The DG REGIO Evaluation Network and the ESF Evaluation Partnership organize a Joint Meeting of their representatives in Athens.

The DG REGIO Evaluation Network is a network of representatives of EU countries responsible for the evaluation of EU cohesion policy. It is coordinated by the European Commission. It meets two or three times each year and is chaired by the Evaluation Unit of DG Regional Policy.

The Evaluation Network is an important forum for discussion between the European Commission and Member States on issues concerning evaluation of cohesion policy, including methodological guidance, indicators, evaluation plans, progress in relation to evaluations being undertaken for the European Commission and Member States as well as evaluation results and their use. The mission of the Network is also to facilitate exchange of experience and good practice between Member States in order to strengthen evaluation capacity throughout the European Union.

The ESF Evaluation Partnership is since the early 90s the major forum for discussions between Member States and the Commission on ESF evaluation issues. Chairman of the ESF Evaluation Partnership meeting is the head of Impact Assessment, Evaluation Unit (A3) of DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion of the European Commission. The meeting takes place three times per year.

The group's mission is to facilitate the share of information with Member States regarding the evaluation of ESF interventions. This group is a major forum for discussion of evaluation and guidelines, for the presentation of evaluation results (from Member States and the Commission), for exchange of relevant information and best practices in the field of evaluation. All the background documents and information is uploaded to the circa site (ESF evaluation discussion group) and the access to it is free (without codes).

In the Joint Meeting the two evaluation networks shall focus on the specific issues of intervention logic, performance framework, evaluation plans, impact and ex post evaluation.