and coherent actions at territorial level. This is true for support to SMEs and to vocational training, which would deserve to be rationalised at the regional level.

Administrative burdens have also been evident in the implementation of ERDF funds, especially for private actors who need clear and simple administrative rules (on application procedures, monitoring, audit). EU requirements sometimes pushed potential beneficiaries towards other types of financing in order to reduce administrative constraints and legal uncertainties. The regular changes in the regulations, and the different rules applicable to individual funds and programmes (from EU or national regulations) have also been sources of confusion for authorities and stakeholders (as frequently mentioned during interviews).

Lastly, large projects have been sometimes confronted with specific difficulties in relation to project deadlines and decommitment rules. In some cases they had to be subdivided in different operations to cope with programming and monitoring requirements. For the same reasons, complex projects could not always be achieved and had to be de-programmed.

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7. CONCLUSIONS

7.1 EQ1: To what extent did the programme address regional needs and problems over time? (Relevance)

EQ1a: What were the initial regional needs and problems and how have they evolved?

In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, the main regional need in the 1990s was to counter the effects of the economic crisis and to set up the conditions to enable the region to face national and international economic constraints to socioeconomic development. This included the adaptation of productive assets and of skills and competences, the need to promote higher added value activities, and the provision of social support to the people and areas confronted with a particularly difficult situation.

A second major need related to the consequences of urban and industrial development on the environment. Nord-Pas-de-Calais is a densely populated region. Mining and steel industries had a major impact on the urban and natural environment and represented risks for the population. They also contributed to reducing the overall attractiveness of the territory. The closure of industries created thousands of hectares of wasteland that had to be restored. Urban renewal measures were also indispensable to improving the quality of life of a population which had decreased in size with the economic crisis.

Regional needs evolved in response to achievements realised by the public policies that have been implemented to accompany the socioeconomic transition process. With the emergence of globalisation during the 1990s, it became more obvious that traditional industries, even when modernised, could not survive and that it would be necessary to support new economic activities and new economic sectors. The change in the production base and the evolution of competences also facilitated the development of services. Regional needs evolved from the necessity to reduce the immediate consequences of the economic crisis (unemployment) to the adaptation and modernisation of the economic and industrial model. This has been especially noticeable since the early 2000s with the implementation of the Lisbon Agenda and the stronger involvement of regional-level authorities in the definition of the regional development strategy. One key challenge was the necessity to improve innovation and entrepreneurship, in a region characterised by a low innovation and entrepreneurial culture.

Needs regarding the environment and quality of life evolved from emergency management of wastelands, pollution and social problems, to the necessity to improve social and geographic mobility and territorial attractiveness. Although the overall situation of the region has clearly improved over the last 20 years, there is still scope for Nord-Pas-de-Calais to strengthen its identity with the support of cultural projects and land use planning.

EQ1b: What was the strategy of ERDF programmes of each programme period? How have the strategies evolved?

Globally, when considering the different periods since 1989, the orientation of ERDF programmes has been quite coherent with the main regional needs and challenges of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. Priorities have been established in coordination with the State-Region Planning Contracts throughout the four programme periods, involving a broad set of technical competences.

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From the outset, the explicit strategy of ERDF programmes was to promote territorial and regional development with measures in favour of businesses (productive investments, transfer of technology, business creation), urban and industrial renewal (environmental clean-up, reclaiming and development of new facilities), modernisation of infrastructure (communication infrastructure, training infrastructure, research, leisure, tourism and cultural amenities) and support to human resources (initial and vocational training).

A feature of the first two programme periods was the large number of measures chosen. This demonstrated the difficulty faced by local and regional authorities in seeking to establish a common, well-structured regional strategy (notwithstanding the correct identification of the main challenges). Strategy building was also hampered by the implementation of short-term programmes (1989-1991/1992-1993/1994-1996/1997-1999) that exacerbated implementation difficulties.

In 1994, the creation of the Objective 1 area also complicated the strategy building process through the setting up of new intra-regional boundaries for the allocation of funds. The definition of eligible areas at sub-regional level led to a situation where employment areas of Hazebrouck and Saint Omer, as well as the main parts of the employment areas of Montreuil and Arras, were not eligible for Objective 1 or Objective 2 subsidies. In the long term, this raised questions over the articulation between territories and the relevance of strategies conceived for sub-regional and local areas.

During this period, State authorities still played an important role in the design of regional strategies with, for example, a significant influence of the Ministries of Equipement and Industry (support to communications infrastructure and industrial projects). In this context, strategy building was subject to important trade-offs, ERDF programmes and State-Region Planning Contracts being conceived to strengthen or to compensate each other in the allocation of funds (between Objective 1 and Objective 2 areas for example).

For the regional-level authorities, industrial transition was a key issue in coherence with the Community Initiatives dedicated to the conversion of steel, naval, coal, defence or textile industries in the region (RECHAR, RENAVAL, RESIDER, KONVER and RETEX). The focus on transition was complemented by a desire to reduce the environmental impact of transition through programme measures dedicated to industrial and urban renewal.

In a more modest way, regional strategies since the early 1990s included the necessity to intervene in favour of tourism and regional attractiveness. This also constituted a challenge in an industrial region. The mobilisation of local and regional authorities and the promotion of existing heritage (natural, cultural and industrial) constituted an asset to progress in this direction.

From the outset the strengthening of innovation and R&D was also considered to be a strategic issue in the region. The main differences between the successive programme periods have been: first, the importance granted to this theme in the regional development strategy (increasing after 2000); and, second, the capacity of public and private bodies to generate enough high quality projects to absorb available funds.

Between 1989 and 2006, there was an evolution towards a better structuring of strategies. Local and regional authorities were strengthened, there was a decrease in the contribution made by national authorities, and stronger guidelines were provided alongside ERDF regulations. By being a

LSE 118 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais driver for this evolution, the EU programmes contributed to a better design and articulation of the regional development strategy.

By the end of the 1990s, with the implementation of the Lisbon Agenda, a progressive evolution in strategy can be observed. Stronger attention was paid to the themes of the knowledge economy and innovation, and a different approach to infrastructure was introduced (less focus on road infrastructure and more brownfield renewal projects). With progress already achieved and with increasing environmental and monitoring requirements, there was a desire to promote more sustainable activities. The issue was not only to solve immediate economic or social problems, but to propose solutions which were better adapted to longer term development (to trigger future economic activities and reduce the environmental impact of investments).

Since 2000, the regional government has been directly involved in programming and monitoring committees, becoming a true ‘co-pilot’ of EU Cohesion policy in the region. Since this date, the use of a single seven-year programme period has simplified the elaboration and implementation of programmes. The suppression of sub-regional eligible areas in 2007 also contributed to simplifying the conception and implementation of other public policies.

Besides the stronger emphasis on ICT already mentioned, the strategy of the ERDF programme between 2000 and 2006 has focussed especially on specific structural problems, like the weaknesses of SMEs and the lack of connections between research and economic actors. At the regional level, there was also a willingness to continue to invest on cultural development (with the Louvre Lens project that was finally completed in 2012).

This tendency has been strengthened since 2007. ERDF programmes have been imparted a strong and explicit focus on innovation and competitiveness. This strategic evolution has been confirmed by domestic policies and the implementation of seven competitiveness poles in Nord-Pas-de-Calais since 2005, and with significant effort made by regional authorities to promote entrepreneurship.

EQ1c: What were the priorities and objectives of ERDF programmes in each programme period? How did they evolve? Where the objectives SMART?22

The Nord-Pas-de-Calais region is characterised by a strong socioeconomic crisis that started more than 30 years ago, the consequences of which are still perceptible. For this reason, programmes implemented since 1989 exhibit continuity in their main priorities and objectives. On the one hand, there is the necessity to reducing the socioeconomic impact of the crisis, and on the other, there is the imperative to shape the conditions for a sound economic transition.

During the first period (1989-1993), one of the priorities was to support businesses seeking to maintain their economic activities (or create new ones) and employees. This was pursued through financing productive investments, supporting technology transfer, research and innovation, services and access to finance. In close relation, human resources constituted a second focus, aiming to improve competences and skills through the provision of initial and vocational training. This was

22 SMART criteria refer to the fact that objectives have to be: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results-oriented and Time-bound.

LSE 119 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais considered to be an indispensable accompaniment to the modernisation of the production base and the development of other sectors like the service sector.

A second main priority concerned the socioeconomic ‘environment’ (people and businesses). This included, in a broad sense, industrial heritage, wasteland, pollution, communications infrastructure, the natural environment and water management. In this field the objectives were to reduce the impact of deindustrialisation (through brownfield and urban renewal and environmental clean-up), to adapt infrastructures to new needs (through developing communications and logistics), and to make the region more attractive for people and for economic activities (with a specific focus on tourism).

These priorities and main objectives were maintained during the second programme period (1994- 1999) with a slight evolution according to the economic context. A short term stabilisation in the economy acted to slightly reduce the attention paid to revitalising economic activity and supporting business. This raised questions over the prioritisation of objectives and their strategic dimension, especially where large investments in infrastructure were concerned. During this period, environmental renewal remained a significant objective, with specific attention paid to urban renewal measures. The support to public research, training and training facilities also constituted key issues for public bodies seeking to pursue convergence with national average indicators.

Between 2000 and 2006, priorities and objectives showed clear continuity with the previous period. There was a focus on economic recovery (Priority 1), training, employment and solidarity (Priority 2) and territorial development (Priority 3). However, objectives had been influenced by the Lisbon Agenda and the stronger attention paid to innovation and competitiveness. In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, this was easily perceptible, with the greatest importance afforded to the development of information technology, the digital economy and applied research. A Global Grant was also entrusted to the National Research Promotion Agency (ANVAR). The development of centres of excellence and clusters was more explicitly mentioned among regional development objectives, signifying a shift in the strategic approach to economic development.

In the 2007-13 period, priorities and objectives have evolved further in an important way under the influence of the EU regulations. Innovation and competitiveness became the first priority with more than 30 percent of the total ERDF budget. At the same time, other priorities embody a pragmatic approach with, on the one hand, the necessity ‘to consolidate economic revival’ and, on the other hand, that ‘to overcome the legacy of the past’. This demonstrates the weight of the legacy of the industrial history of the region in shaping the regional socioeconomic development process. During this period, a focus has been placed on strengthening competitiveness poles and innovation. This evolution is confirmed by the Regional Innovation Strategy set up under the supervision of the EU Commission and the regional authorities.

The extent to which the objectives where SMART has varied over the study period and progress and gaps can be summarised as follows:

 During the first two programme periods, the drafting of strategies and programmes was characterised by a lack of specificity with a tendency to address quite diverse priorities, which were all considered as essential at local level. The specificity of priorities and objectives increased since 2000 with clear strategic orientation since 2007.

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 During the 1990s, the objectives of programmes were not easily measurable because targets were not clearly identified and because the monitoring system and procedures were not sufficiently developed. This improved since 2000 with the promotion of an evaluation culture and the use of a centralised monitoring tool and specific sets of indicators.

 Although objectives set in the 1990s were relevant according to regional needs, they were not always attainable, especially when taking into account the socioeconomic situation of the region. This was especially the case with regard to the promotion of innovation, private research and the development of an entrepreneurial culture. Objectives became progressively more achievable thanks to the improvement of the socioeconomic context and a stronger mobilisation of local, regional and national public policies on these specific issues.

 The objectives of programmes can be considered to have been relevant as they generally corresponded to regional needs. The main difficulties concerned their achievability, especially where socioeconomic emergency incited authorities to look for short term effects rather than longer term solutions.

 Programmes were not very timely during the first two periods, which were divided in several sub-periods of two or three years. This created difficulties for the implementation of projects and also reduced the coherence of strategies and objectives that needed to be implemented over longer periods of time. Since 2000, programmes have been certainly more timely thanks to the longer programme periods.

EQ1d: What has ERDF support been spent on in each programme period? Have there been significant transfers from initial allocations of ERDF resources to other priorities in any period?

Over the past 40 years, it is estimated that the Nord-Pas-de-Calais received nearly €5 billion of Structural Funds including the ERDF, ESF and the funds dedicated to agriculture and fisheries. It is one of the French regions that received the greatest amounts of EU funding.

When considering programmes implemented since 1989, ERDF support has been spent mostly on the themes of ‘enterprise’, ‘infrastructure’, ‘human resources’ (significant contribution of ESF within multi-funds programmes) and ‘structural adjustment’, with a progressive increase over the four programme periods for environment and innovation.

During the first programme period, ERDF and ESF were mainly spent on three priorities that represented around 74 percent of the total budget: labour market and training (32 percent), support to SMEs (26 percent), and infrastructure, communications and industrial renewal (26 percent). Other priorities such as tourism, R&D technology and innovation, environment and living conditions each represented between 2 percent and 8 percent.

In the second part of the 1990s (1994-1999), the concentration of ERDF on business, economic revitalisation, infrastructure, and urban and brownfield renewal remained quite strong (70 percent of ERDF) in line with the needs of the time.

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Support for tourism and cultural activities remained limited, but was quite constant from this period until 2007. Support for innovation and R&D was initially stronger for public sector research, with limited spending for private research and innovation in SMEs. ERDF spending in support of innovation and structural adjustment increased during the 2000s with currently 67 percent of the ERDF budget focused on Lisbon priorities.

In each of these periods, significant transfers of ERDF resources between priorities took place. One of the first instances of this followed difficulties in spending budgets dedicated to innovation and entrepreneurship during the first programme periods, which led to a reallocation of funds in favour of larger businesses and infrastructure. It is rather difficult to state whether there was an implicit objective behind these changes but it is true that the socioeconomic context was more favourable to supporting traditional industries and large investments than it was to promoting less tangible investments (innovation, incubators, entrepreneurship, etc.).

During the second programme period, the EU Commission insisted on reducing the focus on infrastructure to improve the effort on human resources and social support, whilst in the third programme period (2000-2006) a change occurred following the mid-term evaluation in favour of the project ‘Louvre-Lens’, which was de-programmed to be finally launched under the 2007-2013 programme. For 2007-2013, a change has been the integration of the objective of energy efficiency in social housing in the middle of 2007-2013 programme period, with a total of €26M dedicated to energy efficiency in the programme.

7.2 EQ2: To what extent do ERDF achievements meet regional objectives and needs in each programme period and across all periods?

One main difficulty with the evaluation of ERDF achievements is the access to precise and accurate data. Particularly before 2000, programmes provided only limited information on quantitative objectives and targets. Statistical series spanning successive periods were not coherent enough and evaluation tools were not sufficiently developed in order to enable longer-term qualitative assessments.

