Evaluation in the European Commission

Abstract:

Ex-post evaluation provides an evidence-based assessment of the performance of policies and legislation. Its findings support political decision-making and inform the design of new interventions. For this reason, and notably under the EU's Better Regulation agenda, evaluation has become a key policy-making tool at EU level. At the same time, evaluation is an aid for legislators, in particular at the policy review stage. The European Parliament therefore has a keen interest in obtaining a complete picture of ongoing Commission evaluations and in having timely access to evaluation results.

This fourth edition of the EPRS rolling check-list 'Evaluation in the European Commission' is designed to provide a comprehensive overview of planned, ongoing and recently completed Commission evaluations. Compiled from a range of sources in the public domain, it seeks to fill a gap by granting a single access point to the Commission's evaluation planning and output, as of 30 June 2020. The dataset is preceded by an analysis of how the evaluation process has evolved since the 2015 Better Regulation reform, with particular regard to the transparency of the European Commission's ex post evaluation process.