Europe 2020 strategy in the Czech Republic: Low-targets as well as minimal impact assessment of European subsidies

Press Release on audit No 20/18 – 1 November 2021


The SAO focused on funds dedicated to monitoring and evaluating the contribution of the European Structural and Investment Funds to the achievement of the EU’s “Europe 2020” strategy. The auditors were specifically interested in how the Czech Republic had set its national targets that would lead to the implementation of this strategy; they also examined how the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic (OG CR) monitored and evaluated how and whether the objectives were actually achieved, as well as the impact of subsidies and long-term aid – distributed in the Czech Republic through European funds – on the implementation of this strategy. The audit revealed that the Office of the Government assessed the impact of funds on the implementation of the “Europe 2020” strategy in a very limited way. Furthermore, national targets were set too low in some cases.

The impact of the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) on the implementation of the “Europe 2020” strategy was hardly assessed by the Office of the Government – it carried out a proper evaluation in only 9% of the cases. For approximately two million Czech crowns, the OG CR has produced only a study on the contribution of the funds to economic growth, but not on their impact on the achievement of the strategy objectives.

The SAO has submitted an analysis to the OG CR which examines the possibilities for carrying out such an assessment and recommended it for possible use. Examples of a good evaluation could also be found abroad – for example in Poland or Italy, as was found by the SAO.

A well-prepared evaluation of the impact of European funds on the achievement of the set objectives provides important information and feedback for the correct setting and assessment of the objectives for the next programming period, and also influences the use of European funds. In the 2014-2020 programming period, the Czech Republic had CZK 624 billion available under these funds and CZK 610 billion for the period 2021 to 2027.

The auditors also focused on how the Czech Republic had set its national objectives for the achievement of the “Europe 2020” strategy. The Czech Republic has set the specific level of some targets at a low level. Four of the 13 targets were overachieved by more than 20%, pointing to low-level targets rather than success in achieving the values outlined by the European Union. The fact that five targets were already achieved in 2014, the first year of the seven-year programming period, also illustrates the low level of ambition.

On the other hand, three objectives have not been met, partly due to the lack of competence of the OG CR in relation to the possibility of effectively coordinating ministries. In particular, neither the target of increasing the share of renewables in transport to 10% have not been met – the Czech Republic reached 7.8%. Furthermore, nor the target of achieving a level of public expenditure on science, research and innovation of 1% of GDP have not been met, the Czech Republic was at 0.79% of GDP, nor the target of reducing the number of early leavers from education to 5.5% – the Czech Republic was at 7.6%.

The “Europe 2020” strategy responded to the global economic crisis of 2010 and was designed to promote smart economic growth, taking into account both sustainability and social inclusion. For example, the strategy objectives included investing at least 3% of the EU’s GDP in research and development by the end of 2020, reducing emissions by 20% and increasing the share of renewables by the same level. Last but not least, the population at risk of poverty should have been reduced by at least 20 million.

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