EN    EN EN 
 
EN    EN  EUROPEAN COMMISSION  
Brussels, 20.12.2010 
SEC(2010) 1604 
  
COMMISSION STAFF WORKING PAPER 
COUNTRY SECTIONS & ADDI TIONAL INFORMATION 
 
 
Accompanying document to the 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO  THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE 
COUNCIL AND THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
2009 ANNUAL REPORT ON PHARE, TURK EY PRE-ACCESSION INSTRUMENTS, 
CARDS AND THE TRAN SITION FACILITY 
 
COM(2010) 793 final 
 
 
EN 2   EN TABLE OF CONTENTS 
List of Acronyms………………………………………………………………………………4 
PART I  COUNTRY SECTION……………….…………………………………………….8  
1. Albania ..................................................................................................................... .... 8 
2. Bosnia and Herzegovina ............................................................................................ 14 3. Bulgaria.................................................................................................................... .. 19 
4. Croatia..................................................................................................................... ... 22 
5. Cyprus ...................................................................................................................... .. 33 
6. Czech Republic .......................................................................................................... 35 7. Estonia..................................................................................................................... ... 37 
8. The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia........................................................... 39 9. Hungary..................................................................................................................... . 45 
10. Kosovo ..................................................................................................................... .. 47 
11. Latvia..................................................................................................................... ..... 54 
12. Lithuania .................................................................................................................. .. 56 
13. Malta ...................................................................................................................... .... 58 
14. Montenegro ................................................................................................................ 6 0 
15. Poland..................................................................................................................... .... 63 
16. Romania .................................................................................................................... . 65 
17. Serbia..................................................................................................................... ..... 67 
18. Slovakia................................................................................................................... ... 77 
19. Slovenia................................................................................................................... ... 79 
20. Turkey ..................................................................................................................... ... 81 
PART II  MULTI-BENEFIC IARY PROGRAMMES…..………………...……………...90  
21. Twinning and other institution building technical assistance .................................... 90 
22. Multi-country, regional and horizontal programmes ................................................. 91 
PART III  FINANCIAL DATA……………….…………………………….…………….101  
23. PHARE, Turkey pre-accession and tran sition facility funds committed by year 1990 
– 2007....................................................................................................................... 10 1 
 
EN 3   EN 24. PHARE, Turkey pre-accession and tran sition facility funds implementation by 
country at the end of 2009........................................................................................ 101 
25. CARDS funds committed by year 2000 – 2006....................................................... 102 26. CARDS funds implementation by country at the end of 2009 ................................ 102 
 
EN 4   EN LIST OF ACRONYMS  
BSP  Business Support Programme 
CBC  Cross Border Cooperation  CFCA  Central Financing and Contracting Agency CFCD  Central Financing and Contracting Department CFCU  Central Finance and Contracts Unit CfP  Call for Proposal CI         CzechInvest CP        Consumer Protection CIPS  Citizen Identification Protection System CODEF Central Office for Development St rategy and Coordinati on of EU Funds  
CPIE  Country Programme Interim Evaluation  CPMA  Central Programme Management Agency CRD     Center for Regional Development CBIB  Cross-Border Institution Building  CSER  Country Summary Evaluation Review  DABLAS        Danube-Black Sea Task Force for                         co-ope ration on water protection in the wider Black Sea Region 
DEI  Directorate of European Integration DFID  United Kingdom's Department for International Development DIS
  Decentralised Implementation System 
EASA  European Aviation Safety Agency  ECENA Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Network for Accession EAR     European Agency for Reconstruction EBRD  European bank for reconstruction and development ECAA  European Co mmon Aviation Area 
 
EN 5   EN ECLO   European Commission's Liaison Office 
ESCB  European System of Central Banks  EDIS
  Extended Decentralised Implementation System 
EEFF     Energy Efficiency Finance Facility EFSE    European Fund for Southeast Europe EIB  European Investment Bank ENPI  European Neighbourhood a nd Partnerships Instrument 
ESF  European Social Fund EU  European Union FDI  Foreign Direct Investment  FIAS  Multi-Donor Investment Climate Advisory Service  
GOEA   Government Office for European Affairs GIS   Geographical Information System  IA  Implementing Agency IBM      Integrated Border Management ICT  Information and Communications Technology  ICTY   International Criminal Tr ibunal for the former Yugoslavia  
IFC  International Finance Corporation 
IFI  International Financial Institutions 
IMF      International Monetary Fund IPA  Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance IPF       Infrastructure Projects Facility IPR  Intellectual Property Rights ISR  Implementation Status Report ISIS  Integrated Standby Instrument System  IT  Information and Telecommunication JMC  Joint Monitoring Committee LPIS   Land Parcel Identification System 
 
EN 6   EN LSDS   Local sustainable development strategies  
MAFWE Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry  and Water Economy (t he former Yugoslav 
Republic of Macedonia) 
MFF     Municipal Infrastructure Facility MIS  Management Information System MIPD  Multi-Annual Indicative Planning Document NADSME National Agency for Development of Small and Medium Enterprises  NAO  National Authorising Officer NAC  National Aid Coordinator NBS  National Bank of Serbia  NGO  Non-Governmental Organisation NIPAC          National IPA Coordinator NF  National Fund NP  National Programme NPP  Nuclear Power Plant NROS   Civil Society Development Foundation NTF      National Training Fund 
OECD   Organisation for Econom ic Co-operation and Development 
OSCE   Organisation for Secu rity and Cooperation in Europe 
PAED  Polish Agency for Enterprise Development  PAO  Programme Authorising Officer PAR  Public Administration Reform PARCO Public Administration Reform Coordinator's Office  PCM    Project Cycle Management PIU  Project Implementation Units  PPP       Public-Private Partnership PSK      Probation service of Kosovo RDSA   Regional Development Support Agency 
 
EN 7   EN ROM    Results-Oriented Monitoring 
SAA     Stabilisation and Association Agreements SCTM  Standing conference of  towns and municipalities  
SEE      South East Europe SEETO            South Ea st Europe Transport Observatory 
SF  Structural Funds SIGMA Support for Improvement in Governance and Management SME  Small and Medium Sized Enterprises SMSC  Sector Monitoring Sub-Committee SEMS  South-East European Messaging System SPO  Senior Programme Officers  TA  Technical Assistance TAIEX Technical Assistance In formation Exchange Unit 
UKIE  Office of the Committee for European Integration  UNDP  United Nations Development Programme UNFPA       United Nations Population Fund UNODC United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 
UNRC  United Nations Resident Coordinator  
VAT  Value Added Tax VET   Vocational Edu cation and Training 
 
EN 8   EN PART I: COUNTRY SECTION 
1. ALBANIA  
1.1. Summary 
As in previous years, in 2009 the implemen tation of CARDS programmes in Albania was 
managed by the EU Delegation to Albania.  
By the end of the reporting period, CARD S 2001-2004 were fully contracted and paid; 
CARDS 2005 was fully contracted  and the contracting peri od of CARDS 2006 reached its 
deadline. During 2009, particular  emphasis was given to progres s in the implementation of 
the remaining CARDS 2005 and 2006 programmes.  This goal was achieved with reaching for 
all CARDS programmes in Albania an overall contracting rate of  97% and a rate of almost 
80% of allocations disbursed to beneficiaries.  
Throughout 2009, the implementation of CARDS pr ogrammes was of valu able assistance to 
Albania, as programmes targeted mainly rele vant EU accession-related areas such as the 
judiciary and fundamental righ ts, police and border management, civil society, agriculture, 
environment, transport and municipal infrastructure.  
1.2. Financial assistance in 2009 
i) Programmes launched  
As of 2007, the CARDS  instrument  was replaced by the new Instrument for Pre-Accession 
Assistance. Therefore, no new CARD S programmes were launched in 2009 . 
ii) Overview of programmes implemented  
In 2009, the sector of justice, freedom and secur ity remained an importa nt area of assistance 
under CARDS. Projects under the CARDS 2005 program me in the fields of the judiciary and 
fundamental rights supported the sustainability  of the School of Ma gistrates and provided 
assistance to the strengthening of the administrative capacity of the General Prosecutor Office. A CARDS 2004 project pr ovided substantial technical assistance to the juvenile 
justice system and penitentiary reform, offering a lternative measures to detention at pre-trial, 
trial and post-trial stages and promoting pr evention of juvenile delinquency and social 
reintegration of offenders. 
Support provided to the justice sector through the Just ice Assistance Mission of the EU to 
Albania (EURALIUS) brought the Albanian Justi ce System closer to European standards and 
EU best practices. The project was composed of technical assi stance drawn from EU Member 
States and led to improvements in particular as regards: i) jus tice organisation; ii) drafting of 
legislation; iii) budget management; iv) peniten tiary reform and development of probation 
services; v) enforcement of rulings; vi) crimin al justice; vii) court administration and case 
management; viii) property rights.  
In order to strengthen Border Police surveill ance, patrolling and borde r control capacity along 
Albania’s borders, a contract  was signed in May 2009 for the refurbishment of 17 Special 
 
EN 9   EN Border police stations located in Bajze, Perrenj as, Vicisht, Kukes, Sp ille, Bllate, Divjake, 
Tropoja, Livadhja, Dhermi, Kakavije, Kapshtic e, Liquenas, Pogradec, Shtik, Tri-port and 
Borsh. The value of construction works was EUR 1.43 million. The scope of works 
comprised main infrastructure upgrades such  as civil construction and sanitary works, 
installation of new doors and windows, new h eating, ventilation, air conditioning, security 
and fire fighting systems, other utilities and landscaping works.  
In 2009, the EU Delegation to Albania la unched, under CARDS 2006, three calls for 
proposals for Civil Society in the areas of support to the media, anti-corruption and the 
environment. As a result, eighteen contracts in total were awarde d, among which four to 
supporting the media (totalling about EUR 380 500 of CARDS contribution), seven for the 
promotion of anticorruption act ivities (totalling about EUR 6 00 000 of CARDS contribution) 
and seven for the protection of the envir onment (about EUR 580 000 of CARDS contribution 
in total). Support under the first set of contra cts was focused on enhancing the role of the 
media in the country’s integration process, espe cially in terms of enhancing its independence 
and monitoring capacity. In the area of anti-corruption, assist ance was provided to strengthen 
the role of Civil Society and promote tran sparency, accountability and good governance and 
fight corruption. Projects in th e environment sector sought to empower civil society to 
contribute to solving the country’s environm ental problems by promoting cooperation among 
environmental organisations, government, private institutions, businesses and other 
stakeholders.  
Through such targeted assistance, supporting civ il society organisations to strengthen their 
role in the country’s public affairs, the EU is contributing to prom ote democratisation and 
sustainable development in Albania. 
In 2009, a CARDS 2006 funded project  of EUR 5 million provided s upport to the Ministry of 
Environment to adopt en vironmental legislation  in a 4-components project. In addition, in the 
context of remediation of hazardous waste hot spots, a PVC1 factory in Vlora was supported - 
the factory had used mercury in the production process thus severely contaminating large 
areas around the factory site.  
In the agricultural sector, in the last years wine  consumption in Albania increased at an annual 
rate of 16 % and such an increased demand en couraged farmers to plant new areas with 
vineyards. In order for the sector to become  competitive and to use better its resources, a 
project under the CARDS 2006 pr ogramme worth EUR 650 000 as sisted the Ministry of 
Agriculture, Food and Consumer Protection to establish the vi neyard cadastre, taking into 
consideration the relevant EU  legal acts reflecting the mo st recent amendments of the 
legislation on the common market organisatio n in wine. About 9,000 vi neyard units or around 
50 % of the total number were regi stered into an open source GIS2 system. The project 
terminated in May 2010. 
With regard to economic and social deve lopment, a CARDS 2005 project establishing a 
National Food Authority worth EUR 3 million was ongoing in the course of 2009 and is 
foreseen to terminate in February 2011.  
                                                 
1  Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), third most widely produced plastic 
2  Geographical Information System (GIS) 
 
