Report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the ex-post evaluation of the European Return Fund for the period 2008-2010

The European Return Fund (RF) was established in 2007 for the period 2008 to 2013 as part of the General Programme on ‘Solidarity and Management of Migration Flows’. It is one of four Funds set up under the General Programme. The objective of the Fund is to support the efforts made by Member States to improve the management of return in all its dimensions (‘integrated return management’), including through cooperation between Member States for the purpose of economies of scale. The Fund has a total budget of €676 million. The resources are distributed among 26 Member States.

The Decision establishing the Fund requires the Commission to submit an ex-post evaluation for the period 2008 to 2010 based on national evaluation reports on the results and impact of actions co-financed by the Fund. The Fund is to be evaluated by the Commission in partnership with the Member States ‘to assess the relevance, effectiveness and impact of actions in the light of the general objectives [of the Fund]’. The Commission will also ‘consider the complementarity between the actions implemented under the Fund and those pursued under other relevant Community policies, instruments and initiatives’.

This report presents the findings of the ex-post evaluation of the implementation of the annual programmes 2008 to 2010 covering over €199 million of allocations to the Member States. Member States had to submit their national reports by the end of June 2012. However, since the eligibility period for the actions of the 2010 annual programme ran until 30 June 2012 and in order to allow comprehensive results of this annual programme to be included in the report, the deadline was postponed until 31 October 2012.

See also:
- Report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the ex-post evaluation of the External Borders Fund for the period 2007-2010

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