The Europe 2020 strategy’s ambitions for achieving growth underpinned by sustainability and inclusivity, and encouraging job creation were to be supported by physical infrastructure that would enhance cross-border connectivity, cohesion and economic competition, and mitigate the effects of climate change. To this end, the CEF1 was created by Regulation No 1316/2013 as a common financing programme to support the completion of trans-European transport, energy and telecommunications infrastructure networks (collectively referred to as the Trans-European Networks or “TENs”) with the intention of enabling projects with common interest in these infrastructure categories. In doing so, the Facility sought to enhance the synergies that projects across the sectors could collectively deliver.
CEF2 – the successor to CEF1 – was established by Regulation No 2021/1153 with similar intentions to build, modernise and complete the TENs and, in doing so, facilitate cross-border cooperation while considering the EU’s long-term commitments relating to decarbonisation.
The intention of this study - Support study for the ex-post evaluation of Connecting Europe Facility 2014-2020 and for the interim evaluation of Connecting Europe Facility 2021-2027 - is to gather evidence on the overall implementation of the CEF1 and CEF2, and on the expected outputs and results of the investments and to provide an evidence-based evaluation relating to the effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, relevance and EU added value of these funding instruments. In doing so, the evaluation will answer key questions relating to the five evaluation dimensions (efficiency, effectiveness, coherence, relevance and EU added Value, in line with the Better Regulation Toolbox).
In addition, given that investing in complementary infrastructure was central to the CEF’s purpose, the study will seek to explore the implementation and further potential of the synergies between the transport, energy and digital sectors.
The results of this work will feed into the Staff Working Documents that will be prepared by the Commission to evaluate the CEF programmes and support future decision-making around the future development of the facility in the context of the next Multi-annual Financial Framework. Our project leadership and evaluation experts, have previously worked closely with the Commission to assess the outcome of interventions and to anticipate the key issues that may be highlighted through the Regulatory Scrutiny Board process and trilogue, ensuring that queries are addressed and evidenced as files move through the legislative procedures.
Partners - Steer (leader); TIS; Idate