EN 10   EN In the field of protection of  cultural heritage, in 2009 the CARDS 2006 programme assisted 
the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports to improve urban infrastructure around historical sites in Ti rana, Kruja and Himara.  The project included three works contracts and 
one supervision, as follows: in Tirana, the reco nstruction of the road n ear Tirana castle was 
financed with EUR 1.98 million; the rehabilitation of the Old B azaar road in Kruja and inner 
roads in the Kruja Castle were financed with  EUR 760 000; infrastructure works in the old 
castle of Himara were supported with EUR 410 000. Finally, EUR 300 000 were contracted 
for the supervision of these works. The wo rks are expected to be completed in 2011.  
iii) Cards management performance
 
In 2009, performance in managing CARDS pr ogrammes in Albania was well on track. 
CARDS 2001-2004 were considered fully co ntracted and disbursed. CARDS 2005 was 
almost fully contracted (95%) and disburseme nt advanced well (72%). CARDS 2006 was also 
almost fully contracted by the end of th e reporting period (96% of allocated funds, 
corresponding to EUR 40.8 million). However, payments for CARDS 2006 were lagging behind, with only EUR 14.6 m illion disbursed (42%).  
Table 1 -  Financial execution as at the end of December 2009 (in million EUR) – CARDS 
annual programmes   
  Allocated  Contracted RAC3 % contracted Paid  RAL4 % paid
CARDS 2001 33.50 32.68 0.82 98% 29.16 3.52 89% 
CARDS 2002 42.90 41.53 1.37 97% 40.39 1.14 97% 
CARDS 2003  38.50 37.83 0.33 98% 37.40 0.43 99% 
CARDS 2004  62.00 58.07 0.00 99% 49.78 8.29 86% 
CARDS 2005  40.20 38.03 2.17 95% 27.57 10.46 72% 
CARDS 2006  42.50 40.85 1.65 96% 14.68 24.44 42% 
TOTAL  259.60 248.99 6.34 97.1% 198.98 48.28 78% 
 
iv) Institution Building highlights  
No twinning contracts were  signed during 2009 under CARDS . However, some ongoing 
twinnings projects funded by CARDS c ontinued to be implemented in 2009. 
A CARDS 2004 Twinning project ai ming at enhancing the Albani an judiciary in commercial 
matters was implemented in the period 200 7-2009 and assisted th e Judiciary through 
increasing court capacities to deal with commer cial cases, as well as with training of judges 
and lawyers. It also supported the approxima tion and harmonisation of Albanian legislation 
on commercial issues with EU standards and best  practices. In the fram ework of the project, 
the publication of the first legal comment ary on the new Albanian Company Law was 
financed. 
A CARDS 2005 Twinning project with the Alba nian General Prosecutor's office on 
evaluations and inspections was implem ented throughout 2009, starting in 2008 and 
terminating in 2010. The project supported the o ffice capacity to inspect and evaluate those 
under its command and enable inve stigations and pros ecutions to be con ducted diligently and 
expeditiously, in order to result in a more ef ficient and transparent judiciary and decreased 
corruption within th e judicial system. 
                                                 
3  Remains to be contracted  (Reste à contacter)  
4  Remains to be disbursed  (Reste à liquider)  
 
EN 11   EN The CARDS 2004 project: "Training of prison sta ff: managing prisons in a humane way" was 
also implemented in the years 2007-2009 a nd provided support to the Albanian prison 
administration to improve prison management  by adequate training of high management 
prison staff.  It also develope d the establishment of a complete  human resources system from 
recruitment to basic training a nd other further adequate traini ng of prison staff. The project 
further assisted the trainers' team coming from different penitentiary institutions by means of 
a better curricula and providing th em with further training skills. 
In 2009, the EU continued its contribution to th e development and modernisation of the civil 
registry system in Albania (CARDS 2004). Th e project started in 2006 and ended in 2010. 
The project also assisted the development of  data protection requirements and standards  and 
the setting up of the Data Pr otection Commissioner's Office. 
1.3. Results and impact 
i) Monitoring and Evaluation Reports in 2009 - Lessons Learned  
 
No new evaluations of CARDS financial assi stance took place in Albania in 2009. However, 
some of the lessons learnt from the Ad-H oc Evaluation of all CARDS Programmes in 
Albania5, for which the Final Report was issued on 17 December 2008, were relevant and 
were taken into consideration for the im plementation of CARDS programmes in 2009. 
– Lessons learned in relation to projects’ relevance : i) the relevance of CARDS funded 
projects was good, but not consistently based on sector strategies and in-depth needs 
assessments; ii) CPS had a limited strategic plan ning value, the MIPs made a good effort in 
aligning CARDS priorities to the rapid development of Alba nia in line with SAP, but 
especially with NSSED; iii) Ownership in th e programming process at  the line ministry 
level was found to be weak in the beginning of the period, which had an impact on the 
needs assessment and thereby on the relevance of the assistance. 
– Lessons learned in relation to effectiveness : i) the missing public administration reform 
strategy and the poorly-implemented civil se rvice law were seen as impacting the 
effectiveness of CARDS assistance to the area, despite its limited level; ii) the impact of 
civil society projects was also assessed as limited, due to the focus and implementation 
mechanisms of civil society activities.  
– Lessons learned in relation to efficiency : i) overall, CARDS s upport to strengthen 
institutional capacity for strategic planni ng was weak; ii) the sectors supported have 
suffered from inadequate project design or  needs assessment, which has impacted on 
CARDS performance; iii) overall CARDS has performed better in acquis -related areas 
than in support to public administration as such; iv) the inadequate needs assessment 
reflects that there was a lack of capacity for both programming and project design and 
development, especially in line  ministries; v) project implem entation registered delays, due 
to lack of administrative capacity and shortage of staff allocated to this in line ministries. 
                                                 
5  Evaluation (EU/2008/154-009) covering the following sectors:  Justice and Home Affairs, 
Administrative Capacity Building, Economic and Social Development, Environment and Natural 
Resources, Civil Society Development 
 
EN 12   EN – Lessons learned in relation to impact : i) weak project design impacted negatively on 
relevance and on the overall performance of CARDS; ii) while ownership of the overall 
programming process seemed satisfactory, tha nks to the increasing coordinating role of 
Ministry of European Integration (MEI ) and Department of  Strategy and Donor 
Coordination (DSDC), future assistance sh ould give more attention to increasing 
beneficiaries’ ownership duri ng the implementation phase;  
– Lessons learned in relation to sustainability : i) further development of the administration in 
terms of staff numbers and competences as we ll as at the top level in the ministries 
engaging in the reform processes will be a pr erequisite for sustainability; ii) the missing 
public administration reform strategy and the poorly-implemented civil service law were 
seen as impacting also the sustainability of  the results of CARDS assistance to the area; 
iii)staff (at all levels) was no longer in pl ace due to replacements generally in the 
administration (especially afte r the 2005 elections); iv) sustai ning the results of many of 
the projects funded by CARDS in the sect ors covered by the evaluation will demand a 
significant investment from both th e Albanian state budget and donors.  
ii) Sectors with positive results  
One of the main sectors profiting from CARD S programmes in 2009 was the area of justice 
and home affairs. This sector had been identified  as an area of special concern in previous 
progress reports, analyses and monitoring exercise s, even if important work was achieved in 
the framework of the visa liberalisation dialogue. With this regard, progress in the areas of the 
judiciary, freedom and security was especially va luable. A project of par ticular importance in 
this respect was the EURALIUS project (Justice  Assistance Mission of the EU to Albania), 
which successfully brought the Al banian justice system closer to European standards and EU 
best practices. 
iii) Success stories  
"Construction of reintegration centre for mi nors in Kavaja"/"On the Rights Track: 
Establishment of Preventive and Restorativ e Juvenile Justice System in Albania" 
(CARDS 2004) 
The situation in pre-detention facilities in Alba nia was of great concer n, as facilities were 
overcrowded and juveniles were not separated from adults. Albania lack ed a proper juvenile 
reform institution and existing centres were in a state below human dignity. Therefore under 
CARDS 2004, the EU supported the strengthening of  a functioning juvenile  justice system in 
accordance with EU standards and internati onal human/children rights instruments. 
With the help of CARDS funds, the construction of a reintegration centr e for juveniles for an 
amount of EUR 1.7 million (100% EU Contribution) was made possible. The Reintegration 
Centre for Minors in Kavaja provides acco mmodation for around 40 juvenile inmates. The 
centre consists of various bloc ks including areas for detention, classrooms, workshops, leisure 
facilities, doctors’ faciliti es, kitchen, laundry, visiting area s and administration. The gross 
floor area is around 3.200 m2. The new juvenile detention centr e in Kavaja has been built in 
accordance with EU standards and internationa l human/children rights instruments. The new 
facility is a specialised centre for minors fully operational in terms of adequate infrastructure, equipment and professional staff. 
 
EN 13   EN "Construction of the Joint Border Cro ssing Point at Murriqan/Sukobin with 
conventional building t echnologies" (CARDS 2004) 
The EU helped to renovate the border police and customs facilities at the border crossing 
point between Albania and Montenegro (EUR 1.1 million of CARDS contribution). It also 
supplied border control equipment and provided specialised training and technical assistance 
to border police and customs agents operating at the border. Furthe rmore, it established 
operational inter-agency cooperation systems between the border police and the customs 
authorities at the border. From a wide r perspective, this project aims at  contributing to the 
prevention of illegal migration and the eradica tion of cross border crime. It should also 
facilitate bona fide  cross border movement of peopl e and goods by upgrading Albania’s 
border management system to EU standards. 
 
EN 14   EN  
2. BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA  
2.1. Summary 
As in previous years, in 2009 the implementation of CARDS programmes in Bosnia and 
Herzegovina was managed by the EU Delega tion to Bosnia and Herzegovina. CARDS 
continued to support key reform areas such as public administration reform, the rule of law, 
socio-economic development and the introduction  of European Standards in the country.  
2.2. Financial assistance in 2009 
 i) Programmes launched  
As of 2007 the CARDS instrument was repla ced by the Instrument for Pre-Accession 
Assistance (IPA). Therefore, no new CARDS programmes were launched in 2009. 
ii) Overview of programmes implemented  
In 2009, the EU Delegation to Bosnia and Herz egovina awarded contra cts with a value EUR 
4.3 million under the CARDS instrument and managed 180 ongoing CARDS contracts which 
had been concluded between 2004 and 2009, w ith a total value of EUR 60 million. 
In the area of good governance and institution building, CARDS supported the reform of the 
judiciary and the police, and pub lic administration reform includi ng support to the Parliament 
and to the decentralisation of EU  assistance. A considerable share of the assistance in the 
sector was spent on border management, asylum  and migration. Furthe r projects supported 
civil society, the media, minorities and returnees. 
Examples of the assistance for the judicial sect or are the rehabilitation of court buildings, the 
purchase of IT equipment and legal books for judges and prosecutors, support in the fight 
against corruption, money laundering and drugs as well as the assistance to the international 
Registry of the State Court.  Police reform was supported with technical assistance and 
equipment.  
Examples of the assistance to public administ ration reform and institution building are the 
support for the Directorate for Economic Planning, the Public Procurement Agency, the Agency for Healthcare, the Minist ry of Security, the rehabilita tion of the Parliament building 
and the delivery of IT equipment to a wide range of institutions. 
CARDS provided technical assistance to the implementation of the Integrated Border 
Management Strategy and to the professional qua lification of the State Border Police. Works 
contracts were used to construc t border crossing points, to bl ock illegal border crossings, to 
construct the reception facility for irregular migrants and the headquarters of the service for 
foreigner affairs. IT equipment, vehicles a nd office furniture were delivered to equip the 
above services. 
The media were supported through technical and professional advice on radio and television 
news production. The economic and social re-integration of minorities and minority returnees 
 
