Synthesis report on the coordinated audit on joint assistance to support projects in European regions (JASPERS)

The coordinated audit between the State Audit Office of Croatia, the Supreme Audit Office of Poland and the European Court of Auditors showed that complex issues with several players at EU and national level can be examined more comprehensively and efficiently by international cooperation. It found that JASPERS was a good initiative to support new Member States in the development and approval of project proposals. Better definition of objectives, milestones and criteria would allow JASPERS to focus on those activities which add the most value. In 2005, the European Commission decided to engage in a new initiative together with the European Investment Bank (EIB), known as 'Joint Assistance to Support Projects in European Regions' (JASPERS), to provide the Member States that joined the EU in 2004 or later with independent technical advice. The initiative was established by the Commission, the EIB, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and later the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW). The aim of the JASPERS initiative was to help the Member States, free of charge, to prepare high-quality proposals for large investment projects for funding through the EU's Cohesion and European Regional Development Funds. The JASPERS initiative is managed by a dedicated department within the EIB and mainly financed by the Commission through the EU budget. The actual cost of JASPERS between commencing operations in 2006 and the end of 2016 was around 284 million euro. Between commencing operations in 2006 and the end of 2016, JASPERS completed 1 147 individual tasks (known as 'assignments'). Around two thirds of these concerned major projects. Poland accounted for around 27 % of all completed assignments (307) and Croatia for around 4 % (46). Between the same period, the Commission approved 963 major projects from the 2007-2013 programme period. Of these, around 53 % were supported by JASPERS. The total amount invested in these projects was around 77.6 billion euro; the total EU contribution was 46.2 billion euro.