19 Evaluation of programmes of financial
support for cross-border police and judicial co-operation, 2001-04
| (27389)
7777/06
SEC(06) 333
| Commission staff working paper: Report on the ex post evaluation of Grotius II, Oisin II, Stop II, Falcone and Hippokrates Programmes and the interim evaluation of the AGIS Programme
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| Legal base | — |
| Document originated | 7 March 2006
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| Deposited in Parliament | 30 March 2006
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| Department | Home Office |
| Basis of consideration | EM of 16 May 2006
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| Previous Committee Report | None
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| To be discussed in Council | No date set
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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Background
19.1 The Grotius, Oisin, Stop, Falcone and Hippocrates programmes
ran from 1996 until 2002. All of them provided grants towards
the cost of research, training, exchanges of people and information,
conferences and seminars and joint operations relevant to police
and judicial co-operation between the Member States and applicants
to join the EU. Each programme was for a particular group of people
or concerned with a specific subject:
- Grotius for legal practitioners;
- Oisin for law enforcement authorities;
- Stop with the trade in human beings and sexual
exploitation of children;
- Falcone with organised crime; and
- Hippokrates with crime prevention.
19.2 The legal base for all five programmes was Title
VI (police and judicial co-operation in criminal matters) of the
EU Treaty. For ease of reference, we refer to them as "the
Title VI programmes".
19.3 In January 2003, the Title VI programmes were
brought together in one new framework programme — AGIS —with
broadly the same objectives and coverage as the programmes it
replaced. AGIS runs from 2003 to 2007. Its budget for that period
is €77 million.
The evaluation report
19.4 In 2005, two independent companies evaluated
the operation of the Title VI programmes in 2001 and 2002 and
the operation of AGIS in 2003 and 2004. The Commission has based
its report on the evaluators' findings.
19.5 The following are among the main conclusions
of the evaluations:
- In general, the selection of
projects for financial support was not determined by EU policies
or objectives for police and judicial co-operation (selection
was not "demand-led") but rather by the interests of
the promoters of projects (the process was mainly "supply-led").
- The representatives of the Member States in the
advisory committees of the programmes acted more as advocates
of national proposals for funding than as formulators of specific
policy objectives for annual programmes.
- Both the Title VI programmes and AGIS made a
very positive contribution to increasing knowledge, understanding
and trust between the people who took part in the projects.
- The cross-border element was strong in all programmes
and particularly in AGIS.
- The programmes have led to the creation and reinforcement
of formal and informal networks.
- Conferences and seminars mainly contribute to
intangible results (such as the creation of networks, mutual trust
and understanding). Training, operational activities and research
usually have more tangible effects.
- AGIS appropriately complements work by other
EU bodies, such as the European Police College, Eurojust and Europol.
- Because there were insufficient staff in the
Commission, there were delays in selecting projects, paying grants
and responding to requests for help and information.
19.6 In the light of the evaluations, the report
makes 13 detailed recommendations for improving the implementation
of the remainder of the AGIS programme and its successors.
19.7 In addition, the Commission identifies two broad
options for the programmes which will begin in 2007: either allow
them to be supply-led, like AGIS and the Title VI programmes;
or make them demand-led, primarily aimed at achieving tangible
effects on, for example, organised crime. In the Commission's
view, the latter option is strongly to be preferred.
The Government's view
19.8 The Minister of State at the Home Office (Mr
Liam Byrne) tells us that, since 2005, the Government has been
encouraging potential bidders for grant to propose projects with
tangible outputs — such as research-based projects, operational
exchanges, technical databases and laboratory work. He says that
:
"We therefore already comply with the Report's
recommendations for a move towards such practical activities."
19.9 The Minister adds that:
"The UK has opted to provide targeted and clear
advice on EU policy to potential bidders during the idea formation
phase of project planning, rather than vet final submissions.
The UK stresses best fit with EU level policy …."
19.10 He says that the report's recommendations about
the programmes which will succeed AGIS will be considered during
the negotiations on those proposals.
Conclusion
19.11 We attach importance to the evaluation of
all the EU's spending programmes. It appears that this report
contains some useful lessons for future programmes on police and
judicial co-operation, such as making the selection of projects
for grant demand-led rather than supply-led.
19.12 We are content to clear the document from
scrutiny with this report to the House.
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