EN 15   EN was supported as well as the coope ration between civil so ciety organisations and authorities in 
the development of the social policy sector. 
Socio-economic development received CARDS a ssistance for the reform of the education 
system and the labour market and further suppor t was provided to ec onomic operators, small 
and medium enterprises and tourism development. 
Examples for the assistance to the education se ctor are the support to the general education 
reform through the establishment of the State Ag ency for Education, the support to the reform 
of the vocational education and training system and the delivery of technical equipment to 
vocational education and training  centres. A labour informati on system was implemented and 
equipped with IT systems. Entrepreneuria l development centres, including the Women's 
Entrepreneurship Academy, were supported, a busi ness incubator in Prij edor was established 
and assistance to increase the competitivenes s of small and medium size enterprises was 
provided. A variety of tourism development pr ojects were implemented, e.g. eco-rural tourism 
in Sabici, the Bosnian Kingdom Trail, and th e touristic development of the Vrbas valley. 
A considerable share of CARDS assistance in 2009 was spent on approximation to the EU 
acquis . CARDS projects in the fields of agricu lture and rural development, veterinary, 
statistics, transport and energy, trade, intellect ual property rights and environment protection 
were implemented.  
Prominent examples of acquis  related projects are the promotion of organic farming, 
aquaculture, the establishment of an agro-inc ubator in Zepce, the institution building support 
to the State Veterinary Office,  the supply of equipment to es tablish a common statistical IT 
system in the country, the delivery of designs  for major railway sec tions and roads on the 
corridor Vc, the support to the State Regulatory Agency for El ectricity and Ga s, support to 
trade policy development, capacity building for the protection of intellectual property rights, 
the rehabilitation and construction of landfills, as well as the supervision of the construction of sewage collectors in Zivinice. 
Further CARDS projects promoted EU aw areness and culture, supported regional 
cooperation, science and researc h, cross-border cooperation and the participation of Bosnia 
and Herzegovina in Community Programmes, in particular in the 7
th Research Framework 
Programme. 
iii) Cards management performance  
Table 1 -  Financial execution as at the end of December 2009 (in million EUR) – CARDS 
annual national programmes   
 Allocated Contracted RAC % contracted  Paid  RAL % paid 
CARDS 2001 105.2 98.56 6.64 94% 98.12 7.08 93%
CARDS 2002 60.5 59.30 1.2 98% 56.53 3.97 93%
CARDS 2003 50.6 49.38 1.22 98% 46.07 4.53 91%
CARDS 2004 62.1 60.49 1.61 97% 59.46 2.64 96%
CARDS 2005 44.0 43.21 0.79 98% 41.76 2.24 95%
CARDS 2006 43.8 42.69 1.11 97% 37.57 6.23 86%
TOTAL 366.2 353.63 12.57 97% 339.51 26.69 93%
The performance in managing CARDS annual pr ogrammes as at the end of the reporting 
period was overall satisfactory. The CARDS programmes 2001 – 2006 could be considered 
 
EN 16   EN almost fully contracted (97 %) and payments for the six years period  reached the level of 
93%. 
iv) Institution Building highlights   
The EU Delegation continued the coaching and tr aining programme for the preparation of the 
decentralised implementation  of IPA in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The process financed by 
CARDS included coaching and training the Director ate of European Integration on strategic 
planning, project preparation a nd assessment and the setting up of a structured network of 
counterparts for project planning, design and impl ementation in all line ministries and State 
agencies. 
CARDS assisted Public Administration Reform  (PAR), one of the ke y European Partnership 
priorities, through strengthening the system s of public administration and through 
administrative capacity building of selected ke y sectors. It supported the PAR Coordinator's 
Office in the implementation of the PAR st rategy and action plan. The well established 
coordination mechanism for the deployment of the PAR fund continued to work, involving 
government representatives from all admini strative levels and different PAR donors.  
The Personal Data Protection  Agency received assistance through a twinning project with the 
objectives to harmonise the national legislation with the acquis  and thus ensure full 
compliance with European data protection sta ndards, to strengthen the institutional and 
administrative capacities of the Data Protection Agency to supervise the enforcement of the 
law on personal data protection,  and to strengthen the awar eness and capacities of civil 
servants and police bodies who are cont rolling or processing personal data. 
The Directorate for the  Citizen Identification Protection  System received assistance through a 
twinning light project with the objective to ensure a more coordinated, systematic and 
methodological approach in the use of info rmation and communication technology in the 
public sector and the management of identifica tion documents related databases in Bosnia and 
Herzegovina.  
Further good examples of institution building in 2009 were the support for the Directorate for  
Economic Planning,  the Public Procurement Agency, the Agency for  Healthcare , and the 
Ministry of  Security , which received institution building support through tec hnical assistance. 
Donor coordination  was ensured throughout the entire proj ect management cycle from project 
design to implementation. In particular, th e Commission together with other donors was 
involved in setting up an Aid C oordination Committee together w ith the Ministry of Finance 
and Treasury, the Directorate for European In tegration and the Directorate for Economic 
Planning. Monthly coordinati on meetings on programming and assistance implementation 
were held with EU Member States.  
2.3. Results and impact 
i) Monitoring and Evaluation Reports in 2009 – Lessons Learned  
No evaluation of EU assistance took place in Bosnia and He rzegovina in 2009. However most 
of the lessons learned from the last eval uation, the Ad-Hoc Evaluation of the CARDS 
Programme in Bosnia and Herzegovina in December 2008, as shown below, were still 
relevant in 2009: 
 
EN 17   EN – Lessons learned in relation to project's relevance : European Union assistance supported the 
key policy priorities of both donors and the na tional administration. Project designs were 
revised in response to changes in  local political priorities but this was not always sufficient 
to ensure the assistance met beneficiary needs. 
– Lessons learned in relation to effectiveness : The multi-faceted return programme was 
effective with high levels of initial return of refugees . Multi-annual sub-sectoral funding 
improved effectiveness of institution building despite an increasingly difficult project 
environment. 
– Lessons learned in relation to efficiency : Good inter institutional collaboration improved 
the efficiency of reconstruc tion programmes. Administrative control within the Delegation 
led to rapid procurement but reduced benefici ary ownership. The use of different methods 
of contracting met the needs of different types of benefi ciary and improved efficiency. 
– Lessons learned in relation to impact : The impact of EU assistance on the return process 
and democratic stabilisation overall had more mixed success. The creation of durable 
State-level institutions, a main thrust of EU institution building support, was challenging 
with success varying considerably between sectors. 
– Lessons learned in relation to sustainability : Sustainable institutional structures for the 
return process were created a nd taken over by the State. Many State-level institutions lack 
local ownership which threatens sustainability . 
ii) Sectors with positive results  
CARDS supported Bosnia and Herzegovina in achieving key benchmarks of the visa 
liberalisation process  in the area of justice, freedom an d security. resulting particular, a 
revised strategy and action plan on the preventi on of anti-money laundering and financing of 
terrorist activities, a revised anti-corruption st rategy and action plan a nd the law on the agency 
for prevention of corrupti on and on cooperation in the fight against corruption  were adopted. 
The establishment of the latter will allow Bosnia  and Herzegovina to start tackling the issue of 
corruption in a comprehensive manner.  
With the support of CARDS, Bosnia and Herzegovina harmonised its confidential data 
protection  legislation with EU standa rds and established EU- confor m security infrastructure 
such as security areas, registries and comm unication and information systems in eight State-
level institutions for safeguardi ng and secure transmission of c onfidential data. Furthermore, 
CARDS supported the Personal Da ta Protection Agency in th e process of harmonising 
legislation with relevant EU regulations, st rengthening the structure and capacity of the 
agency, developing of a central registry for hardware and software containing personal data 
throughout the country and training public servan ts in the security, telecommunication, 
finance and health sector. With this suppor t Bosnia and Herzegovi na started working on 
achieving the data protection level required for fu ture European and international cooperation 
Although there was a standstill with the progress of introduction of the decentralised 
implementation system  due to the absence of key nom inations, the assistance provided 
through CARDS to the Ministry of Finance and Treasury and to the Dir ectorate for European 
Integration has greatly he lped develop the capacity of the st aff and the preparation of internal 
procedures and manuals that will be part of the accreditation package.  
 
EN 18   EN In the course of 2009, CARDS a ssistance supported the work of the Public Procurement 
Agency and the agencies for civil service.  Two information management systems were 
developed - for the electronic publication of public procurement  notices that will increase 
their visibility and accessibility and provide re liable information on procurement procedures 
conducted, and the human resource management  information system that will provide a tool 
for efficient management of data on civil serv ants at all the levels of the administration.  
iii) Success stories  
“Rehabilitation of the Municipal and Cant onal Courts Building in Sarajevo” (CARDS 
2006) 
The rehabilitation works of these courts was successfully completed in November 2009 and a 
big inauguration event was organised. The to tal project cost was EUR 3.2 million out of 
which the EU provided over EUR 2 million for re habilitation works, works supervision and 
provision of furniture for th e rehabilitated premises. Th e project was co-funded by the 
Ministry of Justice and the Sa rajevo Canton, Norway and Swede n. The ability of the Sarajevo 
Municipal Court and Sarajevo Cant onal Court to carry out their administrative and judicial 
functions more effectively and efficiently thr ough the efficient and coordinated use of space 
in the existing building by upgrad ing the physical status of the premises was enhanced 
through this reconstruction. 
“Construction of Reception Centre for Irreg ular Migrants in Bosnia and Herzegovina” 
(CARDS 2006) 
The construction of the first closed reception ce ntre for irregular migrants in Bosnia and 
Herzegovina was successfully completed in October 2009 and a big inauguration event was 
organised. The EU provided EUR 1.2 million for the construction, supervision, supply of 
furniture, equipment and vehicles for transportati on of the migrants to the countries of origin. 
The centre provides for lawful detention of irre gular third country nati onals in conformity 
with international and EU standards and best practices, including but not limited to first aid 
and assistance, respect for the traditions, culture  and religion, guarantee for the safety of the 
foreign nationals, protection of personal data and preparation for the retu rn to the country of 
origin or to another country. Th e centre is located in Lukavica, near Sarajevo, as an extension 
of the existing facility of a temporary recepti on centre. The centre allows accommodation for 
80 residents and includes also adequate space and facilities for staff working in the building. 
“Construction of Border Crossing  Point in Klobuk” (CARDS 2004)  
The construction of the border crossing point  in Klobuk was successfully completed and 
handed over to the project beneficiary, the In direct Taxation Authority in November 2009. 
The EU provided EUR 2.6 million for the desi gn, construction and supervision. The border 
crossing facility for passengers and freight traffic is located on the international road Trebinje-Niksic, connecting Bosnia and Herzegovina an d Montenegro. The construction enhanced the 
performance and the efficiency of the customs clearance and border control, enabled adequate 
control of freight and passengers  crossing the border, as well as facilitation of their smooth 
legal flow across the border and st rengthened cross-border cooperation.  
 