For example, various types of figures are provided for employment (direct and indirect jobs, jobs consolidated and safeguarded, etc.). It is estimated that around 72,000 jobs benefited from ERDF support between 1989 and 2010, and evaluation reports indicate that ERDF programmes directly contributed to the creation of 20,000 direct jobs.

The situation is comparable with brownfield renewal and areas ‘treated’, ‘renewed’ or ‘developed’. Around 7,000 hectares of brownfield sites have been ‘treated’ during the last 20 years. Most of them benefitted from decontamination and greening measures and a more limited amount from successful redevelopment projects (prioritised since 2000). Within each programme period, figures relating to brownfield renewal are generally coherent. Brownfield renewal projects tended to decrease in number in the most recent periods due to a shift towards more costly interventions in smaller areas.

In the same way, the indicators on the achievements in the interventions in real estate include ‘m² of buildings rehabilitated or demolished’, ‘surface of premises created or rehabilitated’, ‘new areas of business premises’, amongst others. At least 4,800 hectares of land has been redeveloped

LSE 122 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais into business areas and more than 1,000 hectares of premises has been developed or converted for businesses with the support of ERDF since 1989. These categories are however not always coherent from one period to the other and existing monitoring tools are not adapted to assess their socioeconomic effects on a mid-term perspective.

In relation with the transition process, achievements are nevertheless quite convincing for large integrated operations that combined land management, urban development, infrastructure and services around ambitious industrial and territorial projects. For example, this is the case with the Zone de l’Union in Roubaix-Tourcoing or EuraTechnologie.

The assessment capacities improved after 2000 as a result of increasing EU requirements for project monitoring and with the implementation of integrated evaluation systems.

The available data and evaluation reports undertaken over the last 20 years show that ERDF programmes had mixed results in meeting their objectives. Discrepancies between initial objectives and achievements had different reasons.

Objectives can change during a programme period due to new regulations, as has been the case for the integration of an energy efficiency objective in social housing in 2007-2013. Some objectives can be modified because they are not achievable (such as the promotion of entrepreneurship and incubators in the 1990s, or the difficulties in implementing large scale projects like the Louvre-Lens between 2000 and 2006). Competition between authorities and territories also generates trade-offs in the allocation of funds between priorities and measures, which has an impact on projects and achievements. Explicit objectives can also mask hidden or implicit ones, as has been observed in relation to the desire to modify the industrial profile of the region whilst at the same time protecting traditional industries and the related jobs.

EQ2a: What are the reported achievements of each programme period?

Information available on achievements significantly varies from one period to another. Between 1989 and 1993, reporting focused mainly on financial progress rather on outputs and results. The lack of sources limited the scope for aggregate assessment of the reported achievements. Nevertheless, the sources available report that 1,500 small and medium firms benefited from ERDF support during this period, through projects for technology transfer, material and immaterial investments, support for executive recruitment or external expertise. Modernisation and adaptation of productive assets helped businesses to face the economic crisis faced during the period, but no detailed data are available on survival rates over the following years. More than 110,000 individuals benefited of training for businesses, aimed amongst others at the creation of new businesses. However, it is not possible to assess the results of these training activities due to the absence of data on this. ERDF programmes also contributed to the modernisation of 100 education and training centres which was a priority for the region. In the field of research and higher education, achievements have been especially significant regarding the modernisation of universities and the strengthening of human resources in public research in the 1990s (+50 percent of researchers, engineers, technicians and administrators during this period). Achievements have also been significant on brownfield sites and urban derelict areas: clean-up activities for 3,000 hectares of wastelands, servicing of 530 hectares of land, 115,000 m² of premises created or rehabilitated and 300 urban regeneration projects. ERDF programmes contributed also to the development of

LSE 123 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais communication infrastructures with urban bypasses, the national road 49 between Valenciennes and Maubeuge, and the national road 2 between Maubeuge and Avesnes-sur-Helpe. In terms of jobs creation, ERDF programmes supported a positive dynamic during this period, with better performance in Nord-Pas-de-Calais than nationally, a trend that can be linked to investments in training and technological development. However, the effects of ERDF remained limited during this period on entrepreneurship and economic diversification. During this first period ERDF funds also generated impetus at local level for the development of tourism and culture activities. Even though achievements were modest at first, emblematic initiatives like NAUSICAA in Boulogne Sur Mer and the Musée Piscine in Roubaix contributed to support wider and longer term initiatives.

Between 1994 and 1999, one important change was the classification of the French Hainaut as Objective 1 category which brought significant additional financial support. With ERDF support, employment increased by 12 percent in this area, which was higher than the regional or national average (estimation of 3,220 new direct jobs and 4,508 new indirect jobs). In this period, ERDF programmes mainly contributed to support jobs in existing businesses or to attract new businesses from other regions or countries. Endogenous regional development and entrepreneurship continued to remain weak, despite the implementation of specific measures until the end of the period. In 1994, it was estimated that the remaining stock of brownfield sites represented about 5,000 hectares: interventions in favour of brownfield renewal thus continued with the treatment of 2,020 hectares of industrial land in the Objective 1 area and approximately 1,400 hectares in the Objective 2 one. The effects of ERDF projects were especially noticeable in the field of urban renewal. Three hundred projects were implemented in 131 cities in housing improvement, social support, health and cultural activities. Information is however lacking on their direct socio- economic consequences. In the environmental field, it is estimated that ERDF projects directly contributed to sort and recycle 162,000 tons of industrial waste each year and contributed to the improvement of air quality. However, despite progress, still in 2009 Nord-Pas-de-Calais was the second French region for the highest number of polluted sites (559) behind Rhône-Alpes (599).

In 2000-2006, a shift can be observed in ERDF achievements. EU programmes brought a stronger contribution to the regional policy in favour entrepreneurship which led to the creation of around 3,000 firms. More than 150,000 people benefited from support measures and information promoting entrepreneurship. This period showed a growing interest in services, tourism, health, environment and ICT which contributed to structural adjustment (an example being the financing of IT laboratories for digital schools). Progress was made with initiatives such as ‘Digital Region’ and ‘Digital University in the Region’, which benefitted from ERDF support. However, despite a stronger interest in innovation since 2000, achievements are less convincing concerning investments in private research and the connection between research and businesses. The increase in public researchers mainly concerned universities and only a limited number of projects involved other bodies such as Scientific and Technologic Public Body (EPST), which are essential for the development of fundamental and applied research and the promotion of innovation in relation to businesses. At territorial level, ERDF contributed to the development of the new competitiveness poles. The shift towards greater integration of R&D and innovation into businesses was also significant, even if the region remained below the national average concerning R&D performance during this period. Nearly 5,000 R&D jobs were created between 2000 and 2006 through both ERDF programmes. During this period, efforts in favour of business creation, animation, financial engineering or territorial attractiveness contributed to the creation of around 9,400 direct jobs and

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3,900 indirect jobs in the objective 1 area (3,579 and 20,160 jobs for Objective 2). In line with business development, ERDF supported large regional infrastructures like the Zone de l’Union in the Roubaix-Tourcoing area (encompassing the ‘European Centre for Innovative Textiles’, CETI), the regeneration of the Oignies brownfield site into a major economic and cultural site based and the multimodal and logistics hub in Dourges. These projects corresponded with the willingness to support higher quality urban renewal activities, with longer term socioeconomic impact.

The 2007-2013 programme period was characterised by a significant shift towards innovation and competitiveness objectives. However, not all projects have yet been completed and the mid-term evaluation focused on expenditure rather than achievements, and does not provide much information on projects’ outputs and results. In the mid-term, the PRESAGE monitoring system specifies that around 18,600 projects managers have been supported for the creation or transfer of businesses. The ERDF programme incited local and regional authorities to set up better structured development strategies with a stronger focus on emerging sectors such as renewable energies, biotechnologies and sustainable transport. It is difficult to appraise achievements in the fields of labour market and social cohesion, since these themes are no longer a central issue for the ERDF mono-fund programme. Achievements are more tangible in the field of infrastructures, as the programme is supporting the continuation of some large projects increasing the visibility and attractiveness of the region (notably the Louvre Lens Museum, the “Zone de l’Union in Roubaix- Tourcoing, the tramway of Valencienne, the ‘VIAVIL’ public transport project or the Lille International Campus Opportunities for Research and Innovation (also known as LICORNE). Achievements are still largely concentrated on urban areas with projects such as the conversion project of the Boulon industrial site or the re-industrialisation of the SELNOR site in Lesquin.

EQ2b: To what extent were objectives achieved in each programme period?

Since the first programme period a strong focus was placed on enterprise in order to maintain economic activities and fight against unemployment. ERDF programmes incorporating business support demonstrated their capacity to reach a high number of enterprises during the 1990s, in line with the quantitative objectives set in the programme documents. This continued during the 2000s, with increased capacity to reach SMEs and to promote entrepreneurship (which was not a success during the 1990s).

Although ERDF projects were effective in their contribution to reducing the impact of the economic crisis, they could not however generate a significant convergence process in the 1990s. Despite the estimation of 20,000 jobs creation with the support of ERDF programmes between 1989 and 1999, this was not sufficient to compensate for losses in industrial activities. Beyond the need to save employment and support overall regional socioeconomic cohesion, it has been difficult to trigger structural changes and transform the economic fabric in a region that lacked innovation and entrepreneurial assets.

For the programmes of the 1994-1999 period, programmes were implemented in two different areas (Objective 1 and Objective 2). Some achievements are provided for the Objective 1, but there is little information concerning initial targets. The situation is comparable for the Objective 2 area. The only comparison that can be made, between initial targets and actual achievements for Objective 2, relates to the area of wasteland renewed which has been lower than expected (less than 50 percent) and to the outputs relating to the training of new highly skilled technicians, which

LSE 125 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais have been below expectations but also very positive regarding jobs created thanks to measures dedicated to business premises (+617 percent). Once again the lack of data and of information regarding the way indicators are calculated does not allow sound evaluation of achievements.

Regarding labour market, skills and competences, EU programmes have been especially useful for upgrading and developing training facilities which were lagging behind in the 1990s. Training measures and investment continued in line with initial objectives between 2000 and 2006, which represented significant support for public authorities confronted with budget constraints.

Achievements in the field of environment have been quite significant, taking into account the objectives set in the programme documents. Challenges were especially substantial in a region in which there was pressure from industrial development, environmentally harmful activities and urban sprawl. Since 2000, ERDF programmes insist on the necessity to support more qualitative projects with higher added value in terms of economic development. Achievements are in line with this objective with smaller regeneration projects and better concentration on areas presenting higher development potential.

The situation has changed since 2000, alongside higher EU requirements for programme and project monitoring, and with the use in Nord-Pas-de-Calais of the centralised monitoring system PRESAGE.

From a strategic point of view, the approach of ‘needs’ and objectives evolved from the end of the 1990s with stronger guidelines provided at EU level (Lisbon Agenda) and with higher awareness at local and regional level that more structural changes were necessary to improve the regional socioeconomic situation. Authorities and stakeholders were also asked to identify initial targets and to provide more detailed information on achievements. From this period on, the achievements related to knowledge economy, ICT, innovation and entrepreneurship have been more significant.

However, the strongest change occurred in 2007 with the earmarking of funds on Lisbon priorities. Though it is too early to form a clear picture of ERDF achievements for this period, it appears that by the end of 2010, 95 percent of ERDF support dedicated to the creation and transfer of businesses had been committed. In this field, the programme meets regional objectives better than expected despite initial fears of insufficient absorption capacity at local and regional level.

EQ2c: To what extent were needs met in each programme period? To what extent can observed changes in regional needs and problems be attributed to ERDF programmes over time?

During the first two programme periods, the main needs in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region were related to the substantial increase in unemployment and the destruction of businesses, and the overall impact of this on society and the quality of life. Between 1962 and 1999, taking into account the closure of the mining industry and the economic crises in the steel and textile industries, it is estimated that around 325,000 jobs were lost in the region. Another issue concerned the increasing regional disparities within the former mining areas that were especially affected by the economic recession.

In this context, ERDF programmes increased the resilience capacity of businesses and contributed to saving jobs with productive investments, modernisation of enterprises and improvement of skills. From the first programme period, ERDF has been closely connected to domestic funds to reduce the

LSE 126 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais effect of de-industrialisation and delivered significant achievements in terms of urban and industrial renewal, reduction of pollution, improvement of living conditions and upgrading of communication infrastructure.

However, from a macroeconomic point of view, ERDF funds, just like domestic funds, did not manage to trigger a significant catching-up process with national and EU indicators. GDP per capita, unemployment or poverty rates remained weaker than those of the majority of other French regions. Even though the objective of preserving employment focused the attention of public authorities also on existing industries, the territories lacked the assets that would have been necessary to promote new and higher added-value economic sectors (entrepreneurship, innovation culture, skills, political consensus, etc.).

From a territorial point of view, the classification of the French Hainaut as an Objective 1 area in 1994 aimed to reduce infra-regional disparities and support territories that were confronted with especially severe structural difficulties. In that case, EU funds directly contributed to the regeneration and restoration process and had enough flexibility to intervene in favour of brownfield and urban renewal, training facilities and communication infrastructure, which were essential for restoring basic territorial assets and opening up new development perspectives. The employment area of Valenciennes managed, with the support of EU funds, to attract new investors, modernise traditional economic sectors (transport) and even promote new ones (ITC) over the four programme periods.

However, successes have been unequal, with a stronger concentration of economic activities in Lille and Arras than in the rest of the region. This raises the question of the influence of ERDF on the attractiveness of territories and on migration, which has been a major concern for the region since the closure of the first mining areas. On this point, the utility of ERDF seems to have been limited, with a majority of employment areas still having a negative migration rate in 2010.

From the end of the 1990s, it became more obvious that a qualitative shift was necessary, as public policies were confronted with increasing budget pressure. Needs remained important in the fields of training and urban renewal, and ERDF programmes largely contributed to upgrading existing infrastructure or developing new infrastructure (for example universities).

The 2000s mainly marked greater attention paid by public authorities to the necessity to improve entrepreneurship and innovation in an overall economic environment characterised by increasing international competition. In these two fields, a main issue was the capacity of EU funds to intervene in favour of private bodies that had substantial needs but that also required well-tailored and user-friendly support systems.

In this context, EU funds were useful in encouraging the professionalisation and coordination of intermediary bodies especially for the management of Global Grants, which required important institutional and financial capacities. In parallel, ERDF programmes provided more targeted guidelines and guidance to better address the needs of private sector partners, small businesses and new economic sectors (ICT, knowledge society, innovative transport, health, etc.).

This has particularly been the case since 2007, a year that marks the main strategic shift since the start of ERDF programmes in 1989. From a political point of view, ERDF programmes favoured the

LSE 127 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais mobilisation of local and regional authorities on issues that are now considered as compelling for the future. Even through this shift towards innovation and competitiveness is being relatively rapid, and binding given the Lisbon earmarking, public authorities agree on the point that this shift would not have been possible 15 or even 10 years ago, and that ERDF programmes have been an important factor of change in the organisation and mobilisation capacities of territorial partners.

