The ex ante evaluation

The ex ante evaluation and the development of the Programme were carried out simultaneously to ensure the quality of the Programme as a whole. In this regard, the ex ante evaluation analyses the Programme’s contributions to the Europe 2020 Strategy, the relevance and clarity of the indicators, the consistency of the financial allocations in relation to the objectives and the quality of the management mechanisms.

The environmental assessment

The strategic environmental assessment meets the requirements of the Directive 2001/42/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of the 27^th of June 2001 on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment. Its main objective is to analyse the potential effects that the Programme could have on the environment and to propose, where appropriate, measures to mitigate or eliminate this impact.

The Managing Authority submitted the environmental assessment report and the drafted Programme for consultation to the environmental authorities of the four Member States during the period from May to July, 2014. 

As a result of the consultation, the four environmental authorities established that, for all the regions involved in Southwestern Europe, the Interreg Sudoe Programme will not have relevant effects on the environment. Therefore, no regular strategic environmental assessment is needed. The main reason stated by the environmental authorities was that the Programme co-finances actions of intangible nature and it promotes the implementation of concrete actions in the field of the environment.