Overcoming Political Resistance to Evaluating the Environmental Impacts of EU Cohesion Policy

Environmental pollution diminishes our quality of life. Counterfactual impact evaluations could help improve the implementation and effectiveness of environmental programs financed by European Union cohesion policy. Yet despite the possible benefits they might bring, such evaluations of these programs have been scarce. In this study on the Czech Republic, we identify both supportive political aspects and reasons for the low political acceptance of evaluations in the field of environmental pollution. Our study reveals several significant obstacles hindering the support and acceptance of evaluation results. First, there is a lack of data, and of what data there is, much of the existing panel data is of poor quality. Second, different public administration bodies often accept only their own data and are not ready to cooperate and share data. Finally, environment is a cross-border issue requiring cooperation among different national public administrations. In conclusion, political strategies are needed in order to take advantage of counterfactual impact evaluations and existing administrative data in the public sector.