EQ2d: What have been the complementarities and synergies of ERDF interventions with ESF, EAGGF, EAFRD and with domestic regional policy interventions?

In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, as in other French regions, there has been a strong connection between the implementation of ERDF programmes and State-Region Planning Contracts over the past 20 years. Although the State administration, through the Ministries of Equipment and Industry (among others) had a strong influence on strategic orientations during the first periods, this influence has progressively been reduced, in parallel with the granting of increasing responsibilities and competences to local and regional governments.

The modification in the share of financial contributions (decrease of State contribution, matched by an increase of EU, local and regional contributions) has been accompanied by a strategic shift under the influence of EU regulations. EU strategic orientations have progressively been considered as key guidelines that should be taken into account in the design of domestic regional development strategy. This has particularly been the case since 2007 with the earmarking of programmes to the Lisbon strategy, and local and regional actors consider that this period brought the most important change in the regional development agenda since 1989.

With regard to the relation with other EU programmes, the main issue concerns the connection between ERDF and ESF. Taking into account the quite difficult economic situation experienced by the region through the industrial transition, the ESF had a strong role to play especially in the field of training, support to the most fragile populations, health and urban social policy. In these different fields, there was a complementarity between ESF and ERDF, with the ERDF financing infrastructure (schools, universities), modernisation of businesses and urban renewal, and the ESF providing softer support in favour of human resources and social support measures.

However, there has still been a gap between complementarity and operational coordination, with only a limited number of projects being conceived with the explicit objective of articulating contributions from the two funds. In some cases, ERDF-funded infrastructure has provided the opportunity to promote professional integration initiatives financed by the ESF. Over the past few years, the scope has improved with measures taken by local authorities in favour of stronger mobilisation of integration measures in the implementation of publicly funded infrastructure.

More specifically, there are discussions regarding the role that the ESF could play in the promotion of innovation and competitiveness in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, taking into account for example the fact that it is more oriented towards social measures and vocational training for employees, than on the improvement of management and innovation capacities of entrepreneurs.

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EQ2e: What has been the overall contribution of ERDF programmes to regional development?

In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, the ERDF programmes represented less than 1 percent of the regional GDP between 1989 and 2013. This needs to be borne in mind when assessing the overall contribution of the ERDF programmes to regional development.

Nevertheless, especially in early periods, ERDF programmes increased the resilience capacity of businesses and contributed to saving jobs with productive investments, modernisation of enterprises and improvement of skills. Together with domestic policies, with which the ERDF was closely connected, the ERDF programmes contributed to soften the negative effect of de- industrialisation and delivered significant achievements in terms of urban and industrial renewal, reduction of pollution, improvement of living conditions and upgrading of communication infrastructure.

However, the additional support brought by the ERDF programmes was not sufficient to trigger higher added value activities better corresponding to the globalisation process. In this respect, the most significant changes have been observed in the up-grading of public sector activities that were lagging behind at the beginning of the study period (higher education and public research for example) and in specific sectors, such as biotechnology (Genopole), health, energy, ITC, innovative transports (Valutec), food or see products (CEVPM), which would experience good development perspectives, thanks to the support provided to the launch of six competitiveness poles in the mid- 2000s.

The ERDF also contributed to the development of tourism and cultural activities, in so doing enabling a change of image for the region. Since 1989, ERDF funds have been mobilised on these issues and concretely contributed to launch new infrastructures and activities that would have been difficult to promote without the ERDF’s contribution. On the longer term, these investments generated a different perception of the region, which made it able to set up major events, launch innovative projects and attract large cultural infrastructures (Musée Piscine of Roubaix, Louvre Lens Museum, Métaphone of Oignie, etc.).

Since the 2000s, and again together with national and regional domestic initiatives, the ERDF programmes also contributed to increase endogenous entrepreneurship (an area that corresponds to a strong regional need, but where initiatives had only limited effects during the first decade of the period reviewed). Nevertheless, the region continues to remain characterised by the weight of larger businesses and initiative for business creation and innovation within SMEs should continue to be encouraged.

The ERDF programmes have enabled important change also in the environmental field, On the one hand, ERDF projects contributed to preserve the natural heritage and to extend protected areas in a region that remains densely populated (22,000 hectares protected with the contribution of ERDF funds since 1989). On the other hand, large and numerous interventions have been carried out for the treatment, clean-up, greening or renewal of brownfield areas. Since 1989, more than 7,600 thousands hectares of former industrial sites have been improved, with cleaning and restoration measures. This had a significant impact on the landscape and on the fight against pollution, even though Nord-Pas-de-Calais remains one of the French regions with the most important stock of brownfield areas.

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The upgrade of competences of labour forces, traditionally mainly focused on low-skilled and industrial jobs, was another area of need that the ERDF programmes contributed to address. This was a great challenge in a region where most of the employment areas experienced between 10 and 15 percent unemployment between 1989 and 2010. With support from the ESF, the programmes contributed to upgrade competences and support fragile population whereas the ERDF helped to strengthen training infrastructures including schools, colleges, high schools and universities. The effect has been a significant increase of the number of students and improvement of the adaptability of the workforce. However, despite improvements, Nord-Pas-de-Calais still has higher unemployment rates and lower levels of education than other French regions (as well as a higher proportion of young people without diploma), and certain categories such as young people, senior adults or single mothers, remain at risk of exclusion from the labour market, requiring further and specific support.

More widely, the ERDF programmes contributed to improve the living conditions of fragile populations with numerous renewal projects in urban areas. This was especially important to improve quality of life, even though these measures were not sufficient to achieve the more comprehensive urban restructuring which would have been necessary in many small and middle size industrial cities.

At the beginning of the study period, the region was very diversified internally, with significant disparities between the area of Lille (the regional core, concentrating economic activities and services), the former mining area (facing strong economic, environmental and social difficulties), and the more rural areas, characterised by weaker economic development levels and assets. The ERDF programmes realised local roads, tramways, communication services or multimodality, thus increasing the mobility within the region. However, on a more general level, ERDF support was particularly focussed on the French Hainaut (between 1994 and 2007 - where it contributed to modernise existing industries (like transports) and promote new ones (image, knowledge economy) – and in the areas of Boulogne, Dunkirk and Calais, also supporting the development of major projects like the platform of Dourges or the Zone de l’Union. To achieve a more balanced distribution of economic activities within the region, it would have been necessary to mobilise a much higher volume of resources.

7.3 EQ3: What are the main lessons learnt on the effectiveness and utility of ERDF interventions?

When the first generation of ERDF programmes was launched in 1989, the regional development strategy was implemented through the State-Region Planning Contracts (CPER). There was significant influence from ministries on regional priorities. During this period, ERDF programmes and strategies had to adapt to the regional institutional and political environment. However, ERDF programmes also enabled local authorities to take initiatives that often would not have been possible without EU funds, as has been observed - for example - in the field of culture. At the regional and sub-regional levels, the effectiveness of ERDF interventions was affected by the competition between local authorities confronted with difficult economic situations. During the first periods, EU programmes were composed of a high number of measures reflecting difficulties in setting up and implementing strategies based on common and well-coordinated objectives. Access to EU funds was at that time less selective than it is today. During these periods at least, ERDF programmes could not bring significant added value to domestic policies in terms of strategy

LSE 130 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais building. Another lesson learnt relates to the limited effectiveness of measures dedicated to innovation, private research and entrepreneurship during the 1990s. Although they were well identified in the regional development strategy, achievements were limited due to socioeconomic difficulties and to a lack of overall consensus between actors.

Another point is the identification of needs, which has proven to be a key issue for the effectiveness and utility of programmes. Especially in the case of entrepreneurship and innovation, public authorities were confronted with intervention fields that did not correspond with their competences and thus lacked the experience needed to intervene efficiently in these fields. For interviewees, and despite progress made with the partnership principle, in these fields it would have been necessary to involve more the beneficiaries and end-users in the definition of objectives and intervention strategies. The situation is now changing. ERDF support through new financing tools, for example, is better connected to the needs of private bodies. However, it is still too early to assess whether this will create a new dynamic for innovation and small economic operators in Nord-Pas-de-Calais.

The first programmes sometimes appeared to be too ambitious and too optimistic given the socioeconomic situation they were confronted with in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. With limited EU and domestic financial contribution (as compared to the regional GDP), they could not objectively generate a fast and large-scale transformation process. However, at sub-regional level, EU funds contributed to important achievements that were more in line with the specific objectives set in the programme documents (productive investments, training and human resources, brownfield and urban renewal, environmental clean-up, and support to high tech business areas). This raises issues regarding the geographical dimension of ERDF programmes which only covered only parts of Nord-Pas-de-Calais until 2007. Though stronger support to the most fragile employment areas contributed to a degree of convergence, intra-regional disparities have remained strong until the current period. From a strategic point of view, the variety of categories affecting eligible areas and the definition of eligibility at the municipal level complicated the design and implementation of public policies (especially between 2000 and 2006). Besides the creation of the Objective 1 area that brought substantial additional financing in 1994, evaluation reports do not provide significant detail on comparisons between areas and on the consequences of territorial eligibility on territorial development. As an example, the re-designation of some municipalities from Objective 2 in 1994-1999 to ‘transition areas’ in 2000-2006 did not bring a major change in the regional socioeconomic development strategy. In the same way, the end of the Objective 1 area in 2007 has not been considered as a dramatic change, taking into account the investments already achieved and the fact that these employment areas could still benefit from Objective 2 financing.

Since 2000, the influence of ERDF programmes on the regional development strategy has been more important and has highlighted the need, beyond financial support, for stronger strategic and technical guidelines. In the case of Nord-Pas-de-Calais, ERDF programmes played a positive role in the mobilisation of local and regional actors in favour of innovation, the knowledge economy and entrepreneurship (especially since 2007 with the introduction of the Regional Innovation Strategy). Conversely, this highlights the lack of expertise affecting local bodies tasked with designing and implementing ERDF projects. Because administrative and technical requirements in EU programmes increased over the time, these actors did not have equal chances to access EU funds (more staff, better project engineering, and stronger administrative and financial capacities for larger cities, larger public bodies and larger economic operators). One positive consequence of ERDF

LSE 131 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais requirements has been to push these bodies to attain higher quality project management and levels of professionalism. This is the case, for example, with intermediary bodies providing support to SMEs or involved in vocational training activities. EU funds also had a positive influence on the public bodies in charge of programme implementation which had to improve their management, monitoring and evaluation capabilities to comply with EU requirements. Progress is mainly noticeable with evaluation practices which were not widely used in domestic public administration.

EQ3a: What are the main good/bad practices?

In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, the Structural Funds have had a noticeable influence on the design and implementation of regional development policy over the past 20 years. Even though they only represented a limited amount of the regional GDP, they constituted up to one third of the funds dedicated to regional development in the region. Their influence was especially important to the State-Region Planning Contracts.

One of the main elements of success identified across programme periods was that EU programmes contributed to defining the regional priorities and to improving cooperation between local and regional actors. This was important in a region in which the economic crisis and the de- industrialisation process incited local actors to defend their own priorities and compete against each other for public funding.

Although EU regulations can be considered in some respect as overly prescriptive (for instance in relation to the strong shift towards innovation and competitiveness in 2007), they helped local and regional actors to explore new development and cooperation possibilities. As an example, the evaluation of 2007-2013 programme demonstrates good mobilisation of regional actors in favour of innovation (a positive trait of Nord-Pas-de-Calais compared to other French regions). This highlights the importance of political commitment at regional level for the success of the transition process. On this point, it appears that the strong involvement of the regional government in the regional development strategy played a positive role in the implementation of the Lisbon agenda. This was well illustrated in the delegation of a Global Grant to the regional authority for Priority 1 (R&D, innovation and businesses), which had positive effects on innovation activities.

Another positive aspect has been the development of new practices and working methods in public administration and intermediary bodies. Many local and regional actors unused to project engineering, management and monitoring increased their skills and competences to cope with EU requirements. The promotion of a culture of evaluation contributed to improving the monitoring of programmes and projects, and to providing more accurate information on results and performance.

When considering the main elements of failure, it must highlighted that despite progress in terms of partnership, strategy and governance, the complexity of the French political-administrative system still hampers the design and implementation of territorial development strategies. The fact that the entire regional territory became eligible for EU funds in 2007 reduced this complexity, but progress could still be made in simplifying the design and implementation of regional and local public policies.

The transfer of responsibilities from the State administration to other bodies is a key issue and led to improvements, as mentioned previously, with the Global Grant delegated to the regional

LSE 132 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais authority. In other cases, in which Global Grants were delegated to intermediary bodies with insufficient administrative and financing capacities, results have been far below expectations.

Administrative complexity in EU programmes has also been a major constraint, in part because of the obligation for beneficiaries to commit a large part of their time to administrative and financial reporting. It is of note that strict EU requirements also incited domestic authorities to add their own requirements, to reduce legal risks. Although this is manageable for most public bodies, it is much more problematic for private bodies and economic operators needing fast decision making processes, legal certainty and stable implementation rules. With changing regulations, the overlap of requirements at national and EU levels, and the risks raised by competition rules, many of them prefer to look for other types of financial support.

From a more strategic point of view, the heavy programme management and delivery system generates a ‘stop-and-go’ behaviour, where programme administrators concern primarily with strategic and qualitative objectives at the start of the programme period and focus especially on budgetary and administrative obligations during implementation and at the end of the period, with negative consequences over the overall efficiency and effectiveness of delivery.

This also raises the question of the lack of project engineering capabilities at local level and the needs for technical assistance, especially in the light of the recent performance turn and results orientation of programmes and projects alike. In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, the financial and methodological support provided for setting up the Regional Innovation Strategy is a good example of the positive evolution of the partnership system in this respect.

EQ3b: What conclusions can be drawn for improving ERDF programme design, implementation, results-based management, achievements?

The experience of implementing the ERDF programmes in Nord-Pas-de-Calais allows drawing specific observations concerning the design and implementation of ERDF programmes. This region, like a few others in Europe, has been confronted by a heavy socioeconomic transition process that constituted a major challenge for policy makers and public policies. This situation necessitated significant financial support which has been mobilised mainly through national redistributive policies, national territorial development policies and regional territorial development policies. Albeit limited when confronted to the regional GDP, the contribution of ERDF programmes has been significant for local and regional actors, and has played a strong role in orientating the domestic State-Region Planning Contracts (now State-Region Projects Contracts).

