A Conceptual Model Regarding The Information To Be Made Available About Projects Financed By The European Social Fund

Providing information to the general public about the interventions that receive financial assistance from the European Social Fund (ESF) is a requirement of the European Union (EU) regulations that member states must fulfill. Although, these requirements have evolved from 2007-2013 to 2014-2020, they still offer a very limited insight into the achievements made possible by the EU assistance. The introduction of the new e-cohesion concept in the implementation of the EU-funded programmes offers the national authorities new opportunities in terms of information that could be easily made available to the citizens. The paper presents an empirical study of the information already presented by the new member states that joined the EU after 2004 (except Croatia) with regard to the projects funded by the European Social Fund in 2007-2013, identifying best practices in terms of types of data that are published. Building on the experience gained in 2007-2013 and taking into account the new requirements imposed by the European Commission for 2014-2020, the paper suggests a conceptual model for data to be made available to the general public about ESF projects for the years to come. The suggested model is more result-oriented, shifting the focus from the information regarding what is to be achieved to what has actually been achieved. As it is still an early stage in the implementation of the 2014-2020 generation of ESF operational programmes, the model could be useful for the authorities in charge of their implementation when designing the webpages that publicize the use of the EU funds. The model offers an increased transparency of the ESF spending in the member states and allows a wider range of data to be used for different types of analyses and research the results of which would contribute to an increased efficiency of the EU regional policy implementation.