EN 19   EN 3. BULGARIA  
3.1. Summary 
In 2009, Bulgaria implemented both pre-accession and post-accession assi stance to address 
the remaining needs related to Instituti onal Building for the implementation of the acquis , in 
line with the Extended Decentralised  Implementation System (EDIS). 
Since July 2007 implementation is carried out u nder the entire responsibility of the Bulgarian 
authorities applying national pr ocurement rules. Four implementing agencies are fully 
responsible for daily implementation of projects.  
In February 2008 the financing for the PHAR E and Transition Facility (TF) programmes 
managed by two of the accredited Agencies - the Central Finance and Contracting Unit  
(CFCU) and the Implementing Agency at Mini stry of Regional Development and Public 
Works (MRDPW) - was suspended and in July  2008 the Commission withdrew the right of 
those agencies to manage PHARE and Transi tion Facility programmes on a decentralized 
basis. The Bulgarian National Authorising Of ficer (NAO) was requested to prepare an 
assessment of the system weaknesses and an es timate of their impact. Such assessments and 
proposals for financial corrections  were sent to the Commissi on by Bulgaria at the end of 
October 2009. This led to the lifting of th e payment suspensions by DG Enlargement on 18 
November 2009. 
The National Aid Coordinator (NAC) continued to exercise the programming function for the 
Transition Facility programme and monitoring of both Pre-accession and Transition Facility 
Programmes. The NAO carried out the financial supervision. 
DG Enlargement continued to exercise th e residual functions related to Commission 
responsibilities (monitoring, payments, closure of projects) in line with the Financial 
Regulation. 
3.2. Implementation of PHARE and th e Transition Facility in 2009 
i)  PHARE 2005 – finalisation of payments  
By the end of 2009, the payments disbursed by the Bulgarian authorities under PHARE 2005 
reached 77.10%. There were several contracts whose period of execution continued until November 2009.  
ii)  PHARE 2006 – finalisation of payments
 
At the end of the implementation period for the 2006 PHARE programme, on 30 November 
2009, 65.10% of the contracted amount had been  disbursed. By the end of the reporting 
period, all the projects were implemented but s till some payments remained to be executed, 
upon verification of the achieved results. 
iii)  Transition Facility 2007  
The Transition Facility (TF) 2007 package comprised 28 twinning  and twinning light 
projects, 14 technical assistan ce projects (TAs), 9 suppli es and 2 grant schemes. The 
programme was managed by the CFCU. The dead line for contracting the 2007 TF programme 
 
EN 20   EN expired on 15 December 2009. Tendering and contra cting of twinning proj ects were finalized 
successfully. However, since the accreditation of the CFCU had not been restored and only 
twinning projects could be contracted, the over all contracting rate reached by the deadline 
was only 68.8%. The disbursement rate was 50.34%. 
iv)  Institution Building highlights  
In 2009 the National Aid Coordinator was moved fr om the Ministry of Finance to the Council 
of Ministers. All the four Implementing Agen cies restructured their capacity, focusing it 
mainly on the monitoring and payments , since contracti ng was phasing out. 
Twinning continued to remain a successful instrument in many areas and helped the Bulgarian 
administration to further strengthen its capacitie s to implement and enforce EU legislation.  In 
particular, the twinning contracts under P HARE 2006 supported the capacity building of the 
National Revenue Agency, the institutional and administrative structures in charge of management, monitoring and control of Struct ural Funds for effective participation of 
Bulgaria in EU Cohesion Policy, the Agency  for Economic Analysis and Forecasting and 
others.  
As to the 2007 Transition Facility Programme, also in this case twinning remained an 
important implementation instrument. Altoge ther the Programme included a total of 22 
standard twinning projects and 6 twinning light  projects in areas such as agriculture, 
environment, justice and home affairs (with the majo rity of projects in th e fields of reform of 
the judiciary, police, organised crime, but also border matters  and migration issues), and 
social policy. 
3.3. Results and Impact 
i) Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) / Sect or Monitoring Sub-Committees (SMSC)
  
In 2009 the JMC continued to s upervise progress of PHARE and TF assistance and to provide 
recommendations on the management of the pr ogrammes. Two JMC meetings took place, in 
February and July, discussing issues such as fu rther improvement of project management and, 
mainly, monitoring and follow-up of the irregular ities as well as reporting to the Commission 
and making proposals for remedial actions.  
In 2009 two rounds of SMSC meetings also took place. Due to the phasing out of the PHARE 
Programme, the projects to be monitored were substantially reduced. Du ring the JMC of July 
2009 it was decided to close the Public Admini stration Reform sector and reallocate the 
remaining projects to the exis ting sectors, to merge the En ergy and Telecommunications and 
Economic Development sectors and produce a dual report and to merge the Transport and 
Regional Development sectors and produce a single report. 
 ii) Monitoring and Evaluation Reports in 2009 (lessons learned)  
Overall responsibility for monitoring the P HARE and Transition Facility programmes in 
Bulgaria lies with the NAC  services within the Mi nistry of Finance. In  2009 the activities in 
this area were carried out on the basis of th e Annual Interim Evaluation Plan 2009, which was 
endorsed by the Commission in July of that year.  
The Interim Evaluation of 8 SMSC monitore d sectors was launched during 2009.  Moreover, 
three in-depth reports were prepared in the fields of economic development and justice. 
 
EN 21   EN In 2009, two Country Summary Reports were issu ed for the JMC meetings of July 2009 and 
March 2010. The reports provided useful inform ation, based on the findings of the sectoral 
evaluation reports launched in 2009. Some issues in  the sectoral parts gave rise to concerns, 
as for example the non-contracted commercial co mponents related to twinning in justice and  
home affairs, which might negatively impa ct the overall achieve ment of projects 
results. Furthermore, the effectiveness of proj ects in the economic development sector is rated 
as ‘barely satisfactory’ and the independent  evaluators recomme nded that detailed ex post 
evaluations of the grant schemes in this s ector should be conducted by the Implementing 
Agency in order to identify key lessons learne d in both administrative and operational aspects. 
 
EN 22   EN 4. CROATIA  
4.1. Summary 
In 2009, Croatia continued to implement, unde r the Decentralised Implementation System 
(DIS), pre-accession assistance addressing needs related to preparations for EU membership. 
The Central Finance and Contracting Agency (C FCA) was responsible for the implementation 
of projects and is therefore in charge of te ndering, contracting and payments, the latter in 
collaboration with the National Fund. The tec hnical implementation of projects was the 
responsibility of beneficiary in stitutions, through a series of Project Implementation Units 
(PIU) under the authority of Senior Progr amme Officers (SPO). The National Aid 
Coordinator (NAC) conducted monitoring of  both PHARE and CARDS programmes. The 
National Authorising Officer (NAO) carried out the overall financial supervision.  
Commission services were also extensively involved, with the EU Delegation exerting ex ante  
controls as well as monitoring. 
PHARE and CARDS programs implemented in  2009 were generally well focused on the 
accession priorities established in the Enlargement Package  and in some cases have addressed 
specific negotiations requirements (opening and closing benchmarks). In general, and as 
stressed in the 2009 Country Programme In terim Evaluation, completed projects have  
delivered the expected results. EU  programs were partly used to  draft or update the strategic 
framework in key areas of the accession process,  while at the same time assisting Croatian 
institutions in their concrete implementation. 
A strong alignment with accession requirements - and specific negotiations issues – was for 
instance evident in the assistance related to ch apters like taxation, cust oms union, statistics, 
the internal market, agriculture and rural development, fisheries as well as food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary polic y. To give examples, PHARE pr ojects related to agriculture 
and rural development have inter alia  supported the setting up of a Paying Agency operating 
in line with the EU requirements. PHARE 2005 helped the updating of the Schengen Action 
Plan  (SAP).  
With regard to the political criteria, EU assi stance typically focuse d on comparatively longer-
term needs, going beyond the dynamics  of negotiations. In the field of judicial system reform, 
pre-accession assistance contributed to signifi cantly reforming the legislative framework and 
concrete effects are already visible as regards the reduction of the backlog of cases. However, 
by the end of the reporting period, tangible results in the rationa lization of the courts network, 
the reform of the selection and training system  of judges and prosecutors, and full deployment 
of the integrated case management system had to  further materialize. As regards civil society 
development, assistance successfully contributed  to the strengthening of the administrations 
involved and to bring more a ttention and focus on civil society development and minority 
protection.  
In the areas related to economic and social cohesion policy and preparation for structural 
funds, a substantial share of pre-accession assistance was oriented towards post-accession 
priorities.
  
 
EN 23   EN 4.2. Pre-accession assistance in 2009 
i) Programmes launched  
As of 2007, PHARE was replaced by the new Inst rument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA). 
Therefore, no new PHARE programmes were launched after 2006. EU assistance has been 
decisive in the elaboration of strategies and pl ans for the EU funds that  will be made available 
in perspective under the Structur al Funds, including the finaliza tion of the National Strategic 
Reference Framework , which is the reference document for the programming of EU funds 
available to Member States. 
ii) Overview of programmes implemented  
Throughout 2009, particular empha sis was given to the implementation of PHARE 2005 and 
2006. The former ended on 30 November 2009, while the latter progressed well.  
The area of democracy and rule of law remained an important focus. Programmes supporting the judicial system contributed to modernizi ng the judiciary and improve its efficiency.  
Already under CARDS, projects  focused on reducing the backlog of cases and a project for 
management of misdemeanour cases already deliv ered important results  in this respect. 
Though still at its initial stages, the rationaliza tion of courts network was supported. Another 
achievement in this area concerned the e nhancement of personnel’ s professionalism. A 
PHARE 2005 project elaborated a training strategy for the J udicial Academy. Building on 
previous assistance under CARDS and from the World Bank, a PHARE 2006 project 
contributed to establishing a more efficient court administration and case management system 
in Croatian courts. 
On the whole, EU-funded programmes contributed to  the overall reform of the judicial system 
in line with key Accession Part nership requirements. The pro cess is still unde rway, but as 
acknowledged also in the 2009 Progress Repor t, significant progre ss has been achieved. 
As regards fundamental rights and civil society support , the capacity of the Government 
Office for NGOs was strengthene d. Furthermore, support was provided to civil society 
organizations (CSOs) selected under grant sc hemes. For instance, one of the PHARE 2006 
projects enabled participation and active cont ribution of CSOs in developing, implementing 
and monitoring public policies in the areas of  democratization, environment, human rights 
and youth. The project provided immediate support to CSOs and reinforced and established 
key bodies that can become driving forces behind these initiatives. Minority protection 
projects mainly dealt with improving living conditions of the Roma minority in Medimurje County. They also improved access for the Roma national minority to formal and non-formal education and training.  
In the area of economic criteria , one project focused on land administration by improving 
harmonisation of data between the land regi stry and the cadastre and by establishing a 
Croatian positioning service network. Another project  assisted in establishing an effective and 
sustainable financial management system thr ough the modernisation of budget processes and 
by increasing the capacity for budget manage ment. Budget preparation and execution were 
improved. 
As regards the internal market , good results
 were achieved particularly in the field of competition 
policy and market surveillance. A  project implemented in the area of free movement of goods 
 
EN 24   EN (market surveillance system in the field of technical products under PHARE 2005) reinforced 
the capacity of the State Inspectorate to carry out market surveillance activities in accordance 
with EU good practices and in c ooperation with other national ma rket surveillanc e authorities. 
This has also been acknowledged by the Comm ission in the 2009 Progress Report. Another 
project in the area of competition policy has strengthened the Croatian Competition Agency, 
the administrative body operating in  the fields of anti-trust and state aid. A smaller  project 
supported the upgrading of the accreditation system  (PHARE 2006). One project was 
financed in the area of intellectual prope rty law (PHARE 2006) and contributed to the 
alignment of Croatian legislation with Dire ctive 2004/48 on the enforcement of Intellectual 
Property Rights. 
In the area of cooperation in justice and home affairs , programs focused on supporting the 
adoption and implementation of the Schengen acquis , and especially  on strengthening 
integrated border management capacities. Moreover, some horizontal projects were financed under PHARE 2005 (e.g. to assist the Police A cademy). In general, there was a tight 
integration between projects  in the area of integrated border management and very frequently 
PHARE projects were a follow up of previous initiatives fund ed under CARDS. This was for 
instance the case of projects for blue borde r surveillance (2006), border management 
information system (2002, 2003, 2006) and for co mbating drugs trafficking and abuse (2004). 
Various national strategies supported the progra mming of interventions in this area, e.g. the 
Integrated Border management Action Plan, the Schengen Action Plan, the Border Police 
Development Strategy of the Ministry of Inte rior, the National Strategy on suppression of 
abuse and narcotic drugs (2006-12). Most of th e planned results were achieved and immediate 
impacts were obtained in the field of border management and adoption of the Schengen 
acquis. The PHARE 2005 project Preparation for the Implementation of the Schengen Acquis 
was successful in updating the Schengen Action Plan  (SAP) and elaborating a strategy for the 
reduction of the crossing border points; a Refo rm Strategy for human resource management 
(HRM) elaborated with the contribution of PHARE 2005 (the project ‘Strengthening of 
HRM’) was adopted by the Ministry of Interior . 
With regard to sectoral policies , taxation projects (PHARE 2005 and 2006) contri buted to the 
adoption of EU standards a nd practices in line with acquis  requirements. Statistics projects 
(also PHARE 2005 and 2006) assisted in buildi ng capacities at the Central Bureau of 
Statistics and aligning the Croatian statistical system to the European Statistical System. A 
PHARE 2005 customs project focused on developi ng national customs IT systems capable of 
communicating with EU customs IT systems, th erefore enabling the exch ange of information. 
Public procurement projects aligned the Cr oatian public procurement system to the acquis . 
Good progress was made in the area of public procurement, statistics, customs union and 
taxation, where projects covered a very wide range of issues and focused on a substantial 
share of the problems identified. As outlined also in the 2009 Country Programme Interim Evaluation, except for the area of public admi nistration, pre-accession programs in those areas 
had a major impact on the development of the re lated sub-sectors. Projects related to public 
administration reform covered sp ecific areas that may contribut e to the enhancement of the 
public administration, but much effort was st ill needed beyond pre-accession assistance to 
achieve significant results. 
Projects in the area of agriculture and rural development
, fisheries as well as food safety, 
veterinary and phytosanita ry policy benefited the Ministry of  Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural 
Development. To a large extent, projects have de livered the expected results in this area. In 
terms of alignment with the acquis, along with the World Bank, EU  assistance significantly 
contributed to leaps forward in Croatia's legi slative and regulatory framework (e.g. the Law 
 
