A Synthesis of the Mid-Term Evaluations of the FIFG 2000-2006 : Report to European Commission / Directorate General For Fisheries

The remainder of the FIFG programmes show various rates of progress. But, most should be able achieve a reasonable level of activity by the end of FIFG 2000-2006. The reasons for the relatively slow take-up of FIFG-funded programmes are multiple. A late start of the programmes in many instances and other administrative issues (cumbersome application processes, slow payments, lack of administrative resources, occasional problems with the availability of the State co-financing funds, etc) explain part of the lower-than-expected progress. More critically, a number of deeper systemic factors also appear to be at play. A lack of financially robust project sponsors, the uncertain economic prospects for the fisheries sector and the fragmentation of the industry tended to dampen the take-up of the programmes and it is not clear whether the promotion activities recommended by many mid-term evaluations will be sufficient to overcome the hesitancies of potential project sponsors. Copyright authors