Mid-term evaluation of the LIFE programme

1.3.2018

Question for oral answer O-000024/2018
to the Commission
Rule 128
Dubravka Šuica, Nicola Caputo, Julie Girling, Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, Stefan Eck, Marco Affronte, Mireille D'Ornano, on behalf of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

On 6 November 2017 the Commission published the Report on the Mid-term Evaluation of the Programme for Environment and Climate Action (LIFE). This report assesses the first two years of the LIFE programme 2014-2020 and makes recommendations for follow-up action.

1. The publication of the mid-term evaluation report was delayed by four months but still lacks much detailed information. Only the projects from the 2014 and 2015 calls have started and few projects have been completed. Considering that four of the seven years of the LIFE programme have already passed, which key lessons does the Commission draw from this? How can such a delay be explained and made up for?

2. How will the Commission improve the indicator system, especially when it comes to EU added value?

3. How can the Commission provide further information on the implementation of the LIFE programme for the decisions to be taken on the next multiannual work programme (2018-2020) and multiannual financial framework? How does the Commission intend to address the investment capacity and lack of financial resources available to beneficiaries in order to improve the replicability of projects’ results?

4. In view of the need to strengthen the impact, sustainability and/or replicability of existing projects, how will the Commission ensure that they fulfil their potential, especially as the final evaluation of LIFE+ concluded that the demonstration potential of many projects was often not fully released or exploited?

5. What can be done to improve the communication strategy in terms of target audience and coordination between actors?

6. Integrated projects and complementarity between LIFE and other EU policies should be strengthened in future. What will the Commission do to improve synergies between LIFE and other legislation, policies and programmes in the EU?

7. How does the Commission plan to enhance the role of NGOs and civil society actors in proposing, designing and piloting the projects. Is there any possibility of increasing the share of EU funding for LIFE projects available to NGOs and civil society actors?