EN 25   EN on the establishment of the Paying Agency, the Act on the National Suppor t to agriculture and 
rural development, the Act on the Establishmen t of the Croatian centre for agriculture, food 
and rural areas or the amendment to the or dinance on the minimum residue levels for 
pesticides). PHARE 2005/2006 proj ects related to agricult ure and rural development 
supported capacity building for the implemen tation of pre-accession rural development 
instruments (SAPARD and IPARD) as well as po st-accession rural development programmes. 
Furthermore these projects also contributed to  the setting up of a Paying Agency operating in 
line with EU requirements, the latter being also related to one accession negotiations 
benchmark. A key focus of assistance in the fi eld of food safety, vete rinary and phytosanitary 
policy (FVP) was the improvement of the tech nical and administrative capacities within the 
veterinary and phytosanita ry inspection system, in particular  through the strengthening of the 
Border Inspection Posts (BIP). There were sign ificant improvements in the alignment to the 
acquis , especially in the field of FVP (including CARDS proj ects); one project under PHARE 
2005 dealt comprehensively with various accession priorities in the fisheries sector, e.g. 
administrative strengthening, developing a se ctor strategy in line with the EU acquis , 
supporting the establishment of a vessels monito ring system. The fishery sector was widely 
restructured in accordance with the Common Fisheries Policy.  
As regards the environment , projects covered nature pr otection, pollution control and 
prevention, waste management and the water fram ework directive. Project s have strengthened 
the administrative capacity at the national and local level. A project on air quality control 
under PHARE 2006 contributed to the preparation of a monito ring system for effective 
control of air pollution and the definition of ro les and functions within the system. Another 
important area of assistance concerned nature protection, in particul ar by establishing and 
implementing NATURA 2000 in Croatia. In the 2009 Progress Report, the Commission 
recognized good results in the field of air qu ality and industrial waste management (both 
addressed by two PHARE 2006 initiatives). 
In the area of transport , the administrative capacity in the maritime sector was tackled with 
PHARE 2005 and 2006 projects, while some sma ller interventions provided assistance in 
setting the appropriate policy to enhance the ca pacity in the Maritime administration. Impacts 
from the assistance on the implementation of the Vessel Traffic Monitoring Information System (VTMIS) were yet to be produced, as outlined by the 2009 Country Programme Interim Evaluation. EU assistance in the area  of rail transport (PHARE 2006) delivered 
positive impact in establishing the legal and institutional framework for the Croatian rail 
sector in line with EU requirements. 
Finally, in the area of economic and social cohesion , progress of PHARE 2005 and 2006 was 
generally satisfactory. The projects, embe dded in the national Strategic Development 
Framework (SDF), strengthened existing and ne w management structures, introduced or 
updated management instruments and provided th e necessary qualifications to institutions’ 
staff. Additionally, the projects address the stru ctural problems and inadequacies of the labour 
market, SME competitiveness and regional  development. A key project, namely 
"Development of institutional capacity and pr oject pipeline for the management of EU 
structural funds"  (PHARE 2006) directly supported Croa tia in making progress in the 
accession negotiations with relation to the ch apter "Regional Policy and Coordination of 
Structural Instruments", includi ng by the preparation of a project  pipeline for institutions and 
stakeholders at the state and regional levels. As regards "C ross-Border Cooperation" (CBC) 
with Italy, Hungary and Slovenia, several activities referred to local issues of the 
implementation area and lacked cross-border relevance. Expected impacts, related in 
 
EN 26   EN particular to environmental protection, were po sitive: illegally dispos ed of waste and “wild 
dumps” were being removed and severa l rivers and lakes were cleaned.  
iii) PHARE/CARDS management performance  
Overall, programmes continued to be well focu sed on the accession priorities established for 
each area of the acquis, and in some cases have addressed specific negotiations requirements 
(opening and closing benchmarks). In general,  completed projects de livered the expected 
results and most of the expected outputs, a nd the prospects for ongoing projects were fairly 
positive.  
Initiatives addressing the legislative and policy framework (e.g. the Schengen acquis ) or 
adopting EU common systems and standards (e.g. statistics) were comparatively more 
successful than those aimed at strengthening th e administrative capacity. This is due to the 
fact that the assistance provided in areas related to the political  criteria is comparatively more 
soft-acquis  driven, and in many cases oriented to produ ce effects that will become apparent in 
a longer time perspective. 
Some projects were negatively affected by admini strative shortcomings (such as issues related 
to pre-conditions and sequencing;  problems in the procurement process due to price issues or 
the impossibility to re-launch tenders prior to the contracting deadline: lack of contractor's 
performance), sometimes leading to the cancella tion of part of the foreseen activities. 
Difficulties in the handling of pre-accession assi stance have led to a major overhaul of the 
institutional framework. The situation su bsequently improved, although some problems 
remained at various stages of the process.  
Besides the trainings organised for their own staff, the Central Office for Development 
Strategy and Coordination of EU Funds (CODEF)  and the Central Finance and Contracting 
Agency (CFCA) organised trainings for member s of Project Implementation Units (PIUs) in 
line ministries. Trainings in the CFCA, so-called ‘Open doors ’, have intensified during 2009, 
so that they were held twice a month, covering topics related to implementation of projects 
and financial aspects of project management. In addition, CODEF organised regular trainings 
on Project Cycle Management, Preparation of  Operational Programmes for Structural 
Instruments, Monitoring and Evaluation of EU funded projects, Co mmunity Programmes in 
Croatia and Introduction to EU Cohesion Policy. Strategic meetings con tinued to take place 
on a monthly basis in order to discuss current  problems and actions to be taken at high-
management levels.  
The CFCA was able to boost staffing levels to about 100 staff. As regards PHARE and 
CARDS, the CFCA has shown good performance,  as payments in 2009 were more than 
forecasted (EUR 49 225 295 paid, ve rsus EUR 44 701 655 forecasted).  
Table 1 -  Financial execution as at the end of December 2009 (in million EUR) – 
CARDS/PHARE annual programmes   
  Allocated  Contracted RAC  % contracted Paid  RAL  % paid
CARDS 2001 54.00 52.06 1.94 96.4% 48.69 5.31 90.2%
CARDS 2002 56.00 53.81 2.19 96.1% 51.46 4.54 91.9%
CARDS 2003  59.00 58.08 0.92 98.4% 53.60 5.40 90.8%
CARDS 2004  77.00 74.48 2.52 96.7% 68,92 8,08 89.5%
PHARE 2005*  69.52 60.51 9.01 87.0% 53.15 16.37 76.5%
 
EN 27   EN PHARE 2006*  60.47 51.21 9.26 84.7% 29.17 31.3 48.2%
TOTAL  375.99 350.15 25.84 93.2% 304.99 71 81.2%
* National (excluding Tempus and Community programmes), Cross-Border, and Nuclear 
Safety programmes. 
After a number of years of parallel central ised and decentralised implementation of EU 
assistance in Croatia, the implementation of th e last centralised institution building contract 
managed by the EU Delegation came to an end in mid-2009.  
Contracting for projects under CARDS and P HARE was completed and execution of the 
majority of the projects financed under thes e programmes either ended or was nearing 
completion. 
Throughout 2009, further disbursement of PHARE 2005 and PHARE 2006 took place. The 
PHARE 2005 national programme amounted to  EUR 71.5 million and was decentralised, 
except for the TEMPUS and Community Progr ammes funds. Out of EUR 62.882 million of 
decentralised funds, 88.3% were contracted  and 77.7% were paid by the end of 2009. 
In addition to the national programme, the PHARE 2005 Nuclear Safety programme 
amounted to EUR 641 000 and was fully decentr alised. By the end of 2009, 66.5% of those 
funds were contracted and 66.5% disbursed. 
Also under PHARE 2005, the Cross-border progr ammes (CBC) Croatia-Italy and Croatia-
Slovenia-Hungary amounted to EUR 3 million each and were implemented under decentralised management. By the end of 2009 , 60.4% were contracted and 49.4% were paid 
for CBC Croatia-Italy, and 90.7% were contracted and 79.2% were paid for CBC Croatia-
Slovenia-Hungary. 
Under PHARE 2006, the national programme am ounted to EUR 61.062 million, the Nuclear 
Safety programme amounted to EUR 1.649 milli on, and the CBCs Croatia-Italy and Croatia-
Slovenia-Hungary amounted to EUR 3 millio n each. They were implemented under the 
decentralised implementation modality, except for the TEMPUS and Community Programmes. 
By the end of 2009, 84.8% of the national prog ramme had been contracted and 45.6% paid; 
74.9% of the Nuclear Safety programme was c ontracted and 48.4% was paid; 100 % of the 
CBC Croatia-Italy was contra cted and 75.7% was paid a nd 72.7% of the CBC Croatia-
Slovenia-Hungary was contracted and 67.8 % was paid. 
iv) National Development Plans – State of Play
 
The Croatian Government adopted a nationa l development strategy entitled Strategic 
Development Framework 2006-2013 in August 2006, wh ich identifies a seri es of priorities 
that should promote Croatia’s social and ec onomic development. The Strategic Development 
Framework remained valid in 2009. 
Efforts continued in 2009 to prepare a National Strategic Reference Framework, which is the 
reference document for the programming of EU funds available to Member States. 
v) Institution Building highlights  
 
EN 28   EN The Commission considers twinning to be the mo st suitable instrument for the development 
of administrative capacities and promotion of legislative change s in Croatia. In general, the 
twinning instrument continues to be the preferred implementation modality for all transposition or legal approxima tion-related projects where the relevant expertise lies within 
the Member States. The relevance of twinning is set to further increase with the accession of 
Croatia to the EU. 
According to a thematic interim evaluation on twinning in Croatia fi nalised at the end of 
2008, the performance assessment of running a nd finalised twinning implementation was 
"satisfactory to good" in Croatia, notably in the sectors of home affairs, customs and taxation, 
internal market and competitiveness, free movement of goods and statistics. 
Examples can be found in the twinning proj ects "Human Resource Management in the 
Ministry of Interior and Po lice Academy" (PHARE 2005), "Pre paration for Schengen acquis" 
(PHARE 2005), "Strengthening of  Croatian Tax Administrati on in the Field of Audit 
operations" (PHARE 2005, Twinni ng Light) or a PHARE 2005 twinning on competition and 
state aid. 
The first twinning project abovementioned pave d the way for the development a modern and 
integrated human resources management system for police staff, in line with the EU 
standards. The second one significantly contribute d to the preparation of the Croatia Ministry 
of Interior in the implementation of the Schengen acquis , especially through staff recruitment 
for border police and a comprehensive training strategy. Continuous suppor t in this field was 
maintained through further on going assistance.  The third project was instrumental in 
strengthening  the capacity of the Croatian Ta x Administration regarding simplification of 
procedures as well as collecting evidence in or der to effectively prosecute tax evasion. The 
project also significantly cont ributed to improving tax official s’ knowledge in these fields, 
which in turn shall help decrease tax evasion and tax avoidance.  
As regards competition policy, one of the major indicators of success in this area was the 
adoption by the Croatian Parliament of the ne w Competition Act, largely drafted with the 
assistance of a PHARE 2005 twinni ng project. The overall objective of this twinning was to 
improve competition and state aid policy in the Republic of Croatia by the effective implementation of the relevant Croatian rules, in line with the EU rules and practice. In the area of state aid, project activities were focuse d on the establishment of a comprehensive state 
aid list; the review of the regional aid and the establis hment of a regional aid map; 
consultations on restructuring of enterprises in difficulty in the shipbui lding and steel sector 
and their privatisation; training of judges and local administration representatives. The project produced the desired results and successfully assisted the Croatian experts in the areas 
concerned. 
In the case of the Government Office for NGOs, their position was significantly reinforced by 
pre-accession assistance under PHARE 2005 and PHARE 2006. As the future role of this 
Office as the intermediary body for European So cial Fund projects ai med at civil society 
development appeared to be clearly establishe d, the results of PHARE assistance will be 
carried on and it will be relatively easy to re tain staff to pass the experience on. Hence, 
sustainability is ensured. 
In general, sustainability is well ensured in cases where results have been made “part of the 
system”, as was the case e.g. with the Ministry of Education’s support for employing the Roma education assistants that  were selected and trained during a PHARE 2005 project.   
 