When considering the evolution of EU regulations and, consequently, of the ERDF programmes and their influence on the regional development policy, one can observe that the impact of the programmes has been strongly related to the capacity to set up and implement well-structured and well-targeted development strategies. In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, the broad approach of the ERDF programmes in the 1990s has certainly helped the region survive major social and territorial difficulties. It also gave the possibility to adapt the use of funds to absorption capacities when, for example, the capacities in the fields of entrepreneurship and innovation were still limited (even though needs were important on these issues). However, this broad approach, did not focus the strategy on the necessary transition process. On the contrary, this was favoured by the more focussed guidelines and EU requirements introduced in 1999, which had a direct influence on the

LSE 133 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais design also of domestic public policies since the 2000s. This helped to overcome concerns that the region was not moving forward in the transition process.

As mentioned previously, the success of EU programmes in the region has also been dependent on their capacity to identify and support on-going place-specific dynamics that might not have been foreseen as such in EU or national guidelines. This has been the case of the field of culture, where the mobilisation of local and regional authorities has enabled the exploitation of previously untapped development potential.

Regarding implementation, a conclusion that can be drawn is that the ERDF programmes could have played a better role as ‘facilitator’ and as source of dynamism than it has actually been the case, and have not been able to fully overcome the economic, social and institutional inertia that were at the root of the region’s inability to overcome its low entrepreneurship and innovation propensity (in both public and private sector).

Lastly, until now, the access to EU financing has often been more challenging than the access to domestic funds in the region. If the ERDF programmes have helped to promote and strengthen partnership, monitoring and evaluation practices, they also favoured institutions and bodies used to dealing with heavy administrative procedures (and, conversely, excluded others). Thus, the process of simplification proposed for 2014-2020 is a key issue and useful progress can be made with simplified and harmonised application procedures, use of lump sums, flat rates and simplified eligibility rules. Nevertheless, in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, the effective implementation of future ERDF programmes will depend strongly on the domestic capacity to reorganise governance systems, with the transfer of management responsibilities from State to Regional authorities. On this point, technical assistance will be of particular importance to help stabilising human resources and improve support to project engineering.

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8. ANNEX I – ANALYSIS OF PROJECT SAMPLES

8.1 Project: ‘Great Site Operation’ of the 2 Capes (Gris-Nez and Blanc-Nez)

Summary description

The ‘Two Capes’ natural site, in the department of Pas–de-Calais, is one of the most important and emblematic coastal natural areas in terms of natural heritage, due to a variety of remarkable landscapes, natural environment and typical villages. It was listed 35 years ago, in order to stop a nuclear plant project. The whole site (23 kilometres long) has been largely weakened by growing touristic pressure (almost 2 million visitors per year) and a variety of human and economic pressures. The various ERDF-funded projects aimed at finding compatibility between growing public use of the site and preservation of its heritage.

Underlying problem and context

The whole site was faced with the following issues:

 seasonal issue of overuse, since the opening of the Channel tunnel and the A16 highway  overuse of the two Capes, compared to other parts of the site  lack of commercial offer on site  the domination of private cars for the site compared to other means of transport  lack of public toilets  environmental degradation due to fly tipping  co-existence of former leisure activities and new regulation (‘conflicts of use’).

The project was totally in line with Priority 2, Objective 6 of the 2000-2006 OP (‘Protecting, managing and restoring natural areas and resources ») and the Axis 2, Priority 1 of the 2007-2013 OP (‘Preserving biodiversity and water resource’) (it was clearly pre-identified in the OP).

Due to the emblematic character of the project, it was concerned by several other policies: the State-Region Planning Contracts, the programmes of the Conservatoir du Littoral, the ‘Fragile Natural Areas’ policy of the General Council. It was also labelled ‘Great Site of France’ in March 2010, an important national programme aiming at protecting and developing remarkable sites.

Detailed description

The main objectives of the project are:

 restoring and ensuring long-lasting landscape quality in the area  proposing implementation solutions to development and protection issues  drafting an environmental planning and management policy  working in favour of the development of the small towns within the perimeter of the site.

The actors involved are regional representatives of State authorities, regional council, departmental council, communes and groups of communes, associations, Observatoire du Littoral, Conservatoire du Littoral (Costal Management Authority), Chamber of Trade and Industry.

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Funding plans:

 2000-2006: total cost of €8.2M (ERDF = €4.6M)  2007-2013: total cost of €20,780,000 ERDF = €11,467,000. The project was divided into 3 phases in order to make its administrative management easier.

Outputs and achievements

In 1993-2000, a first round of developments was carried out, involving parking areas. The regional natural park of ‘Caps et Marais d’Opale’ was the project manager.

In 2000-2004, a 4-year-study was carried out, in order to draft a programme for the restoration of the whole site, and the programme of operational works for the next 15 years.

Between 2006 and 2010, achievements dealt with the restoration of major sites and fragile natural areas, through for instance, removing parking areas from coastal areas, creating several paths, enhancing several monuments (Dover Patrol at the Blanc-nez Cape), and ecological renewal of areas, with pedestrian loops, safety devices for visitors on small roads, creating visitors’ areas, offering equipment for interpretation of landscape and natural heritage.

Since 2010, several planning projects were carried out, such as restoring grass-cutting systems and pasture lands, restoring more damaged sites, and creating communication links between towns.

Over the 2007-2013 period, the effective programme began in 2009 only, as there was a remainder of credits from the 2000-2006 period.

More projects will be presented for ERDF support in 2014-2020, with the ‘Maison du Site’and a master plan on pedestrian and cycle routes linked with the ‘Euroveloroute n°4 Roscoff-Kiev’.

An unexpected impact was observed, namely the growth of land prices, because of the general improvement of the quality of the environment.

Value-added

The project had a real impact on the emergence of other operations, such as the requalification of slag heaps. As a crossover impact, it helped raise awareness of the unique character of this natural heritage. It triggered the development of cooperation projects, such as the ‘detroits’ project’ consisting of networking European detroits in order to improve their environmental protection, or an INTERREG IV C project on biodiversity.

From a ‘governance’ point of view, it helped solve part of the problems due to the multiplicity of levels of local authorities on the territory (4 intercommunalités), bringing some kind of consistency and solidarity between local stakeholders. It partly helped solve local political battles, through the common involvement in a project with a much wider scope. A Steering Committee meeting is held once a year, and a Technical Committee twice a year. No particular problems have been reported.

The project proved it is possible to successfully associate ERDF and ESF funding: long-term unemployed people (24) were hired on several sites thanks to ESF funding, within the framework of ‘integration contracts’. This was made easier by the sub-regional authority (Conseil Général) being

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Managing Authority of the ESF operational programme. This triggered the development of integration clauses in public contracts.

Management and monitoring issues

The obligation of dividing the project into 3 phases for 2007-2013 (18 months each) did not ease the management, it even made it more complex, as far as all tasks had to be carried out 3 times instead of 1 (invoices, project file …). The State representatives required a ‘dynamic programme’, which was supposed to ensure a fast consumption of funds and help prevent the DO, which put a lot of pressure on project managers.

At the beginning, the partnership was globally hard to manage because of its size and the lack of experience of working together, in spite of a 2004 convention.

Conclusions

This project is unanimously recognised as best practice in terms of protection and enhancement of the natural and patrimonial heritage. According to interviewees, it could not have been carried out on the same scale without ERDF funding, as it allowed widening of the scope of the project. It was an opportunity for the local authorities to get together in order to handle the project. It illustrates the difficulty to associate protection and enhancement on a very fragile site.

8.2 Project: Dourges’ logistic multimodal hub (Delta 3)

Summary description

Delta 3 is a multimodal hub for manufacturers and logistic service providers seeking to set up their European distribution centre, located in the cities of Oignies, Ostricourt and Dourges. A very wide range of logistic services such as warehouses, combined transport, and service centre, can be found on site. Geographically, the site is close to Europe's large sea ports, while economically it is at the heart of a 100 million consumer market. The road, inland waterways, rail and port infrastructure are the main assets of Delta 3. The concept is to combine a transport terminal and a logistic area on a same site. It opened in December 2003.

Underlying problem and context

Due to increasing traffic of goods and persons in the 1990s, the Nord-Pas de Calais regional authorities decided to develop an ambitious project of multimodal and logistic platform, 20 km South from Lille. A multimodal platform already existed close to Lille’s town centre in the 1990s, but it was obsolete, not big enough to face increases in traffic, and very difficult to convert. An advisability study was carried out at the end of the 1990s, and the first public works began in 2001.

Detailed description

The objective of the project was to develop a new, larger multimodal platform, focused on logistics and distribution of consumption goods. Its operational goals are:

 To support the development of freight multimodal transport through: - Supporting transport by containers and mobile boxes

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- Supporting rail and river shuttles - Solving saturation and poor performance of the existing combined transport terminal in Lille St Sauveur  To address the growth of trades and saturation of road infrastructure

 To allow the growth of transit regional flows

 Receive the centres of logistic supply at European scale

The particularity of the project is that it combines an infrastructure side with the ‘promotion’ and commercialisation of the buildings, all of it being handled by a Semi-Public Company (Société d’Economie Mixte, SEM) in charge of the project, Delta3.

Delta 3 supports the setting up of companies regarding their business flows, but also the nature of their activities, and may refuse companies if they are not consistent with the philosophy of the project.

The actors involved are the regional council, the semi-public company in charge of developing the project, the Syndicat Mixte (mixed economy company) in charge of steering the platform.

The project was supported through the following ERDF funding plans:

1997-1999: ERDF = €20,957,014 within the framework of a ‘Grand projet’, that funded the following tasks: pre-operational studies, impact and risks studies, monitoring of the first phase of works, archaeological studies, public works (banking, pavements …).

2000-2006: ERDF = €17,000,000 (the basis for funding contained: the motorway intersection, banking, travelling gantry crane, river embankments, bridge over the Deule, heavy pavement, archaeological works, technical fees, building land marketing, launch of the market for combined transport centre.

The zone covers an area of 330 hectares, on which the following services are available:

 a multimodal transport terminal (rail – route – waterways) (34 ha), with a long-distance road link to Italy and Spain, inland waterways to and from the main sea ports (Dunkirk, Zeebrugge, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Amsterdam), bonded storage available and dangerous goods transit. The terminal itself features :

- 7 x 750m-rail tracks - 1 x 250m-waterway quay - 4 railway spreaders - 1 tri-modal gantry crane - 1 x 2500 TEUs storage area - 14 x 750m-railway tracks marshalling yard  a 6 hectares service centre

 a terminal dedicated to tri-modal combined transport

 a rail beam (10 ha)

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 a logistics business area, divided into 12 hectares for ‘rail’ zone and 65 hectares for ‘road’ zone, and 330,000 m² of ‘class A’ logistics warehouses.

The hub is accessible by:

 Road, along the A1 (Paris /Lille) motorway with a specific Delta 3 exit, near the A26 (Calais/Reims) and the A21 (Lens/Valenciennes)

 Inland waterways, along the high–gauge Dunkirk/Valenciennes canal

 Rail, with direct access to the Lens Ostricourt line and connection to the Lille Paris B+ heavy loads line.

The zone combines services and housing. This combination, as well as the combination of activities described above, is unique in the world of multimodal platforms.

Outputs and achievements

In terms of outputs:

 Concerning handling: in 2011, Lille Dourges Container Terminal handled 87,146 transhipments equivalent to 174,292 handlings in UTI, an increase in 32 percent compared to 2010. LDCT handled also 4,004 trains in 2011, a rise in 39 percent compared to 2010. The maximum estimated capacity of the site is about 200,000 transhipments a year. LDCT carries out waterways, rail and road handling and also manages container and swap body stocks. LDCT also has the means to ensure rail traction between the marshalling yard and the terminal.

 Concerning warehouses, the logistics area is divided into 3 distinct parts, each meeting different needs but all located in the vicinity of the container terminal to make use of combined transport.

 Concerning services areas, it covers Euralogistics centres 1 and 2, with 2000 m² office buildings managed by Artois CCI for transport and logistics companies, forwarding agents as well as various service providers for hub users; and Training Campus Euralogistic, managed by Artois CCI will be composed of a 5,000m² training warehouse and a 2000m² building.

 A lot of large companies already decided to settle in Delta 3: Dachser, DHL, Gefco, Holder (bakeries Paul), Kiabi (textile), Leroy Merlin (do-it-yourself), Oxybul Eveil & Jeux (toys), Oxylane Decathlon (sports), Rexel (electrical supplies), SIA Home Fasion (tableware), Yamaha.

The achievements are wide-ranging

 Environment: the combined transport terminal in DELTA 3 enables containers and swap bodies to be transported using environmentally friendly modes of transport (rail and inland waterways). Almost 100,000 road journeys are thus avoided each year. The swap bodies are transported by rail to the South of France, Italy and Spain. Over 1,000 km of road transport are thus avoided each time. Per ton of goods transported, rail and waterways transport is

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respectful of the environment (decreased greenhouse gas emission and noise pollution) and contributes also to the decrease in traffic density and road accidents. Moreover, an environmental study emphasised the results obtained In terms of decrease in CO2 emissions and decrease in SO2 emissions.

 In order to obtain a quality environment, the developer set out some architectural and landscaping specifications for each different area in addition to the already existing regulation. The specifications were drawn for the various logistics areas, the service centre and the combined transport terminal. They aim at ensuring their integration in the landscape and creating a coherent whole for future development.

 Other achievements deal with the number of jobs created: a prospective study stated that 600 direct jobs should be created during the pre-operational phase, and between 700 and 1690 during the implementation phase, with also 470 to 700 indirect jobs. Today, it seems that the total number of jobs created stands between 600 and 1200 (½ full time, ½ part- time jobs).

The 2011 monitoring report states that the internal profitability rate is 10.2 percent, and the reduction of external costs is 68 percent of total gains (50 percent = reduction of atmospheric pollution, 8 percent = reduction of greenhouse effect, 3 percent = reduction of insecurity, 7 percent = noise reduction).

Value-added

First of all, the project allowed reconverting a mining wasteland, according to the principle of re- using the materials available. It is carried out according to the principles of High Environmental Quality, and the landscape equipment of the whole site allows inserting the project into its urban and natural areas. It clearly promotes economic regional development.

The innovative and diverse content of the project helped big companies to set up and choose to use the waterways mode, which they do not necessarily use: large companies still consider road is the best means of transportation from an economic point of view, and because of its supposed better flexibility (whereas the cost gap is not that significant now).

The Dourges hub gave way to related projects in other areas:

 the creation of other business areas dealing with logistics for instance (Arras – Douai).  a sort of ‘metropolitan logistics area’ was created as a result of the project, beyond administrative borders.  Site restoration (Maraîchers in Hénin Carvin).  an excellence pole on logistics steered by the Artois Chamber of Trade.

