As compared to national policies, European structural policy is evaluated extensively. Although the last decade shows considerable success in institutionalizing evaluation processes, the effectiveness of evaluations in terms of the use of their results for policy development could be improved. The existing problems stem from a tension generated by the hybrid governance of structural funds implementation, i.e. the mixture of management by results and bureaucratic rule steering. Against this background, institutional and alternative means for enabling and ensuring the effectiveness of evaluation of the structural funds are discussed. The analysis shows that such an input of evaluation findings into the processes of policy development and improvement can be supported by regulatory requirements. However, they should be complemented by incentives that address the needs of de-central implementing actors.
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