EN 29   EN 4.3. Results and impact 
i) Joint Monitoring Committees / Sector Monitoring Sub-Committees  
Decentralised CARDS and PHARE projects were monitored on the basis of two series of six 
Sectoral Monitoring Sub-Comm ittee meetings, in April and October 2009. The monitoring 
system was functioning well, as witnessed for instance by the high acceptance rate (above 
90%, as indicated also in the 2009 Country Pr ogramme Interim Evaluation) of monitoring 
reports by Sectoral Monitoring Sub-Committees.  
This process led to the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) which took place on 15 December 
2009. The JMC discussed the Synopsis Report that  provided updated information on the latest 
developments with regard to 84 CARDS and P HARE projects in six se ctors, the financial 
status of programmes as of 1 December 2009, s upervision and control ac tivities, including a 
summary of irregularities reported, as well as the preliminary fi ndings of the Country 
Programme Interim Evaluation.  
Conclusions and findings indicated that after di fficulties experienced in the past (suspension 
of the endorsement of contracts by the EU  Delegation between December 2007 and July 
2008), the decentralised implementation sy stem for PHARE and CARDS was further 
consolidated.  
Overall the intervention logic showed good a lignment between national programmes and the 
planning documents. The vast majority of projects showed a high degree of relevance. 
Effectiveness and prospects for impact were positive in general, but results were uneven in areas related to administrative capacity and pub lic administration. Inadeq uate indicators often 
hampered a precise measurement of projects’ effectiveness. Still, the completed projects 
delivered the expected results and the prospect s for the almost completed ones were positive. 
Some projects experienced di fficulties in implementation at the beginning of 2009 (e.g. 
harmonisation and publication of case law; strengt hening of the Croatian tax administration; 
integration of the Croatian customs informati on system with the EU customs information 
system or establishment of an air quality monitoring and management system) but, following a closer monitoring of these pr ojects, the situation improved significantly for most of them. 
Further attention needed to be paid by Croatia  to address issues related to the lack of 
appropriately qualified personnel and difficulties in retention of personnel. 
ii) Monitoring and Evaluation Reports in 2009 - Lessons Learned
 
A thematic evaluation on Public Administ ration Reform was finalised in June 2009. 
Recommendations focused on the need for the Commission to continue encouraging efforts 
undertaken by the Croatian au thorities in this area. 
An ad hoc  interim evaluation reviewed PHARE assist ance to the preparation for Structural 
Funds in Croatia. A key evalua tion finding was that PHARE cont ributed to Structural Funds 
preparations despite a difficult implementati on. Overall, good progress was made towards 
meeting acquis  requirements and effectively prepari ng for the Instrument for Pre-accession 
Assistance (IPA) and Structural Funds. On th e other hand, there was a need to increase 
absorption capacity at national, regional and local levels.  
 
EN 30   EN The main evaluation activity carried out in 2009 was the Country Programme Interim 
Evaluation. This evaluation include d a review of the ongoing progr ammes as well as capacity 
building of the CODEF Monitori ng and Evaluation Department.  
The evaluation report highlighted a number of lessons that could be drawn as regards the 
deployment of CARDS and PHARE assistance in Croatia. In many cases, assistance focusing 
on the alignment with specific acquis  requirements produced positiv e results. In particular,  
some projects provided an essential contributi on to the closing of negotiations in certain 
chapters. The impact of assist ance aiming at strengthening pub lic administration, especially 
with a view to forthcoming Structural F unds, was instead more difficult to assess. 
The sustainability of programmes was potentia lly jeopardised by serious problems concerning 
staffing and staff retention in th e public administration. There wa s a need to devise practical 
solutions for mitigating the impact of human resources-related issues on the performance of EU assistance.   
iii) Sectors with positive results
 
In many cases, the draft legislation and strategy plans elaborated within the framework of EU-
funded twinning and technical assistance projects were e ither fully endorsed by the 
Commission and national authorities, or sign ificantly contributed to the policy-making 
process.  
Concrete examples in this respect can be draw n from the Home Affairs sector, in particular: 
the PHARE 2005 project "Preparation for the Implementation of the Schengen Acquis" 
helped update the Schengen Action Plan and el aborate a strategy for the reduction of border 
crossing points; the PHARE 2005 project "Str engthening of Human Re source Management" 
contributed to the drafting of a Reform Strategy adopted by the Ministry of Interior. Similarly, 
the establishment of the Paying Agency for Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development 
and its action plan, as well as the Strategy to  Develop the Fisheries Sector, were largely 
achieved through EU assistance. Projects in the field of info rmation society implemented 
under the Technical Assistance Fa cility contributed to the St rategy for the switchover to 
digital broadcasting.  
Furthermore, EU assistance was decisive for the elaboration of strategies and plans for the use 
of funds made available under IPA Components III, IV and V, and in perspective for 
Structural Funds. In particul ar, the assistance extended to CODEF - as the body responsible 
for regional policy and coordination of structur al instruments - was particularly important 
with a view to the finalisation of th e National Strategic Reference Framework,  which is the 
reference document for the programming of EU funds available to Member States. 
Chapters where assistance has been conduciv e to the fulfilment of  accession priorities 
included the provisionally-closed chapters of information society, Intellectual Property Rights 
(IPR) policy, customs union, statistics and c onsumers and health protection (as far as 
consumers protection was concerned). Chapters where assistance yielded encouraging results 
included agriculture, food sa fety and veterinary policy, pub lic procurement and taxation.  
iv) Success stories  
“Further Capacity Building in the Area of  Live Animals and F ood Products” (CARDS 
2004) 
 
EN 31   EN The twinning project supported th e Croatian Ministry of Agri culture, Fisheries and Rural 
Development as well as other target institutions  (Croatian Ministry of Health and Social 
Welfare, Croatian Veterinary In stitute, Croatian Food Agency  and Croatian Accreditation 
Agency) in the upgrading of cont rol activities and originated a new food safety system and 
new institutional framework capable of addre ssing the needs and challenges of the new 
revised system. The knowledge and experience transposed to the Croatian administration in 
various fields of food safety will continue to be of great use in the future development and maintenance of a high quality food safety system  in Croatia. As a matter of fact, Chapter 12 
"Food Safety, Veterinary & Phytosanitary issues " was provisionally closed 9 months after the 
end of the project.  
“Support to Croatia in the Preparation and Implementation of the Strategy to Develop 
the Fisheries Sector within the Contex t of Alignment and Enforcement of the acquis  
comprising the Common Fisheries Policy” (PHARE 2005) 
The project, whose objective is laid down in the title, consisted of 7 components implemented 
through 13 contracts. The project improved th e institutional structure, administration 
(monitoring of the time at sea) and statistical sy stem (Fishing Vessel Register) in the fisheries 
sector. Fisheries inspectors were trained in th e standard inspection procedures used in EU 
Member States. A Vessel Monitoring System and the Fisheries Monitoring Centre were 
established  
"Blue Border Surveillance" (PHARE 2006) 
This twinning project was a continuation of th e efforts undertaken under previous initiatives: 
the Stability Pact for South East Europe , the CARDS 2001 project “Integrated Border 
Management - Border Police”, the CARDS 20 03 project “Continued Support and Capacity 
Building for the Border Police Directorate”, as well as the PHARE 2005 twinning project 
"Preparation for the Implementation of the Schengen Acquis".  
The overall objective of the projec t was to prepare the ground for the Croatian Border Police 
to be able to perform its tasks efficiently in accordance with Schengen regulations. The 
project (lasting 15 months, with a budget of EU R 1 million) was implemented in partnership 
with the Federal Police of Germany and in cooperation with the Italian Coast Guards.  
The following results were achieved: (1) Providing support to the Croatian Border Police in the revision and further elaboration 
of the Action Plan for Integrated Border Management with a particular component on 
Blue Border protection. 
(2) Identifying the necessary measures and activities for the implementation of the Action 
Plan, focusing on: 
–  setting up Blue Border surveillance procedures in accordance with Schengen 
regulations; 
–  developing specific solutions  for the Maritime Police in the field of interagency 
cooperation as well as IT strategy and communication; 
–  strengthening the capacity of the Maritim e Police in the field of risk assessment; 
 
EN 32   EN –  training the Maritime Police, including on EU approaches on Blue Border 
management, and providing best practices. 
"Strengthening the Enforcement of Inte llectual Property Ri ghts" (PHARE 2006) 
The Commission committed already EUR 3.3 milli on in the area of Intellectual Property 
Rights (IPR) in Croatia in recent years. The additional EUR 1.2 million under this project aimed at improving cooperation, coordination and enforcement mechanism of the Croatian 
institutions (Customs, State Inte llectual Property Office, Minist ry of Interior, Ministry of 
Justice and State Inspectorate) a nd at raising public awareness a bout the issue of  counterfeited 
goods.  
Faced with the growing spread  of the phenomenon, reinforcing the administrative cooperation 
to fight illicit goods, both among different agen cies within Members States and across the 
board on a European level, was crucial. Th is project recommended the setting up of a 
National IPR Enforcement Forum. The key element of cooperation was enhancing the 
exchange of intelligence, information and best practices.  
The capacity building component of  the project aimed at better preparing the Police, Customs, 
State Inspectorate and judges and prosecutors  on issues related to IPR enforcement. 
Representatives from the different enforcem ent institutions were meeting and getting 
acquainted with the tasks and duties of colleague s from other institutions – and were given an 
opportunity to establish operational contacts in  the other institutions. Experience has shown 
that personal contacts between the institutions facilitate subs tantially day-to day cooperation. 
With regard to awareness rais ing, the project supported the ex isting IPR Information Centre 
which provides access to customer services, search  facilities, library serv ices and a variety of 
training activities for an external audience.  
 