Management and monitoring issues

The project is unique in terms of management: for the first time, local authorities were directly involved in the project, and not only SNCF and RFF. It allowed local authorities teams to gain professional skills in steering such a project.

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But the project experienced a series of difficulties:

 an archaeological wealth was discovered, which delayed the start of the works,

 pollution was discovered on the site, which made it necessary to carry out other studies and also delayed the start of the project.

Conclusions

The former Lille goods station, enclosed in the city centre, was no longer appropriate given the volume of rail combined transport within the region, which confirms the added value of the project. The new Dourges hub is clearly better adapted to increased flows of transport. It was the first infrastructure in the region combining a multimodal site and logistic zones. Upon completion, the project will encompass 150 hectares of logistic zones and double the volume of traffic in Lille. The project led to an increase in productivity linked to goods traffic and cost reductions of externalities due to the transfer of road traffic towards the combined transport river and road; and it triggered the development of other projects. ERDF clearly had an important leverage effect on the feasibility of the whole project, due to the high amount of ERDF funding.

8.3 Project: Roubaix’s ‘Piscine’: Andre Dilligent Museum of Art and Industry

Summary

The project aimed at creating a Museum of Art and Industry in Roubaix, a city with a rich industrial past (textile industry first of all). This museum is dedicated to local know-how and industrial tradition, and located in a spectacular building.

Underlying problem and context

In the 20th century, there were 2 Museums in Roubaix (national and municipal), but collections, were gradually removed, partly destroyed, and generally speaking, not given enough consideration. In the 1980s, a project for a new museum was drafted, but abandoned following local elections. A project was finally adopted at the beginning of the 1990s. The museum was to be located in the abandoned ‘art deco’ municipal swimming pool. A design competition was organised in 1992-1994.

Detailed description

The main objectives of the project are:

 to offer an exhibition area dedicated to the link between the industrial past of the territory and « art » in a broad sense in order to reach a wide audience  to establish links between the museum and local economic activity in order to maintain its excellence.

The actors involved are the State services, the regional and sub-regional authorities and the City of Roubaix.

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Funding plans:

 2000-2006: €55,000 ERDF were granted for communication actions towards foreign clients, and €64,258 for documentation premises.  A project of enlargement is planned for 2013, for which ERDF will be requested, which should allow the enlargement of the wing dedicated to sculpture, the development of artistic practices of youngsters, the improvement of stocking works of art.

Outputs and achievements

The museum has been open since 2001, with:

 a collection dedicated to precious textiles, which is closely linked to the industrial life of the territory  a collection of architectural ceramics, linked to a famous manufacture  a collection of paintings.

Beyond the collections and their patrimonial and touristic interest, a number of projects were developed in order to widen the scope of the project:

 pedagogical projects were developed with several universities and highly specialised institutes (fashion, textile creation, applied arts …), reinforcing the link between the museum and its economic context (even if only about 20 micro-enterprises are still working on production itself, the whole region being still active in distribution)  a enterprise seedbed for fashion companies was created by the museum (les maisons de mode), offering young stylists business opportunities  the museum is available to young stylists who wish to showcase their products in the temporary exhibitions room twice a year (‘fashion market’)  an event called ‘Night of the Arts’ is organized once a year in order to promote public access to the museum and its ‘satellite’ units  the City of Roubaix bought the Manufacture des Flandres, a technical museum, in order to complete the collections, and the museum team is in charge of the scientific dimension of the project  the museum is associated to the works of dancer Carolyn Carlson, settled in Roubaix, through collaboration on her ballet’s costumes; this led to other artistic collaborations, for instance with Tourcoing’s atelier lyrique and Lille’s National Orchestra.

The museum welcomes 180,000 visitors per year (projections were for 70,000 visitors per year only).

Value-added

The museum made a major contribution to the development of the whole city. It was built at the same time as the underground, the redesigning of the city main square, the city’s ‘tax-free urban zone’ (Zone Franche Urbaine), and it appears that the dynamics engaged through the museum were the starting point for these urban developments. It placed Roubaix again as part of Lille’s ‘Urban Community’ (Communauté Urbaine), and clearly improved the city’s image for its own inhabitants, and abroad.

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The museum is closely integrated to the city’s global dynamics.

Management and monitoring issues

The museum manager does not appear to be under any political pressure to change their policy. The impressive results in terms of local development convinced local political actors to globally support the project.

Conclusions

The Musée-Piscine completely changed the image of the city. It allows Roubaix to have an international cultural influence, and triggered rehabilitation and a great deal of urban regeneration projects. It illustrates the extent to which a cultural project may turn into a real local development project, with impacts on local economy, housing, and trade of high-skilled products. It could be an interesting example to study as regards the current Louvre-Lens Museum project, in order to see how local authorities got together to ensure they obtained the most out of the project.

8.4 Project: Conversion of mining heap n°9-9 in Oignies (62)

Summary description

Mining heap n°9-9 was the last one to be still in use at the beginning of the 1990s in the Nord-Pas- de-Calais mining area. Local authorities decided to work on it, in order to enhance the mining environment from a touristic and historical point of view, and to improve its environmental situation, but also to change its image, turning it to the future. The conversion of the site was largely based on music.

The opening is planned for 2014-2015.

Underlying problem and context

Mining heap n°9-9 existed as a large mining site, still belonging to Charbonnages de France’ but abandoned since the end of the mining. The Metropolitan Community of Hénin-Carvin, in charge of the project, wished to transform this historic place into a leverage of development to the benefit of the territory, as well as a display of the excellence of the whole region.

Detailed description

The main objectives of the project are:

 to restore the site (an industrial wasteland) from an environmental point of view

 to enhance the industrial facilities in order to turn the site into a memorial

 to turn the whole site into a place of multiple activities (economic, cultural and institutional).

In 2002, a study tour and meeting was organised by the Mining Area Mission in order to create networks of local stakeholders and decision-makers and actors that played a part in the conversion

LSE 143 EPRC Evaluation of the main achievements of Cohesion policy programmes and projects over the longer term in 15 selected regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais of large mining areas in the Ruhr Valley in Germany. By the end of 2002, The Metropolitan Community of Hénin-Carvin bought the site, and from 2003 to 2006, all premises were renovated by the Public Land Unit of Nord-Pas de Calais. In 2004, the multimodal hub Delta 3 was inaugurated close to the Oignies site. The launch of the call for tender for the project brief occurred in 2004, and this same year, the site welcomed part of the activities linked to Lille, European Capital of Culture. In 2007, road works began, in order to connect the site to the highway network (A221 highway). In 2008, the service centre was built (1500 m²), and finally, in 2009, the development of public areas (esplanade, square pit) and the study for the Metaphone (concert house of 500 places, which ‘makes’ music itself thanks to a specific device used to cover the whole building), the classified premises, the workshop premises and the boiler room.

The actors involved are the State services, the regional and sub-regional authorities, the authorities in charge of cultural events, land planning authorities, the Mining Centre of Lewarde, local associations, the Delta 3 Mixed Economy Company, and the Lens Chamber of Trade.

Outputs and achievements

The achievements cover several aspects:

 From a cultural point of view: the project capitalised on a local tradition of ‘fanfares’. It encompassed the development of musical practices and made up for lost time on music teaching, through the development of a chain of musical practices. It materialised through sensitisation actions (sound gallery and circuit, sound experiments), professionalisation of teachers (music training centre), musical education (music classes), practice and creation (recording studios, rehearsal rooms ...), combined with an ambitious strand dedicated to broadcasting.

 Regarding heritage, the project will develop a tour centred on mines and their role in territorial development. It will complete the Historic Mining Centre of Lewarde.

 From an economic point of view, an economic development programme was launched through 3 priorities: high-level logistic activities will be located in the EuraTechnologie Business Park (between the Delta 3 platform and the Oignies site); business tourism will benefit from attractive conditions (hotel, housing, restaurant, seminar rooms ...); and 3000 to 6000 m² offices will be open to other activities.

 From an institutional point of view, the rehabilitated premises host the offices of the ‘Mining Area Mission’ and the ‘Lille Metropolitan Area’ (for the moment).

Value-added

The project led to a complete transformation of the environment, the global quality of the area, and the global ‘image’ of the mining heap.

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Management and monitoring issues

The project was well received by inhabitants, who were proud of this initiative. Some issues occurred with the former owner of the site, and with some local authorities, who were reluctant to accept that the mining activity had really come to an end.

Conclusions

According to interviewees, this project is exemplary, insofar as it covers a wide range of local development issues. It shows how a touristic, economic and cultural project can make the connection between past and future, enhancing the industrial past of the area in order to make its strong identity a factor of global development.

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9. ANNEX II – STRUCTURE OF PROGRAMMES 1989-2013 IN NORD- PAS-DE-CALAIS

Programme EU Funding ERDF ESF alloc National Total funds source alloc funds (inc private) 1989-91 Objective 2 (€M 2000 price)

Programme A 1. Spatial planning ERDF 42.2 151.6 193.8 Regeneration of industrial and urban wastelands and accessibility Urban planning Facilities for business activities Road infrastructure

2. Attractiveness - environment ERDF 8.9 28.64 37.54 Tourist housing Regional opening up to the international environment Fluvial tourism Social tourist housing Major infrastructure for tourism and leisure Rivers protection (Contrats de rivière) Decontamination of marine water Improving environment of majors infrastructure

Programme B 1. Productive investments ERDF 13.24 119.22 132.46 2. Local development Seedbeds ERDF 5.56 25.69 31.25 Common services Support to external consultancy External consultancy Studies by sectors Development of craft

3. Technology transfer ERDF 5.75 17.25 23 4. Technical assistance ERDF 0.4 0.4 0.8 Programme C

1. Training Development of universities and technological equipment ERDF 11.47 20.18 31.65 2. Research Development of professional training structures and of the European centre for professional training ERDF 2.58 2.73 5.31 3. Research

Public research and European observatory of environment Channel - North Sea

ERDF 5.57 5.57 11.14

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Programme EU Funding ERDF ESF alloc National Total funds source alloc funds (inc private) 1992-1993 Objective 2 (€M 2000 price)

Support starts-up and development of SMEs ERDF 118.15 Labour market, training ERDF 147.7 Infrastructure and communications ERDF 276.6 Environment and quality of life ERDF 45 Tourism ERDF 43.31 R&D, technologies ERDF 27.20 Others ERDF 4.51

1994-1996 Objective 2 (€M 2000 price)

1. Support for and revitalisation of economic ERDF/ESF 46.15 NA NA 226.97 activity Aid for business investment Business services for SMEs and SMIs Support for technological development Environment technologies and energy efficiency Development of regional potential in the area of information and communications technology

Adult lifelong learning coordinated with business needs

Connection between vocational training and employment

Specific road infrastructure projects

2. Training, research and technology

Measures to reinforce centres of excellence and networks ERDF/ESF 85.25 NA NA 166.15 Cooperation between training institutions and industry Training for researchers, technicians and R&D consultants Technological means for training and apprenticeship structures Measures to improve training systems

3. Living conditions, image and environment Regeneration of remaining derelict industrial sites Increased action on urban renewal ERDF/ESF 115.22 NA NA 326 Development of high-profile infrastructure and facilities Tourist potential / natural and cultural heritage Crafts and local development Improvement of rail infrastructure

4. Technical assistance ERDF ESF

NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

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Programme EU Funding ERDF ESF alloc National Total funds source alloc funds (inc private) 1997-1999 Objective 2 (€M 2000 price)

1. Support for and revitalisation of economic ERDF/ESF 123.87 52.93 527.88 704.68 activity Investment in firms Services for SMEs and SMIs Support to technological development Green technologies ICT Very small enterprises and local development Strengthen intervention in deprived urban areas Major individual project : European multimodal platform of Dourges Business areas Support to creation, transmission and conversion of enterprises

Improving and developing trainings

Road infrastructure

Major infrastructure project : Boulevard de l'Union in Roubaix

2. Training, research, technology R&D for economic activities ERDF/ESF 96.37 13.61 126.11 236.09 Research and competitiveness stimulation with higher education Training to research and technologic development of economic activities Facilities for training Improving training quality and systems of employment Major individual project : ‘SOLEIL’ project

3. Living conditions, image and the environment ERDF 94.42 165.21 259.63

4. Technical assistance ERDF ERDF 3.60 3.60 7.2

5. Technical assistance ESF ESF 0.58 0.58 1.16

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Programme EU Funding ERDF ESF alloc National Total funds source alloc funds (inc private) 1994-1999 Objective 1 (€M 2000 price)

1. Support and revival of economic activity ERDF/ESF 112.67 14.57 276.64 403.88 Firms investments and other Services for SMEs and SMIs Facilities and real estate for businesses Training for workers to the benefit of firms and adaptation to economic change Adaptation of farm structures and support to food industry Craft industry development and assistance to micro- projects

Tourist and cultural infrastructure

Adaptive training and assistance to employment

2. Research development and technology ERDF/ESF 5.89 1.26 8.38 15.45

Emergence of research and development in businesses

Strengthening of technological and strategic offer

:skills poles and networks

Technological training

Higher education and research

3. Human resources development

Infrastructure to support initial training ERDF/ESF 46.74 51.79 112.19 210.72 School/firms transition

Infrastructure to support vocational training and education

Vocational training

Improving employment systems and training offer

Refresher course and reintegration

Investments and professional reintegration

4. Converting and developing territory

Industrial wastelands ERDF/ESF Developing urban areas 122.33 6.51 336 464.84 and other Areas in difficulty, fighting exclusion

Fight against exclusion / integration by economic activities in urban areas Prevention against alcoholism and drug addiction : healthcare structures Urban restructuration Opening up and connecting the region Reclaiming forest land Rural areas development Improving land, hydrology and agricultural tool Village renovation Rural housing Green technologies Environmental research Natural parks and natural environment - water management Industrial waste / air quality Support to training in the field of environment 5. Technical assistance ERDF ESF NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

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Programme EU Funding ERDF ESF alloc National Total funds source alloc funds (inc private) 2000-2006 Objective 1 (€M)

1. Keeping the economic upturn going ERDF and 125.770 281.726 407.496 other New companies and business transfer Setting up of strategic projects Support the endogenous development of firm Research, technology and innovation Coordination of economic fabric Information society Farms' sustainable development Developing food processing industry Infrastructure for opening up and access road for economic areas Organisation of transports and intermodality systems Continuity of cross-border transports Economic areas

2. Training-Solidarity-Employment ESF/ERDF 19.473 96.500 113.666 231.737 Active policy for labour market Fighting exclusion

Promotion of employment and qualification by training Support to modernisation and adaptation of economic environment Equal opportunity Infrastructure for secondary school and high school

Higher education Support to training and apprenticeship Investments – reintegration

