Structural Funds have introduced the results evaluation practice since 1988, in this way they raised the cultural development of evaluation practice, representing, on one hand, an obligation, but on the other hand a learning occasion.

The European Commission in the last years has introduced a set of measure to strengthen the evaluation function and role in programming and implementing co-financed interventions. Particularly, the effort was directed to improve evaluation techniques for investments, codifying valuation basic methods and promoting the more diffused methods through training programmes. It is still not clear the link between evaluation results and interventions programming, except the performance funding experience.

Evaluation activity of a policy or a programme is based on the following criteria: internal coherence (in order to highlight links between: needs and priorities, operative aims and global aims) and external coherence (in respect of other priorities and communitarian, national and regional policies), relevance (aims suitability compared to the social and economical context) effectiveness (reached aims rate) and efficiency (comparison between the results and resources). General Regulation about the 2000-2006 period stated that the evaluation activity would verify these criteria in three different moments: ex-ante, intermediate and ex-post.

.... 

In the new programming period the intermediate evaluation has been substituted with the idea on an ongoing evaluation not temporally restricted and capable to answer to Member States specific needs.

The evaluation is not only an external control of programmer’s activity or a formal fulfilment, nowadays is perceived as an informative basis for the Commission in order to understand how funds are spent as an integrated instrument of the programming activities. Though there has been a certain resistance, direct beneficiaries of evaluation are programmers and citizens that ask to know what has been done in their regions. For this reason the evaluation for the new programming period will be aimed to specific topics and interventions and required for specific needs.