EN 33   EN 5. CYPRUS  
5.1. Summary 
In 2009, Cyprus completed the implementation of the Transition Facility instrument, which 
addressed the remaining needs related to inst itution building for the implementation of the 
acquis , in line with the Extended Decentral ised Implementation System (EDIS). 
Since July 2004 implementation was carried out under the entire responsib ility of the Cypriot 
authorities applying national procurement rules.  A number of implementing agencies were 
fully responsible for daily implementation of projects. 
The National Aid Coordinator (NAC) continued to exercise the monitoring of both PHARE 
and Transition Facility Programme s. The National Authorizing Officer (NAO) carried out the 
financial supervision. 
5.2. Implementation of the Tran sition Facility in 2009 
i) - Transition Facility 2005 – finalisation of payments  
The implementation of the Transition Facility (TF) 2005 programme was completed 
successfully by the end of 2008. 98.06% wa s disbursed by the end of the 2009.  
ii) - Transition Facility 2006 – finalisation of payments  
On 15 December 2009, at the end of the impl ementation period for the 2006 TF programme, 
97.66% of it had been disbursed.  
 iii) -  Institution Building highlights  
A total of around EUR 19 million of post-accession assistance has been allocated to Cyprus 
from the Transition Facility programmes 2004- 2006 (national allocati on, excluding horizontal 
and multi-country programmes). 
During the reporting period, there was substantia l overall progress towards the achievement of 
objectives and results of EU assistance. The projects under TF 200 6 were successfully 
completed and achieved their intended results, which further contributed to the enhancement 
of the Cypriot public administration.  
5.3. Results and Impact 
i) Joint Monitoring Committees / Sector Monitoring Sub-Committees  
In 2009 no physical JMC meeting was held . Two JMCs were concluded via written 
procedure. The Implementation Status Reports  were of good quality, including sufficiently 
detailed information regarding projects implem entation and the achievement of their intended 
results. 
No particular monitoring actions were unde rtaken by the Commission, since the amount of 
the assistance and number of the projects implemented in 2009 were rather small. 
 
EN 34   EN ii) Monitoring and Evaluation Reports in 2009 - Lessons Learned  
Overall responsibility for monitoring and ev aluation of the Pre-accession and Transition 
Facility programmes in Cyprus lies with th e Planning Bureau, as the executive body of the 
NAC.  
During the reporting period, the national authori ties delivered to the Commission the Interim 
Evaluation Report concluded by th e external experts contracted  under TF 2006 to carry out an 
Interim Evaluation of EU funded projects . The overall rating of TF 2005 and TF 2006 
projects was satisfact ory, with the exception of project 2005/017-643.02.02 " Study and 
implementation of intelligent transport syst ems and development of GIS to incorporate 
information on Trans-European Networks  as part of an EU-wide GIS ", which was rated as 
‘barely satisfactory’. This pr oject experienced so me delay but finally was successfully 
completed. All implemented projects were found to  be highly relevant . In addition, under the 
same contract, the Second Count ry Evaluation Summary and th e Thematic Evaluation Report 
“Assessment of the impact and sustainability of EU funded projects” were completed. Both 
the impact and the sustainability of the impl emented projects were found to be satisfactory. 
 
EN 35   EN 6. CZECH REPUBLIC  
6.1. Summary  
In 2009, the Czech Republic continued to impl ement successfully post-accession assistance, 
to address the remaining needs related to in stitution building for the implementation of the 
acquis , in line with the EDIS. 
Since December 2004 implementation was carried out under the entire re sponsibility of Czech 
authorities applying na tional procurement rules. The Cent ral Finance and Contract Unit 
(CFCU), the Civil Society Development Founda tion (NROS), CzechInvest  (CI), the National 
Training Fund (NTF) and the Centre for Regiona l Development (CRD) were fully responsible 
for the daily implementation of the projects. 
The National Aid Coordinator (NAC) continued to exercise the monitoring of both PHARE 
and Transition Facility Programme s. The National Authorizing Officer (NAO) carried out the 
financial supervision.  
6.2. Implementation of the Tran sition Facility in 2009 
i) - Transition Facility 2005 – finalisation of payments  
The implementation of the Transition Facility (TF) 2005 programme was completed 
successfully by the end of 2008. 95.15% wa s disbursed by the end of the 2009.  
ii) - Transition Facility 2006 – finalisation of payments  
On 15 December 2009, at the end of the impl ementation period for the 2006 TF programme, 
93.36% of it had been disbursed.  
 iii) -  Institution Building highlights  
A total of around EUR 32 million of post-accession a ssistance has been a llocated to the Czech 
Republic from the Transition Facility progr ammes 2004-2006 (national allocation, not 
including horizontal and multi-country programmes).  
Implementation of the Transition Facility in the Czech Republic was completed successfully 
in the areas of nuclear safety, justice and home affairs, social protection and health, 
environment, agriculture and finance a nd banking and the internal market.  
6.3. Results and Impact 
i) Joint Monitoring Committees / Sector Monitoring Sub-Committees  
In 2009 no physical JMC meeting was held . Two JMCs were concluded via written 
procedure. The Implementation Status Reports  were of good quality, including sufficiently 
detailed information regarding projects implem entation and the achievement of their intended 
results. 
No particular monitoring actions were undert aken by the Commission since the amount of the 
assistance and number of projects implemented in 2009 were rather small. 
 
EN 36   EN ii) Monitoring and Evaluation Reports in 2009 - Lessons Learned  
Overall responsibility for monitoring and eval uation of Pre-accession and the Transition 
Facility programmes in the Czech Republic li es with the Ministry of Finance (MoF). 
Activities in this area were carried out on the basis of the Action Plan  on decentralisation of 
monitoring and evaluation, which was e ndorsed by the Commission in May 2005.  
In 2009 two Implementation Status Reports we re prepared by the NAC services and two 
Country Summary Evaluation Reports were issued  by an independent evaluator (with cut-off 
dates at 30/04/2009 and 16/10/2009) on Transition Facility programmes. The country review 
reports provided a consolidated review of the findings of the Interim Evaluations and 
examined programmes and projects progress towa rds the objectives stated in the formal 
programming documents. The reports were of good quality and concluded that, in 
general, projects implementation was smoot h and no major problems were identified. 
The Country Summary Evaluation Reports rated the relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, 
impact and sustainability of the overall TF Pr ogrammes as ‘good’. Issues concerning projects 
impact and sustainability were raised by the independe nt evaluator with regard to several 
projects, for which the EU requested the nationa l authorities to continue reporting on. Overall, 
performance of the TF assistance in the Czech Republic was rated as good. 
 
 
EN 37   EN 7. ESTONIA  
7.1. Summary  
In 2009, Estonia continued to implement successfu lly post-accession assistance to address the 
remaining needs related to institution building for the implementation of the acquis , in line 
with the EDIS. 
Since November 2004 implementation is carried  out under the entire  responsibility of 
Estonian authorities applying national procuremen t rules. The Ministry of Finance, Central 
Financing and Contracting Department (CFC D) is fully responsible for the daily 
implementation of the projects. 
The National Aid Coordinator (NAC) continued to exercise the monitoring of both PHARE 
and Transition Facility Programme s. The National Authorizing Officer (NAO) carried out the 
financial supervision.  
7.2. Implementation of the Tran sition Facility in 2009 
i) - Transition Facility 2005 – finalisation of payments  
Implementation of the Transiti on Facility (TF) 2005 programme  was completed successfully 
by the end of 2008. 96.68% was disbursed by the end of 2009.  
ii) - Transition Facility 2006 – finalisation of payments  
On 15 December 2009, at the end of the impl ementation period for the 2006 TF programme, 
94.81% of it had been disbursed.  
 iii) -  Institution Building highlights  
A total of around EUR 18 million of post-accession assistance has been allocated to Estonia 
from the Transition Facility programmes 2004-2006 (national allo cation, not including 
horizontal and multi-country programmes). 
In 2009, Estonia completed succe ssfully the implementation of projects under th e Transition 
Facility 2006. It can be concluded that all proj ects contributed to meeting the remaining needs 
of the acquis  and enhanced the Estonian  administrative system.  
7.3. Results and Impact 
i) Joint Monitoring Committees / Sector Monitoring Sub-Committees  
In 2009 no physical Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) meetings were held. Two JMCs were 
concluded via written procedure. The Implem entation Status Reports were of good quality, 
including sufficiently detailed informati on regarding projects implementation and the 
achievement of their results. 
No particular monitoring actions were undert aken by the Commission since the amount of the 
assistance and the number of projects im plemented in 2009 were rather small. 
 
EN 38   EN ii) Monitoring and Evaluation Reports in 2009 - Lessons Learned  
As from 2008 the Estonian Monitoring Unit is in the State Budg et Coordination and 
Monitoring Department, and no longer in the Fore ign Financing Department. Activities in this 
area were carried out on the ba sis of the Action Plan on decen tralisation of monitoring and 
evaluation, which was endorsed by the EU in February 2005. 
All evaluation activities of external experts contracted by the nati onal authorities were 
finalized by the end of Octobe r 2008. The final evaluation repor t for the TF 2006 was sent to 
the Commission and positive feedback was given. In addition, a summary report was composed – “Transition Facility Interim Ev aluation Country Summar y Report VIII” - where 
all the TF evaluations made in the evaluati on period were summarized. Evaluators rated all 
the TF 2006 projects as "satisfactory", with ‘relevance’ of the projects being rated high. 
According to the evaluators, although delays in implementation timetables affected the 
effectiveness and efficiency of project implemen tation, the projects were expected to achieve 
their mandatory results.  
 
EN 39   EN 8. THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA  
8.1. Summary 
In 2009, following the closure of the European Agency for Rec onstruction, the EU Delegation 
in Skopje took over responsibility for the re maining CARDS projects. Implementation of 
these projects was carried out under centralised management, applying EU procurement rules.  
The EU Delegation continued to exercise the procurement, contracting, monitoring, 
evaluation and audit of these funds, being fully  responsible for daily implementation of the 
programmes.  
8.2. Pre-accession assistance in 2009 
i. Programmes launched  
As of 2007 the CARDS  instrument  was replaced by the new Instrument for Pre-Accession 
Assistance. Therefore, no new CARD S programmes were launched in 2009 . 
ii. Overview of programmes implemented  
The CARDS Programme was mainly managed by the European Agency for Reconstruction. 
At the end of 2008, the EU Delegation took over 159 assistance contracts worth EUR 26 
million under CARDS.  
Most of the CARDS projects were in the final st age of implementation or they were closed in 
2009. 
All CARDS 2004 projects were pr actically completed (with one exception – see below) at the 
beginning of the year, when onl y a few final payments were pe nding. They were cleared in 
the course of 2009. 
In the justice and home affairs  sector, the activities related to the reform of the judiciary 
system (CARDS 2006 project) were  finalised with the expiry of the maintenance period for 
the construction/refurbishment of prison faci lities. The CARDS 2005 twinning contract 
within the project ‘support to the public pr osecutor’s office’ also ended successfully. 
In the field of police and the fight against organised crime,  contracts were completed 
(supplies in warranty period). Fo r the remaining funds, a contra ct for renovation of a police 
station was launched. A small contract  under CARDS 2005 for preparation of 
structural/architectural design for ren ovation of police stations was completed. 
A CARDS 2005 twinning project in the field of combating money laundering  (phase II) was 
also completed. 
In the field of integrated border management,  a relatively big (E UR 1.2 million) CARDS 
2006 contract was launched for the Construction of Veterinary and Phytosanitary Border 
Inspection Facilities at Taba novce. Regarding the equipment for the Police Service, the 
CARDS 2004 contract for supply of police di gital radio communica tion system (TETRA 
Phase 1) had to be terminated due to the fact that the contractor coul d not deliver up to 100% 
the supplies and the provisional ac ceptance procedure failed twice.  It is expected that the 
 