3. Requalification and promotion of ERDF and 105.952 239.500 366.061 territory other Reclaiming derelict areas

Urban renewal and social support

Health

Sustainable management of agricultural and forest land

Local development in rural areas

Renovation and facilities for villages

Tourist attractiveness

Cultural and sports services and facilities

Natural resources and tools for sustainable development Pollution prevention and effluent management

4. Technical assistance ERDF ERDF 1.784 0.594

ESF ESF 0.760 0.260

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Programme EU Funding ERDF ESF alloc National Total funds source alloc funds (inc private) 2000-2006 Objective 2 (€M)

1. Promote job-creating economic ERDF/ESF 174.399 46.619 566.468 787.486 development

Firms' creation and business transfer Attraction of businesses Support to endogenous development Research, technology and innovation Coordination of economic fabric Information society Supporting tourist development Support and development of business ; redeployment for workers Urban policy, economic development and social cohesion

Supporting economic activity and employment by creation of an annex of the Louvre in the region

2. Lay the foundations of economic and social ERDF 195.820 340.690 536.510 cohesion Modernisation of the professional and technologic training offer

Facilities for life-long training structures and modernisation of professional training system

Investments for higher education

Adaptation and optimisation of existing networks

Development of services using ICT

Natural resources and tools for sustainable development Pollution prevention and effluent management Promotion of cultural projects development

3. Promote territorial initiatives for sustainable development and solidarity ERDF/ESF 177.752 31.103 410.982 619.810

Local development and strengthening of craft industries and local business Economic areas Redevelopment of damaged areas Promotion of regional ports system Developing information society Regional support to territorial dynamics and to engineering development Implementation of territorial strategies provided in local policy document

Urban policy and urban requalification

Urban policy and development of solidarity

Agenda 21, territorial actions and new governance

Health at work

4. Diversifying suburban agriculture

Other 5. Technical assistance

ERDF 8.222 8.222 16.444

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Programme EU Funding ERDF ESF alloc National Total funds source alloc funds (inc private) 2007-2013 Objective 2 (€M)

1. Research and development, ERDF 852.5 306.7 innovation, firm policy 1159.2 Strengthening regional policy governance in the fields of R&D and innovation Strengthening international attractiveness of the research and training system Attendant measures to SMEs for innovation and R&D Attendant measures for R&D competitiveness and excellence poles and structuring operations

Financial engineering

Supporting strategic, technologically high level firms and R&D centres setting up Developing SMEs competitiveness by collective actions Promoting firms creation and transmission Attendant measures for developing innovation in SMEs and craft industries of natural and technologic risk

2. Environment, sustainable practices and risk prevention ERDF 148 192

Preservation of biodiversity and water resources Promoting environmental excellence in public organisations' actions Promoting environmental excellence in firms actions

340 Promoting clean and sustainable public transports in particular in urban areas

Coordinating management

3. Accessibility

ERDF 153 342 Developing exclusive right of way public transports in

Hainaut

Travellers accessibility

Goods accessibility

Governance of information society

Supporting innovative actions integrating information society

Improving relationships between administrations - users 495 - elected representative

Developing E-health as a excellence sector for region

Territorial numerical continuity

4. Territorial constituent

Local projects in Hainaut ERDF 117.055 175.945 293 Local development and strengthening craft industries and corner shops (deprived urban areas and rural areas)

Accessibility to few facilities areas (deprived urban areas and rural areas) Treatment of industrial and mining wastelands

Attendant measures to few territorial excellence projects Major infrastructure project : Louvre-Lens museum

5. Technical assistance

ERDF 8.699 3.301 12

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10. ANNEX III: REPORTED ACHIEVEMENTS

10.1 1989-93 Regional Operational Programme

Objective 2 programme (1989-93)

Actual Output SPD Target (A) Approved Projects C:B as % (C) N° of SMEs concerned by support 2,000 1,500 75% measures N° of external studies - 1,600 - N° of external advice actions - 890 - Amount of private investment - €1,53 M - supported N° of projects dealing with - 80 - technology transfer N° of risk capital studies 60 - 0 % N° of R&D projects 11 - - N° of beneficiaries of training 84,699 111,102 131% measures Including jobless 47,450 - - Including salaries 33,621 - - Including trainers 3,628 1,861 51% N° of training centres modernized - 100 - Wastelands treated 2,200 ha 3,000 ha 136% Lot servicing - 530 ha

Surface of premises created or 250,000 m² 115,800 m² 46% rehabilitated N° of km of roads 60 km - - N° of water treatment plant - 2 - N° of agglomeration contracts - 9 - Population concerned - 2,800,600 - N° of urban operations - 360 - N° of km of treated rivers - 41 - Tourism: N° of beds created or 2,500 - - modernised Tourism: N° of hostels rooms created 500 259 52% or modernised

Source: European Commission (1996b).

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10.2 1994-99 Regional Operational Programmes

Objective 1 Programme (1994-99)

Actual Output OP Target (A) Approved Projects B:A as % (B) Direct jobs created (gross) - 3,220 - Indirect jobs (gross) - 4,508 - Jobs safeguarded (gross) - 7,000 - N° of renovated road (km) - - - N° of train stations renovated - 16 - Services improvement (N° of stations) - 13 - - substitution of 171000 MWh per annum - sorting and recycling of 162,000 t per annum of firms Pollution Prevention - waste - air quality : less than 1504 t per annum of COV - 119 direct jobs created Development and maintenance of - 30 - water streams (km) N° of redeveloped hectares - 2,020 - (industrial brownfield sites) N° of m² rehabilitated / demolished - 191,000 / 450,000 - N° of farm holdings modernised - 1,500 - N° of farm holdings introducing - 40 - diverse activities N° of farm holdings introducing - 400 - investments with environmental aims Reforestation + 1,000 ha + 636 ha 64% N° of projects on modernisation of the processing and marketing - 33 - capacity (farm produce industry) N° of ha drained - 3,500

131 cities and Urban renewal - 102,000 inhabitants - concerned N° of beneficiaries of training - 81,500 - measures Incl. in employment - 18,000 - Incl. unemployed - 44,500 - Incl. In school - 19,000 - Source: European Commission (2003a).

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Objective 2 programme (1994-99) – Ex-post Evaluation

Actual Output OP Target (A) Approved Projects B:A as % (B) N° of ha of wasteland renewed 2,400 out of 4,000 Approx. 1,400 58% N° of projects dedicated to 50 - - environment and energy savings N° of firms informed about More than 150 - - innovation and technological support N° of new labs 4 - - N° of additional students in high +16,000 75,000 in total schools N° of jobs created thanks to firm real 500 - - estate Source: European Commission (2003b)

Objective 2 programme (1997-99) – Final Implementation Report

Actual Output OP Target (A) Approved Projects B:A as % (B) N° of direct jobs created thanks to the measure dedicated to the support 500 805 160% to strategic set up projects N° of jobs maintained thanks to the measure dedicated to the support to - 3,934 - strategic set up projects New areas of business premises (m²) - 455,200 - Rehabilitated areas of business - 134,300 - premises (m²) N° of jobs created thanks to the measure dedicated to business 500 3,888 617% premises N° of jobs created or maintained thanks to the measure dedicated to - 1,422 financial engineering N° of collective actions linked to 10 6 60% international development N° of ‘export’ jobs 25 30 120% N° of ha concerned by the measure - 2,087 - dedicated to business areas N° of places created or renovated for 7,000 3,576 51% high-skilled technicians N° of MWh/year of classical network - 230,000 - energies substituted 10 to 30% of energy N° of TEP/year energy savings 32,200 - savings

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Actual Output OP Target (A) Approved Projects B:A as % (B) N° of t/year of business waste - 378,288 - treated N° of M3/year of saved water - 412,686 - N° of t/year of pollutants avoided - 8,187 - (COV, HCl, NOx...) N° of protected sites 7 N° of km² of natural areas having 861 benefited from ecological protection N° of people concerned by No quantified target - sensitisation actions linked to 82,198 / year education to environment N° of km of rivers developed 298 N° of studies carried out 49 Source: SGAR Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2003).

10.3 2000-06 Regional Operational Programmes

Objective 1 (2000-06) – Final Evaluation

Target (A) Output (B) Comments N° of temporary regional jobs linked to the - 11,661 realisation of the projects N° of direct and indirect 8,620 Between 9,400 and 12,500 jobs created N° of jobs maintained Evaluation method not 8,430 - reliable enough Source: ADE (2005).

Objective 1 (2000-06) – PRESAGE monitoring system

OP targets Target (source : Output (source : projects’ at measure projects’ tender) final report) level 1.1 Creation and transfer of enterprises 4 N° of sensitised 31,937 35,663 project managers 5 N° of welcomed 6,465 6,871 project managers 6 N° of accompanied - 4,522 3424 project managers 7 N° of followed 867 491 project managers 9 N° of jobs created 2,052 2,037

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OP targets Target (source : Output (source : projects’ at measure projects’ tender) final report) level 31 N° of SMEs 1,417 1,933 supported 3196 OP target : N° of enterprises 2,500 firms created or 116 115 created or transferred transferred / year 1.2 Setting up of businesses 1 N° of enterprises 8 8 - created 10 N° of enterprises 1,279 1,144 - supported 11 N° of long-term 2,678 2,320 3,000 jobs created 13 N° of impact 17 19 - studies 1.3 Endogenous development of enterprises 17 Areas developed 1,237,925 1,178,604 (m²) 18 New premises (m²) 117,908 85,779 28 N° of jobs 9,614 10,163 safeguarded 3140 N° of long-term jobs created or short-term 892 317 1,400 becoming long- term jobs (1.3) 3143 Surface ‘hors 154,852 129,650 - oeuvre’ (m²) 1.4 R&D and innovation 20 N° of jobs created 374 600 - in R&D 27 N° of Full-Time Equivalent jobs 514 501 1,500 contributing to the project 1.5 Animation of the economic fabric 3124 N° of animation 13 13 - projects (1.5) 1.6 Information society 43 N° of jobs created or safeguarded 461 468 100 linked to supported projects

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OP targets Target (source : Output (source : projects’ at measure projects’ tender) final report) level 45 46 Broadband local 59 58 - loops implemented 50 N° of services implemented or 58 58 - improved (1.6) 261 N° of digital public 18 18 - ‘points’ supported 1.10 Organisation of transport system and intermodality 63 N° of facilities for transport and 4 2 - intermodality 1.12 – Business areas 255 Gross area of 220 ha to be business areas 6,948,046 5,490,131 renewed (m²) 3137 Sellable areas (m²) 3,398,138 2,603,223

2.6 Infrastructure supporting initial training 3132 N° of pupils concerned by new 8,367 8,368 facilities 3129 N° of m² built, renovated, 33,050 33,050 developed 3133 N° of places 0 0 - improved 3.1 Territorial development and solidarity 82 Areas treated (m²) 1,230,399 1,230,399 - 83 Premises 287,131 287,369 - demolished (m²) 84 N° of urban 66 64 - renewal projects 85 Damaged areas 3,387,937 3,220,118 treated 168 Areas of re-used 23,098 23,098 - premises (m²) 3.2 Urban and social restructuring 3247 25,000 (2 projects, only one N° of travellers 65,000 was filled in for this - (public transport) indicator within PRESAGE) 14 Areas of business 11,737,910 10,587,910 - areas (m²) 3.3 Health 98 N° of people - 336,965 161,277 concerned

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OP targets Target (source : Output (source : projects’ at measure projects’ tender) final report) level 3.7 Tourist attractiveness 3154- 55- N° of clients 64,400 60,872 - 56-57 3.9 Natural resources and sustainable development tools 111 N° of territorial initiatives linked to sustainable 57 69 - development or environment 112 Population 735,724 3,110,651 - concerned 273 N° of coordination structures 25,349 25,289 - implemented 3241 N° of information 140 311 - tools 3242 N° of sensitisation 301 1107 - actions 3243 People concerned by sensitisation 286,750 4,603,798 - actions 3.10 Pollution prevention and flows management 119 Saved or 49,404 49,358 - substituted energy

120 Pollutant 1,431 + 5321 1,403+5321 - emissions avoided 122 Tonnage of usual 13,200 14,492 waste recycled 122,400 123 Tonnage of t/year building waste 1,110,000 1,108,596 recycled 132 Areas treated 169,665 169,665 - 163 N° of enterprises or local authorities engaged in a 582 739 - sustainable development policy Source: PRESAGE monitoring system 2012.

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Objective 2 programme (2000-06) – Final Evaluation

Target (A) Output (B) Comments

N° of estimated temporary regional - theoretical jobs linked to the - 16,000 estimate23 realisation of the projects N° of estimated Between 20,000 and - theoretical direct and indirect Around 20,000 25,000 estimate24 jobs created Method not N° of estimated - - reliable maintained jobs enough

Source: ADE (2005).

