Before proposing a new initiative, the European Commission assesses the need for EU action and the potential impacts of policy options. Evaluation involves judging interventions based on their results, impacts, and the needs they aim to satisfy, essentially forming a fact-based judgment on their value.
Impact assessment
Impact assessments are prepared for Commission initiatives that are expected to have a significant economic, social or environmental impact. These can be legislative proposals, non-legislative initiatives that define future policies (e.g. white papers, action plans, financial programmes, and negotiating guidelines for international agreements), as well as implementing and delegated acts.
The Chief Economist Team closely follows and assists in preparing impact assessment reports for the initiatives of the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs. The team also provides assistance within the Commission for assessing impacts on sectorial competitiveness and Internal Market.
We communicate planning of impact assessments to the public via inception impact assessments. We consult stakeholders on all key aspects of an impact assessment during its preparation.
More information on impact assessments
Evaluation
Evaluation is a way to verify if an EU initiative delivers the expected results and to offer evidence-based guidance on how to better fulfil objectives or redefine the objectives if needed.
The main strategic role of evaluation is to support policy development and the continuous improvement of decision-making on priorities and resource allocation.
The purpose of evaluation is to
- contribute to the design of future interventions, including input for setting political priorities
- guide prioritisation and aid efficient allocation of resources
- improve the quality of the intervention by assessing the effectiveness, efficiency, and impact of activities, as well as learning how to improve future performance
- report on the achievements of the intervention (accountability)
More details on evaluation in the European Commission
Contact
grow-a1
ec [dot] europa [dot] eu (grow-a1[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)