Europe’s poorer regions tend to receive most support, although all European regions are eligible for funding under the policy’s various funds. The Structural Funds invoice a “performance reserve”, an inventive mechanism intended to encourage performance improvement by attaching explicit financial incentives to indicators and targets. The mechanism was implemented in a broader context of monitoring and evaluation activities by the EU that included a mid-term evaluation process. The reserve set aside 4% of a programme’s total budget and distributed it only if specific objectives were achieved. In consultation with the European Commission, member countries selected their own indicators, chose their own approach to assessment, and each used the mechanism differently.