Objective 2 programme (2000-06) – PRESAGE monitoring system

OP targets at Target (source : Output (source : measure projects’ tender) projects’ final report) level 1.1 Support to creation and transmission of enterprises N° of sensitised 139 77,331 115,044 project managers N° of welcomed 140 17,939 15,558 project managers No quantified target N° of accompanied 141 11,770 9,780 project managers 281 N° of jobs created 2,651 2,960 N° of firms created 3195 307 307 or transferred 1.2 Support to the setting up of exogenous enterprises N° of exogenous 144 327 289 enterprises set up N° of supported 280 3,464 3,365 enterprises 300 N° of impact studies within the 19 20 - framework of new settings up N° of enterprises 282 7 7 - created

23 Calculated by evaluators on the basis of a national model defining specific ratios applied to expenses categories (a specific expense category giving way to a specific number of jobs created within the model). 24 Calculated by evaluators with estimation of the part of these jobs within the total number of jobs created as stated in PRESAGE

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OP targets at Target (source : Output (source : measure projects’ tender) projects’ final report) level N° of safeguarded 283 7,579 7,259 - jobs N° of long-term 295 9,327 6,931 2,000 jobs created 1.3 Endogenous development of enterprises N° of long-term jobs created or 3149 short-term 1,201 945 2,500 becoming long- term jobs 302 Areas developed 971,758 964,758 (m²) Surface ‘hors 3152 245,179 245,267 oeuvre’ (m²) 1.4 R&D and innovation 305 N° of R&D jobs 3,437 4,447 - 147 N° of Full-Time Equivalent 394 390 1,500 contributing to the project 1.5 Animation of the economic fabric N° of created or safeguarded jobs 284 6,284 6,992 - linked to supported projects (total) 1.7 Support to the development of tourism N° of users of 224,292 223,527 - accommodations 2.1 Modernisation of the supply of technological and professional training N° of m² built, 3130 renovated, 51,671 51,100 - developed N° of pupils concerned by 3131 8,367 8,368 - equipment operations N° of places 3134 0 0 1470 improved 2.3 Investment of higher education facilitating the link with business Surface of 77 developed 55,383 52,002 - premises Areas renewed 3205 19,863 17,448 - (m²)

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OP targets at Target (source : Output (source : measure projects’ tender) projects’ final report) level 2.5 Use of ICTs 48 N° of services implemented or 101 101 - improved 49 N° of supported digital public 41 40 - ‘points’ 2.6 Protection, management and restoration of natural areas 113 35 Agenda 21s and 35 N° of consultation 381 409 Environmental bodies set up Charters signed Natural areas 114 2,967 5,447 - concerned km² N° of sensitisation 3239 274 1,494 - actions People concerned 3240 by sensitisation 32,391 476,324 - actions (2.6) 2.7 Pollution prevention and flows management 324 Quantity of renewable energy 3,139 3,139 - (2.7) Saved or 325 substituted energy 68,038 52,967 - (2.7) N° of enterprises or local authorities engaged in a 343 498 721 - sustainable development policy (2.7) Tonnage of usual 328 waste recycled 420,960 357,429 - (2.7) Tonnage of 329 building waste 50,600 104,000 - recycled(2.7) Pollutant emissions 333 9,532 9,538 - avoided (2.7) 3.2 Activity areas Sellable areas (m²) 26,000,000 3146 7,211,976 6,371,976 (3.2) m² 3.3 Reclaiming of brownfield sites

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OP targets at Target (source : Output (source : measure projects’ tender) projects’ final report) level Surface treated m² 338 237,975 237,975 (3.3) Treated areas (m²) 345 2,446,447 2,440,283 (3.3) Damaged areas 349 4,704,584 4,704,584 treated (m²) (3.3) Areas of reused 344 65,428 71,291 - premises (m²) (3.3) Areas of destroyed 346 553,171 550,823 - premises (m²) (3.3) 347 N° of urban renewal projects 87 85 - (3.3) 3.4 Full exploitation of the regional port system 105 N° of new facilities 13 13 - (3.4) N° of users of 194 improved services 1,600 1,600 - (3.4) 3.10 Agenda 21, territorial actions and new governance 274 N° of consultation 1,838 5,598 - bodies set up 3.11 Health at work N° of persons 254 65,818 185,616 concerned (3.11) Source: PRESAGE monitoring system, 2012.

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10.4 2007-13 Regional Operational Programme

Objective 2 (2007-13) – PRESAGE monitoring system Target (source : Output (source : %age of projects’ tender (not projects’ final achievement the OP)) report) PO05 Digital services 92 15 16% 3 implemented PO02 Growth of frequentation (N° 143,964 85,885 60% 7 of travellers x km/day) PO02 Growth of frequentation (in 95 5 5% 8 railway stations) PO03 N° of sensitisation actions 8,632 17,948 207% 2 PO01 N° of beneficiaries of 186,199 61,799 33% 0 sensitisation actions PO04 N° of m² of ‘reinvested’ 73,786 4,786 6% 4 premises PO02 N° of modified buses 194 132 68% 2 PO00 N° of collaborations inter- 21 6 28% 9 enterprises labs PO00 N° of cooperative 3 collaborations between 306 36 12% enterprises and research institutes Po011 N° of ‘creation and transfer of enterprises’ project 36,402 18,598 51% managers accompanied C 04 1 Tonnage of waste recycled(t 3,464 859 2,5% / year) PO00 N° of long-term jobs 2,204 227 10% 6 created PO00 N° of jobs safeguarded 3,395 93 2,7% 7 PO04 N° of ha ready for sale 47.7 27 57% 3 PO02 N° of km of public transport 32.4 8.1 25% 5 implemented PO05 N° of broadband lines 13,885 6,997 50% 4 implemented PO01 Ecological corridors 876 166 19% 4 P017 Natural areas preserved 402 262 65% (km²) P004 N° of R&D jobs created 695 35 5% C 02 1 Saved energy (TEP/year) 18,861 9,968 53% C 01 2 Rehabilitated surface (m²) 682,836 603,756 88% PO02 N° of TEP saved 54,740 23,916 44% 1 Source: PRESAGE monitoring system 2012.

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11. ANNEX IV: LIST OF INTERVIEWEES

Name Position (current and former roles) Place Date Form

Stéphane Financial unit - DREAL Lille 19.06.2012 Face-to- Andréani face Olivier Anne Head of PRESAGE unit - DATAR Paris 10.05.2012 Face-to- face Patrice Bailleux Programme Manager - EU policies – Brussels 10.07.2012 Phone rapporteur for Nord-Pas-de-Calais interview Bontron Annie Representative of « Training » Unit at Lille 19/06/2012 Phone MEDEF (coordinatrice Emploi Formation) interview BRIAND Gilles Head of Studies – Operational Oignies 18/07/2012 Phone Development at the Coal Basin Mission interview (Mission Basin Minier) Patrick Brière Head of Europe department – CCI Lille 24.05.2012 Phone international interview Cathy Buquet Head of D2RT Lille 2.07.2012 Phone interview Laure Darrieux Instruction of EU projects - ADEME Lille 25.05.2012 Phone interview Samuel Debuys Head of FSE department - DIRECCTE Lille 12.06.2012 Face-to- face Delhaye Head of the Regional Association of Lille 06/06/2012 Face-to- François Social Housing (Association régionale face des organismes HLM) interview Sylvie Assistant Director, Department of Lille 25.05.2012 Phone Depraetere sustainable development interview Caroline Coordinator EU programmes – SGAR Lille 11.05.2012 Face-to- Descamps Nord-Pas-de-Calais Phone interview Véronique Chargée de mission – SGAR Nord-Pas-de- Lille 11.05.2012 Face-to- Devulder Calais 31.05.2012 face Dhau Head of the Coal Basin Mission (Mission Oignies 07/06/2012 Face-to- Decuypere Eric Bassin Minier) face interview Dujardin PRESAGE unit – SGAR Nord-Pas-de-Calais Lille 11.05.2012 Face-to- Thierry 31.05.2012 face David Duval OPCALIA. Former DATAR in charge of Paris 21.05.2012 Phone Objective 2 programmes interview Cosima Dubray Technical advisor, glogal grants Lille 31.05.2012 Face-to- ERDF/ESF and Lisbon strategy face Philippe Technical advisor ERDF/CPER – Région Lille 23.05.2012 Phone Farvacque Nord-Pas-de-Calais interview Favreuille Director of the Delta 3 multimodal Lille 05/06/2012 Face-to- Emmanuel platform face interview Gastaldi Marie Representative of the ‘Partnership and Lille 29/05/2012 Phone European projects department’ - interview Communauté Urbaine of Lille Métropole

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Name Position (current and former roles) Place Date Form

Gaudichon Curator of ‘la Piscine’, Museum of Art Roubaix 07/06/2012 Face-to- Bernard and History of Roubaix face interview Fabienne Jean In charge of contracts at the Pasteur Lille 28.09.2012 Phone Institute, Lille interview Joël Hébrard Retired civil servant, Former technical Lille 5.06.2012 Phone adviser - Conseil Régional Nord-Pas-de- interview Calais Michel Lamblin Head of INTERREG IV C technical Lille 11.05.2012 Face-to- secretariat face Lathoud- Administrator of ‘la Piscine’, Museum of Roubaix 07.06.2012 Face-to- Panhard Art and History of Roubaix face Hélène interview René Leboutte Professor of Contemporary European Luxembo 26.06.2012 Phone History, University of Luxembourg. urg interview Specialist of European industrial history Lejosne Eric Representative of the « Transport » Lille 05/06/2012 Face-to- Mission – Regional Council of Nord-Pas face de Calais interview Lods Jean-Luc Head of the « European Affairs and Calais 29/05/2012 Phone international co-operation » Unit - interview Conseil Général of Pas-de-Calais Isabelle Head of C2RP Lille 25.06.2012 Phone Meersseman interview Thomas Peguy Head of the Evaluation Unit - DATAR Paris 14.05.2012 Phone interview Nathalie Head of the International relation and Lille 4.07.2012 Face-to- Perilleux EU programmes department – Conseil face Général du Nord Remerand Head of the ‘Opération Grand Site des Calais 19/06/2012 Phone Julien Deux Caps’, Planning and Sustainable interview Development Department, Conseil Général du Pas-de-Calais Riquet Mayor of Valenciennes – European Valencie 24/05/2012 Phone Dominique Deputy nnes interview Thomas Spriet Head of Interreg unit – Conseil Régional Lille 11.05.2012 Face-to- Nord-Pas-de-Calais face Thomas Jean- Head of the ‘Syndicat Mixte’ of Regional Lille 05/06/2012 Face-to- Louis Natural Areas (Directeur du Syndicat face mixte des Espaces naturels régionaux) interview Jean-Marc Territorial cooperation unit, Former Brussels 12.06.2012 Face-to- Venineaux programme manager and rapporteur for face Nord-Pas-de-Calais Anne Wetzel Director of international and Europe Lille 11.05.2012 Face-to- department – Conseil Régional Nord-Pas- face de-Calais Willmann Chargée de mission at the « European Calais 29/05/2012+ Phone Emmanuelle Affairs and international co-operation » 13/06/2012+ interview Unit - Conseil Général of Pas-de-Calais 19/06/2012

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12. ANNEX V: OVERVIEW OF SOURCES USED FOR THE CASE STUDY

Programme name OP AIR FIR Spend Evaluation Strategic Operational External Stakeholder/ Workshop (by measure reports interviews interviews interviews Beneficiary & year) interviews Regional OP, 2007-13 YES YES NO YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

Single programming document, YES YES YES NO PART YES YES YES YES YES Objective 2, 2000-06 Single programming document, YES YES YES NO PART YES YES YES YES YES Objective 1, 2000-06

Single programming document, PART PART PART PART PART YES YES PART NO PART Objective 2, 1997-99

Single programming document, YES PART PART PART PART YES YES PART NO PART Objective 2, 1994-96

Single programming document, YES PART YES YES PART YES YES PART NO PART objective 1, 1994-99 Community Support Framework PART PART YES PART PART YES YES PART NO PART Objective 2, 1989-93

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13. ANNEX VI: REFERENCES

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ACT Consultants (1997), Evaluation intermédiaire du Programme Objectif 1 (1994-1999), Volume 2 Aspects sectoriels évaluation des mesures, Rapport final pour la Préfecture de Région et le Conseil Régional.

ACT Consultants (1997), Evaluation intermédiaire du Programme Objectif 1 (1994-1999), Actions soutenues par le Fonds Social Européen, Rapport pour la Préfecture de Région et le Conseil Régional.

ACT Consultants (1996), Evaluation de l’impact des politiques structurelles européennes sur la cohésion économique et sociale de l’Union, Cas de la France, Etude pour la Commission Européenne, Direction Générale XVI, Coordination de l’Evaluation, Rapport final.

ACT Consultants (1994), Evaluation ex-ante des projets de documents uniques de programmation, Industrial Core South, Région : Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Rapport à la Commission des Communautés Européennes, Direction Générale XVI Politiques Régionales, Coordination de l’évaluation, Bruxelles.

ADE (2005a), Evaluation finale du programme Objectif 1 2000-2006 de la Région Nord-Pas-de- Calais, Rapport final, Rapport pour la Préfecture de Région Nord-Pas-de-Calais.

ADE (2005b) Evaluation finale du programme Objectif 2 2000-2006 de la Région Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Rapport final, Rapport pour la Préfecture de Région Nord-Pas-de-Calais.

ADE (2008), Ex-Post Evaluation of Cohesion Policy Programmes 2000-2006 co-financed by the European Fund for Regional Development (Objectives 1 and 2) – Work package 2: Data feasibility study, Louvain-La-Neuve.

ADE (2008), Thematic evaluation RTDI in Objective 2 – Synthesis Report, Zenit, ADE & Enterprise plc, Report to the European Commission.

ADE (2010), Etude sur l’évolution des diagnostics et des stratégies régionales d’innovation dans les régions françaises dans le cadre des PO FEDER 2007-2013, Volume 1 – Rapport final (synthèse), rapport à la Commission Européenne.

APPLICA, ISMERI Europa, WIIW (2009), Ex Post Evaluation of Cohesion Policy Programmes 2000-2006 financed by the ERDF in Objective 1 and 2 regions – France- Work package 1: Coordination, analysis and synthesis - Task 4: Development and achievements in Member States. Report to the European Commission, Directorate General Regional Policy.

APPLICA, ISMERI Europa (2010), Expert Evaluation Network Delivering Policy Analysis on the Performance of the Cohesion Policy 2007-2013. Task 1, Policy Paper on Innovation, France, Final draft. Report to the European Commission, Directorate General Regional Policy.

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APPLICA, ISMERI Europa (2010), Expert Evaluation Network Delivering Policy Analysis on the Performance of the Cohesion Policy 2007-2013. Task 2: Country Report on Achievements of Cohesion Policy, France, Final version. Report to the European Commission, Directorate General Regional Policy.

APPLICA, ISMERI Europa (2011), Expert Evaluation Network Delivering Policy Analysis on the Performance of the Cohesion Policy 2007-2013 year 1 - 2011. Task 1: Policy Paper on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency of Residential Housing, France, Final version. Report to the European Commission, Directorate General Regional Policy.

Bernard Reverdy Consultants (1997), Appréciation externe des DOCUP pour les Régions Objectif 2 1997-1999, Région Nord-Pas-de-Calais, rapport à la Commission Européenne, Direction Générale XVI.

CAPRON H., (1995), L’impact des politiques structurelles sur les potentiels de compétitivité régionale, Rapport, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Unité d’Economie Spatiale et de la Technologie, Bruxelles.

CCI - Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie Région Nord de France (2012a), Livre Blanc sur l’Industrie du Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Lille.

CCI – Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie Région Nord de France (2012b), Les chiffres clés Nord- Pas-de-Calais, édition 2012, Lille.

Centre for Strategy & Evaluation Services (2003), Ex-Post Evaluation of 1994-99 Objective 2 Programmes, Synthesis Report, Report to the European Commission, Directorate General for Regional Policy (Part 1 and 2).

Conseil Régional Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2009a), Stratégie Régionale de l’Innovation en Nord-Pas-de- Calais, Lille.

Conseil Régional Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2009b), Un indicateur de développement humain à l’échelle des territoires du Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Note D2DPE n°24, Lille.

Conseil Régional Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2010a), Evaluation du Programme Régional de Création et de Transmission d’Entreprise, Rapport Final, Lille.

Conseil Régional Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2010b), Développer l’entrepreneuriat en Région Nord-Pas-de- Calais, Rapport et préconisations pour le Schéma Régional de Développement Economique du Nord- Pas-de-Calais, Lille.

