Program Evaluation – Case of Hungary–Austria Phare CBC Small Project Fund 2000

Abstract

One of the engine to initiate and develop cross-border co-operation in the border region of Hungary and Austria is that the European Union pays particular attention to border regions as it has usually been lagging behind regions. For the member states the Interreg, for the non- member states along the EU border the Phare CBC programme supports the implementation of cross-border initiatives. The increasing dense, and depth, additionally vary of co- operations may move this process from a neighbour position divided by the state boundary towards an integrated (border) region. The success and popularity of the program within the European Union is signed by the new proposal for the forthcoming 2007-2013 programming period of the EU regarding cross-border co-operation. In future the Community Initiatives will be rejected from the financial tools of European Regional Policy. However, CBC issues will move to Structural Funds objectives. It is required to stop for a moment and evaluate that how each program promotes the process of the integration process of border regions. This study makes some efforts to get this process through the ex-post type evaluation of the Hun- gary-Austria Phare CBC Small Project Fund 2002. The key components of the research are the evaluation of relevance, coherence, efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability both on program and project level. The study pays particular attention to cross-border partnership of the implemented projects.