Critical Reflections on the Evaluation of European Territorial Cooperation Programmes (2007-2013).

This paper presents some preliminary reflections on the ex-post evaluation process of the European Territorial Cooperation Programmes (2007-2013). It focused on cross-border, trans-national and inter-regional cooperation using a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods. The paper has a twofold aim to explore some of the findings and to reflect on the evaluation process itself. Ultimately, it aims to provide some reflections for policy learning. As for the findings, an issue of isomorphic tendencies emerges. With regards to the evaluation, the paper stresses the need for the specificity of ETC programmes to be taken into greater consideration.