Conseil Régional Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2010c), Atlas de la santé sociale des régions françaises, Lille.

Cour des comptes (2007), Rapport public thématique ‘les aides des collectivités territoriales au développement économique’.

CRCI (2010), Les Entrepôts dans le Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Horizon-éco, L’économie du Nord-Pas-de- Calais n°18, Lille.

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DATAR (2002), Etude sur les objectifs comparés des DOCUP et des CPER – Période 2000-2006- Tome 1 – rapport national, SEGESA, Paris.

DATAR (2006), Synthèse des résultats de l’évaluation finale des DOCUP 2000-2006, Mission d’accompagnement et de synthèse nationale des évaluations finales régionales, Paris.

DATAR (2006), Le défi de l’innovation, l’enjeu de la gouvernance, Contribution à la réflexion sur le cadre de référence stratégique national et la préparation des programmes opérationnels de la politique régionale européenne 2007-2013 dans le domaine de l’innovation, DATAR / DG Regio.

DATAR (2011), Synthèse des évaluations régionales à mi-parcours des PO FEDER 2007-2013, Synthèse d’étude, Connaître les programmes européens, Paris.

Davezies l., (2008), « La république et ses territoires, La circulation invisible des richesses », Seuil, Paris.

DIRECCTE (2012), Vingt ans de recomposition économique en région Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Lille.

Dormard S., (1995), « Spécialisation et dynamisme de l’industrie de la région Nord-Pas-de-Calais », intervention lors du Colloque « Développement économique et reconversion industrielle », Béthune, 21-22 novembre 1995.

Dormard S., (2001), L’Economie du Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Histoire et bilan d’un demi-siècle de transformations, Géographie et Aménagement (Presses Universitaires du Septentrion), Villeneuve d’Ascq.

DREAL (2012), Prévention des risques naturels et technologiques, Profil environnemental, Lille.

ECOTEC (2003), Ex-Post Evaluation of Objective 1, 1994-1999. A Final Report to the European Commission, Directorate General for the Regional Policy.

EPRC (1999), Objective 2 1994-1999: Experiences, Lessons and Policy Implications, Final Report to the European Commission, DG XVI.

EPRC (2009), Ex-Post Evaluation of Cohesion Policy Programmes 2000-2006 co-financed by the ERDF (Objective 1 and 2). Work package 11: Management and implementation systems for cohesion policy. Final Report to the European Commission.

Ernst and Young (1993), An Evaluation of the utilisation of the Community’s Structural Funds by SMEs, Horizontal Report, Final Report to the European Commission.

Ernst & Young (1997), Ex-Post Evaluation of the 1989-1993 Objective 2 programmes, Synthesis Report, Report to the European Commission.

European Commission (1995), The New Regional Programmes under Objective 1 and 2 of Community Structural Policies. A summary of the results expected and obtained from their establishment, Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, Brussels.

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European Commission (1998), Mid-Term Review of Structural Interventions Objective 1 and 6 (1994-99), Developing a Management Culture through Evaluation: Towards Best Practice, Directorate General XVI, Regional Policy and Cohesion, Brussels.

FERE-Consultants (1996a), Evaluation sommaire ex-post du programme Objectif 2 1989-93, Nord- Pas-de-Calais, Louvain-la-Neuve, rapport à la Commission Européenne, DG XVI.

FERE-Consultants (1996b), Evaluation ex-post du programme Objectif 2 1989-1993 de la Région Nord-Pas-de-Calais, analyse approfondie, rapport à la Commission Européenne, DG XVI.

European Commission (2010), Ex-Post Evaluation of Cohesion policy Programmes 2000-2006 financed by the ERDF (Objective 1 & 2), synthesis report, Brussels.

Glaeser E. (2003), ‘Reinventing Boston : 1640-2003’, Discussion Paper n°2017, Harvard Institute of Economic Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

INSEE (2010), Les conséquences de la crise de l’emploi dans les régions, Division Statistiques régionales, locales et urbaines, Paris.

INSEE Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2002, Le tourisme, générateur d’emplois entre 1996 et 1999, Profils n°5, Lille.

INSEE Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2005), Etat des lieux des activités de Recherche et de Développement en Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Profils n°7, Lille.

INSEE Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2006), Pauvretés et Territoires en Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Profils n°82, Lille.

INSEE Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2007), Tourisme en Nord-Pas-de-Calais : un réel impact sur l’emploi, Profils 2007, Lille.

INSEE Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2009a), Le fait entrepreneurial en Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Profils n°60, Lille.

INSEE Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2009b), Population du Nord-Pas-de-Calais : stabilité d’ensemble, dynamiques territoriales contrastées, Profils n°50, Lille.

INSEE Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2010), Le recensement livre ses derniers chiffres de population, Profils n°68, Lille.

INSEE Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2011), Les espaces du Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Trajectoires, Enjeux et Devenir, Mutations et polarités économiques, Profils n°105, Fascicule 2, Lille.

INSEE Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2012a), Ressorts et enjeux de l’attractivité des territoires du Nord-Pas- de-Calais, Profils n°104, Lille.

INSEE Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2012b), Le Louvre à Lens : un défi culturel, sociétal, économique et urbain, Profils n°110, Lille.

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IRS (2007), Effectiveness of the Cohesion policy : Gender Equality and Demographic Change, Work package 7, Second Intermediary Report: Regional Case Studies Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Report for the European Commission, Directorate General Regional Policy.

Labour Asociados (2003), Analysis of the impact of Community Policies on Regional Cohesion, Final report, Annex I, Regional Case Studies, volume 2. Report to the European Commission, DG Regional Policy.

Laborie J.-P., Taulelle F. (1995), « Etat et acteurs locaux face à la politique régionale européenne », Sciences de la société, n°34, pp.59-77.

Nay O. (2001), « Négocier le partenariat. Jeux et conflits dans la mise en œuvre de la politique communautaire en France », Revue française de science politique, vol. 51, n°3, pp.459-481.

Paris D. (1995), « La politique régionale européenne dans le Nord-Pas-de-Calais », Hommes et Terres du Nord, n°3, pp.111-119.

SGAR Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2000), Document unique de programmation Nord-Pas-de-Calais Objectif 1 2000-2006, Lille.

SGAR Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2000), Document unique de programmation Nord-Pas-de-Calais Objectif 2 2000-2006 et soutien transitoire, Lille.

SGAR Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2003a), Rapport de Clôture du DOCUP Objectif 1, période 1994-1999, Lille.

SGAR Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2003b), Rapport de clôture du DOCUP Objectif 2, période 1997-1999, Lille.

SGAR Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2004), Document Unique de Programmation Région Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Objectif 2 – 2000-2006, Complément de programmation, Lille.

SGAR Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2006), Evaluation ex-ante dans le cadre de la préparation des programmes européens 2007-2013 en région Nord-Pas-de-Calais, rapport final, Lille.

SGAR Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2006), Evaluation environnementale ex-ante du programme opérationnel FEDER 2007-2013, Rapport final, Lille.

SGAR Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2007), Programme Opérationnel Compétitivité et Emploi 2007-2013, Lille.

SGAR Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2007), Programme Opérationnel Compétitivité et Emploi 2007-2013 – Dispositions de mise en œuvre, Lille.

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SGAR Nord-Pas-de-Calais (2010), Rapport de clôture du DOCUP Objectif 2 2000-2006 et soutien transitoire. Dispositions prises par l’autorité de gestion et le comité de suivi pour assurer la qualité et l’efficacité de la mise en œuvre.

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14. ANNEX VII: SUMMARY OF SURVEY RESULTS

A total of 339 contacts were invited to take part in the online survey for Nord-Pas-de-Calais. This number includes 26 who were interviewed by the case study team, plus 313 additional invitees. The 313 additional invitees were broken down as follows: 14 percent were local authority contacts (selected senior administrators and political leaders in local authorities and bodies representing them); 75 percent were firms (whether beneficiaries or unsuccessful applicants); 3 percent were regional/local level political party representatives; 7 percent were regional/local social partners, third sector organisations and trade unions; and the remaining 2 percent were from other local interest groups.25

The overall response rate (i.e. those who started the survey and answered at least one question) was 21.8 percent, though the percentage of invitees who completed the entire survey (i.e. up to and including the final question) was expectedly lower at 14.5 percent. For the questions applicable to all, the response rates varied between 4.7 percent and 21.8 percent. There were also questions which related to each specific programme period only and these were accordingly filtered.

Within the above-mentioned categories, the breakdown of non-interviewee respondents was as follows (fully completed responses): 10 percent were local authority contacts; 85 percent were from the sample of firms; and the remaining 5 percent were from other local interest groups. No fully completed survey responses were returned by regional/local level authorities or from the category regional/local social partners, third-sector organisations and trade unions.

Regional/local level political party representatives were the least responsive group (of non- interviewees), as none who were invited responded to the survey invitation in any way (some individuals from regional/local social partners, third-sector organisations and trade unions submitted partial responses). The response rate for firms was 21.8 percent. Invitees from other local interest groups had the highest completion rate, of 100 percent (i.e. the proportion of those starting who then progressed up to and including the final question).26 Individuals representing regional/local social partners, third-sector organisations and trade unions had the lowest completion rate, with none submitting a fully completed survey. a) Answers to the main questions

What has been the contribution of ERDF to regional development in Nord-Pas-de-Calais since 1989?

ERDF contribution considered as ‘very important’ or ‘important’:

1. Improvement of environmental quality (waste, water, environmental clean-up of industrial sites, biodiversity)

25 This does not total 100 percent due to rounding. 26 Six contacts in this group were invited, and two responded. Both of these respondents completed the survey in its entirety.

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2. Improvement of the image of the region

3. Development of R&D and innovation activities in enterprises, jobs creation, technological adaptation

4. Regional infrastructure, accessibility, transports

Written contribution:

- ERDF programmes improved the visibility of EU interventions at local and regional level

- EU funds fostered the emergence of economic development poles

- EU funds have promoted sustainable development approaches

ERDF contribution considered as less significant:

1. Attraction of foreign investments, competitiveness, R&D, creation of new businesses, development of manufacturing, tourism …

2. Social enterprises and social services, services for disadvantaged neighbourhoods, employability

3. Adoption of good management practices

How do you estimate the overall impact of ERDF programmes between 1989 and 2010? (% of answers)

Did the objectives of ERDF programmes correspond to regional needs?

‘yes, in a very significant way’ or ‘in a significant way’ for 90 percent of the answers (but 50 percent of respondents had no opinion)

Written contribution:

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- ‘The question is not the difference between regional needs and programmes orientations (whose strategies are usually quite relevant) but rather the gap between sub-regional needs. ERDF is mainly conceived for more urban and dynamic areas’

- ‘Behind strategic orientations and financial allocations, is raised the question of support to the conception and implementation of projects’

Questions related to the conception and implementation of programmes between 1989 and 2010

Two trends emerge:

- Rather good appreciations concerning the definition and orientation of strategies (coherent with regional needs) and concerning partnership approaches

- Stronger differences regarding:

- The contribution of thematic concentration and of great projects to the effectiveness of programmes

- The « utility » of indicator systems to improve strategies and implementation of programmes

- The flexibility of programmes to adapt to the needs of beneficiaries

Suggestions of improvement for ERDF programmes

Important issues

1. A simplified administration for programmes beneficiaries

2. A more important initial funding for beneficiaries

3. Wider categories of eligible expenses

4. More important flexibility of programmes to better take into account the evolution of beneficiaries needs during the programming process

5. To better take into account local actors and socioeconomic partners

6. To stabilise EU and national regulations related to programmes and projects implementation

Less important issues

1. Concentration of expenditure on large projects or on target groups

2. Greater attention paid to expected results

Perspectives for 2014-2020

It is first of all essential to improve programmes and the projects implementation process

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- Decentralisation, subsidiarity, higher obligations on results and less administrative requirements

- To simplify processes, to soften management and implementation rules

- To better recognise expertise capacities of civil society partners and stabilise administrative rules

- To strengthen the sustainable dimension of projects (land management, impact on biodiversity, pollution….)

- To support the transition from innovation to industrialisation in SMEs

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15. ANNEX VIII: WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS

NAME First name Institution ANDREANI Stéphane DREAL Head of Division – Financial Management BEGG Iain Professor - London School of Economic

BONTRON Annie MEDEF Regional coordinator of vocational training BOUR-DESPREZ Barbara DREAL Vice Director BRIERE Patrick CCI International Directeur du pôle juridique Européen et relations avec l’UE / Coordinator Entreprise Europe Nord-Pas de Calais BUQUET Cathy DRRT Regional Delegate for Research and Technology ELASS Abdelaziz DRRT CALVO-DE-CELIS Jose- DG Regio – Administrator of Evaluation Unit Luis CASTELAIN Françoise Département du Nord Department of International Relations DARRIEUX Laure ADEME Desk Officer ERDF DEBUYS Samuel DIRECCTE Head of Service - ESF DELHAYE François Association régionale pour l’habitat Nord-Pas-de-Calais Desk Officer DEPRAETERE Sylvie Région Nord-Pas-de-Calais Vice Director – Développement durable, démocratie participative, égalité femmes/hommes DESCAMPS Caroline SGAR Desk Officer European programmes DEVULDER Véronique SGAR Desk Officer European programmes DHAU DECUYPERE Director - Mission Bassin Minier Nord-Pas-de-Calais DUBRAY Cosima Région Nord-Pas-de-Calais Technical Advisor Global Grant ERDF / ESF and Lisbon Strategy DUFLOS Gilles Région Nord-Pas-de-Calais Vice-Director Action Economique DUJARDIN Thierry SGAR Desk Officer PRESAGE DURUFLE Yves Région Nord-Pas-de-Calais Directeur Général des Services

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NAME First name Institution FARVACQUE Philippe Région Nord-Pas-de-Calais Technical Advisor ERDF / Operational programmes FLOIRAC Estelle Consultant FRIMAT Bruno ADEME Vice Regional Director GASTALDI Marie Communauté Urbaine de Lille Métropole Mission Partenariat et projets européens HEBRARD Joël Technical Advisor European Programmes MEERSSEMAN Isabelle Centre Régional de Ressources Pédagogiques et de développement de la qualité de la formation Head of the ESF technical Assistance Pole MERCIER Georges ADT Consult MULLEMEESTER Yohan SGAR VAN-DE-WALLE Thérèse SGAR VENINEAUX Jean-Marc DG Regio Transnational and Interregional Cooperation Unit WALLYN Catherine Communauté d’Agglomération du Douaisis Directrice Générale des Services WETZEL Anne Région Nord-Pas-de-Calais Head of the European Affairs WILLMANN Emmanuelle Conseil Général du Pas-de-Calais Head of the European Affairs ZELLER Isabelle Région Nord-Pas-de-Calais Vice-Director for Research, Higher Education, Health and ICTs

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