FantasticSearch

1. The Commission shall inform the Committee at least twice a year concerning the financial execution of the Programme and give an update of the status of all actions financed under the Programme. The Commission shall carry out both mid-term and final evaluations of the Programme in order to assess its contribution to the objectives of Community transport policy and the effective use made of the appropriations.

2. The Commission shall present to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions a Communication on the results achieved by the Marco Polo Programmes for the period 2003-2010. It shall do so before drawing up a proposal for a third Marco Polo Programme and shall take account of the Communication’s findings when drawing up that proposal.

2a. The Communication referred to in paragraph 2 shall in particular deal with the following:

— the impact of this Regulation as amended by Regulation (EC) No 923/2009 of the European Parliament and the Council of 16 September 2009 amending Regulation (EC) No 1692/2006 establishing the second ‘Marco Polo’ programme for the granting of Community financial assistance to improve the environmental performance of the freight transport system (Marco Polo II) (),

— the experience of the Executive Agency for Competition and Innovation with programme management,

— the need to differentiate between transport modes with regard to the conditions for funding, on the basis of safety, environmental performance and energy efficiency,

— the effectiveness of traffic avoidance actions,

— the need to set up demand-driven assistance at the application stage, taking into account the needs of small and micro transport enterprises,

— the recognition of economic recession as an exceptional reason for extending the duration of actions,

— the lowering of the eligibility thresholds for product-specific actions,

— the possibility of indicating the targets for minimum funding thresholds for proposed actions in terms of energy efficiency and environmental benefits in addition to tonne-kilometres shifted,

— the appropriateness of including the transport unit in the definition of the term ‘freight’,

— the availability of complete yearly overviews of actions which have been co-financed,

— the possibility of ensuring consistency between the Programme, the Logistics Action Plan and the TEN-T by taking the appropriate measures in order to coordinate the allocation of community funds, in particular for Motorways of the Sea,

— the possibility of making costs incurred in a third country eligible if the action is carried out by undertakings from a Member State,

— the need to take into account the specific characteristics of the inland waterway sector and its small- and medium-sized enterprises, for example by way of a dedicated programme for the inland waterway sector,

— the possibility of extending the Programme to neighbouring countries; and,

— the possibility of further adapting the Programme to the insular and archipelagic Member States.