The European Court of Auditors independently examines what is happening on the ground across the Union, in the Member States and beyond. Their Special Reports present the results of selected performance audits in specific policy or spending areas, or budgetary or management issues spanning several years: this report focuses on cross-border cooperation. This report recognises that cross-border cooperation aims to tackle common challenges identified jointly by the Member States in the border regions, and to exploit the untapped growth potential. They found that the cooperation programmes they examined had clear strategies for addressing the challenges facing the cross-border regions they covered but there were weaknesses in implementation and insufficiencies in monitoring information which limited the programmes’ potential. In the report, they address a number of recommendations to programme authorities and the Commission to better focus the cooperation programmes, such as prioritising support for projects based on merit. Also, to define indicators that capture the cross-border effect of the projects.

Read the report : https://www.eca.europa.eu/sites/ep/en/Pages/DocItem.aspx?did=58917