EN 40   EN deficiencies will be amended and the TETRA syst em will further be spread over the country's 
territory during the TETRA Phase 2 project, financed through IPA 2008. 
In the area of management of public finances,  the CARDS 2006 twinning contract for 
Strengthening the Public Internal Fi nancial Control ended successfully. 
The CARDS 2006 programme included importa nt projects in the fields of administrative 
capacity and decentralised management of EU assistance , including technical assistance to 
the Secretariat for European Affairs fo r drafting the 2009 IPA Component I National 
Programme, capacity building to  the Audit Authority operati ng under the IPA implementing 
Regulation and support to the IPARD Agency (only the last contract being still under 
implementation in 2009, the other two having been completed). 
In the field of decentralisation and local self government,  a number of municipal service 
centres were refurbished under CARDS 2006 and 2005 and were equipped under CARDS 
2006. In 2009, a number of small municipal pr ojects (works) were implemented under 
CARDS 2006 and 2005. The works were completed and the defects liability period expired 
for most of them by the end of 2009. The few ca ses for which the defects liability period was 
still under way after the re porting period were due to force majeure  circumstances. 
In the filed of capacity building support to the decentralisation of management of assistance , 
the respective CARDS 2005 project had a limited success, due to the lack of cooperation and 
donor coordination by the beneficiary. 
With regard to the  investment climate , the CARDS 2006 projec t ‘Improvement of the 
investment climate’ comprised three technical assistance (TA) contracts, one supply contract 
and one grant. The TA contracts were prac tically completed by the beginning of 2009 and 
provisional acceptance was granted for the supplie s. Activities under the grant contracts were 
also successfully finalised by the end of 2009, w ith positive feedback from the beneficiaries. 
In the field of support to the trade sector,  the main contracts relate d to agriculture and food 
safety. Two TA contracts (‘National vineyard monitoring and management system-Phase 2’ 
and ‘National animal identific ation programme - Phase 3”) we re completed in the second 
quarter of 2009, while the supplies for the animal  identification and registration system and 
for food testing and control were delivered at the end of 2009. 
In the filed of social cohesion,  the CARDS 2006 project ‘Emplo yment policy reform (Phase 
III) and lifelong learning’ was implemented (5  contracts). The TA contract to support 
employment policy - Phase III was successfully  completed and the supplies for ESA and its 
30 local offices were delivered. 
The remaining contracts in the areas of co-operation with interna tional financing institutions 
(IFIs) and environment  were at the stage of final re porting at the beginning of 2009. The 
projects in these sectors have been fully completed. 
The CARDS Neighbourhood Programme  2005 included two sectors: 
a) Cross Border Cooperation ( CBC) with Greece – out of 12 projects, 8 were still under 
implementation at the beginning of 2009. At th e end of 2009 virtually all projects were 
completed, but the approval of fi nal reports/final payments was not completed for all of them, 
due to the late submission and inadequate quality of the documents submitted by the beneficiaries. 
 
EN 41   EN b) CBC with Bulgaria  – the 6 projects involved were comple ted in 2009, while approval of 
final reports/final payments was not completed fo r all of them, due to the late submission and 
inadequate quality of the documents submitted by the beneficiaries. 
 
iii. PHARE/CARDS/Pre-accession assist ance Management performance  
 Table 1 - Financial execution as at the e nd of December 2009 (in million EUR) – CARDS 
annual programmes  
  Committed Contracted RAC % Contracted Paid  RAL  %Paid
CARDS 2001 56.64 56.64 0 100.00% 56.64 0 100.00%
CARDS 2002 33.03 33.03 0 100.00% 33.03 0 100.00%
CARDS 2003 36.01 36.01 0 100.00% 36.01 0 100.00%
CARDS 2004 53.18 53.18 0 100.00% 52.85 0.14 99.39%
CARDS 2005 34.04 33.50 0 98.40% 32.62 1.63 95.80%
CARDS 2006 33.40 30.74 0 92.03% 28.15 4.18 84.29%
TOTAL 246.30 243.10 0 98.70% 239.30 5.95 97.16%
The Agency portfolio in the former Y ugoslav Republic of Macedonia amounted to 
approximately EUR 326 million. It covered projects financed under CARDS (2002-2006), 
projects financed under PHARE (1997-2000) and the Emergency Response Programme 
(2001). 
The CARDS programmes were focused on three main  sectors: i) streng thening of local and 
municipal governments (22%), ii) justice and home affairs (21%) and iii) economic 
development (11%). Integrated Border Manageme nt was another major sector which received 
9% of the total allocation.  
Implementation of financial assistance dur ing 2009 concerned the CARDS programmes 2002-
2006 and focused on completion, including disbursements, of CARDS 2002-2005 
programmes and contracting of the remain ing funds under the CA RDS 2006 programme. 
Completed projects have generated the exp ected outputs and results and some accession 
priorities have received continued support und er IPA (i.e. integrated border management, 
local infrastructure and municipal awards , judicial and police reforms, etc.). 
Strategic meetings with the National Aid Coordi nator Office (Secretariat for EU Affairs) took 
place regularly in order to discuss problem s with the ongoing projects and allow the 
Government to address administrative shortcomi ngs on the side of final beneficiaries (e.g. 
inappropriate appointment of st aff dealing with project impl ementation; improper allocation 
of working space and faciliti es; untimely issuance of cons truction permits; urban plan 
amendments; necessity of appointing a ppropriate staff for trainings; etc.). 
iv. National Development Plan – State of Play  
The first National Development Plan (NDP) wa s created in 2006 with assistance from the 
UNDP, covering the period 2007-2009. The NDP 2007-2009 is de jure  a government 
document, but implementation of the development/ investment priorities identified under the 
NDP did not receive any government commitment. 
v. Institution Building Highlights  
Although all projects contracted in 2009 were supply contracts, the ongoing CARDS projects 
completed in 2009 provided further institution bu ilding support to strengthen the capacitates 
relevant for decentralised implementation of  EU funds (DIS) and were followed by the 
 
EN 42   EN appointment of key actors as the Competen t Accrediting Officer (CAO), the National 
Authorising Officer (NAO) and the National IPA Co-ordinator (NIPAC). Under CARDS 
cross-border support ac tivities, through the pa rticipation in these programs the country 
enhanced its institutional capacities, contributin g to the recovery of border regions, regional 
reconciliation and stability .   
8.3. Results and Impacts 
i. Joint Monitoring Committees/Sector Monitoring Sub-Committees  
There is no information regarding JMC/SMC meetings on CARDS in 2009. 
ii. Monitoring and Evaluation Reports in 2009 – Lessons Learned  
The CARDS 2002-2006 retrospective evaluatio n made the following recommendations: 
– The EU Delegation would benefit from the Pr oject Cycle Management training, to support 
a unified approach and common und erstanding on project cycle. 
– The EU Delegation should conduct thorough ne eds assessments during the projects design 
phase, with close involvement of national stakeh olders at all interven tion levels, including 
during the preparation of Project Fiches and Te rms of Reference, in order to ensure local 
ownership and commitment. 
– Administrative procedures needed to be upgrad ed in terms of effici ency, within both the 
national structures (the MoLSG, MoF) and the EU Delegation, to enable timely 
procurement procedures and prevent implementation delays. 
– As impact was very often linked to a sust ainability and partne r cooperation, the EU 
Delegation could consider the use of conditio nality or pre-condition instruments in the 
programming documents (i.e. national partners  appropriately staffed, adequate premises 
provided, strategies or  laws adopted, etc). 
– Phasing-out strategies should r outinely be integrated in pr ogramme planning and solutions 
for maintaining activit ies after EU-funded interventions ended needed to be thoroughly 
discussed with stakeholders. 
– Commitment at the national level needed to be strengthened to ensure full scale 
sustainability (MoLSG). Nationa l authorities needed to prom ptly address the lack of 
resource capacities (MoF) in order to be able to continue activities after programmes were 
closed down. 
– The EU Delegation should insist that cross-cu tting issues be more st rongly integrated in 
planning documents to reflect  contributions to men and wo men or minority groups and to 
assess gender-specific impacts. 
– Since IPA procedures were so far unfamiliar to  most local stakeholders, the EU Delegation 
should provide training in IPA general rules a nd procedures as well as guidelines on how 
to apply for future funds. 
All the above recommendations were fully impl emented during the reporting period or were 
under implementation after that. 
 
 
EN 43   EN iii. Sectors with positive results  
Integrated border management and agriculture can be seen as areas where CARDS assistance 
contributed to positive results. In addition, in frastructure support for the municipalities, as 
part of the overall EU support for decentralisat ion, has proven very eff ective in improving the 
daily life of the citizen s and stimulating social and economic cohesion.  
iv. Success stories  
 "Fight against Organised Crime and Co rruption Unit – Public Prosecutors' 
Office" (CARDS 2005)  
The fight against organised crime and corruption is one of the key priorities of the Accession 
Partnership. The main objective of  this twinning project was, firstly, to ensure an effective 
policy in this field through th e development of a comprehensive and quality legal and 
institutional framework and, secondly, to impl ement and create a sustainable track record. 
The EU offered support to make the Unit fo r the fighting against organised crime and 
corruption (now Basic Prosecutor' s Office) operational. Thirteen training seminars and three 
study visits were organised during the lifetime of the project.  
The results achieved are: i) the Special Unit  for the fight agains t organised crime and 
corruption is operational.  The contract provided consistent  support (i.e. delivery of assessment 
reports, provision of training sessions, study vis its) to the specialised Unit which is now an 
operational autonomous Basic Public Prosecutor's Office; ii) a comprehensive analysis of the 
legal framework in the field of organized crime and corruption was delivered under the contract. 
 
"Technical assistance to the establishment of a national visa management system" 
(CARDS 2006)  
In August 2007, the EU (through the European Agency for Re construction) allocated EUR 
750,000 for software design of the National Visa In formation System (N-VIS), as part of a 
technical assistance project to enhance the ope rational capacity of the Consular Department 
within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Along side the advisory supp ort, the EU has also 
provided the necessary EUR 450,000 worth of  equipment for the Centre. The N-VIS 
introduces significant changes in visa issuance processes in the country. It implements clearly 
defined, standardised visa procedures and rapid,  consistent and accurat e verification of each 
and every applicant thro ugh the existing database. The traini ng of trainers workshop delivered 
for 16 staff members from the relevant ministries  offered valuable insight into all aspects of 
the use of N-VIS.  
“National Vineyard Monitoring and Manage ment System - Phase II” (CARDS 2006)  
A pilot project to develop a vineyard cadastre started in 2004 in the Tikves region, financed 
through CARDS. During its first phase, the pr oject opened a local office in Kavadarci, 
designed and put into f unction a software application, contri buted to the passing of a new law 
on wine and two acts of secondary legislation and carried out several training courses for 
project staff. After the expiry of this pilot phase began the se cond phase of the project, again 
financed through CARDS, which aimed at exte nding the entire system and software and put 
them into function throughout the country.  
The specific objectives of the second phase of the project were to align the national wine 
legislation and secondary legal acts with t hose of the EU and support the Wine and Vine 
Department within the Ministry of Agricult ure, Forestry and Water Economy (MAFWE).  
 
EN 44   EN In addition to the main office in Skopje, ba sed in MAFWE, the project established six 
regional offices in the main wine regions, na mely in Kisela Voda, Sveti Nikole, Ohrid, 
Kavadarci, Negotino and Valandovo.  
The system is based on rules that require mandatory  declaration, i.e. that every vine grower is 
obliged to register himself in the vineyard re gister if he wishes to  sell his production on the 
market, following a EU regulation that has become mandatory also in this country.  An aerial 
photo-interpretation has been made to define the vineyard parcels in the country, which 
accounts for 95% of the wine-producers. All vi neyards have been photo-interpreted and put 
into the system.  
The system will provide wine traceability and will be used for programming the support 
policy in the wine sector, being an indispensabl e instrument which can give data on what and 
where something exists, who cultivates it, yields, what has been produced, what has been placed on the market, what has been shown in the declarations, etc.  
This was a first attempt of a project based on GIS (Geographical Information System). It was 
a pioneer project and will convey the experien ce gained directly to the well-known LPIS 
(Land Parcel Identification System) that is  currently under development for the whole 
agricultural sector, also with support from IPA Component I.  
“Regulation of Luda Mara Ri ver in Kavadarci” (CARDS 2006) 
The project was proposed from the Municipality of Kavadarci as a priority to be financed 
under the awarded first prize within the EU  funded Municipal Award 2006 Programme. This 
Project covered works for regulating part of the Luda Mara River bed in the centre of 
Kavadarci, with a total length of 800 m. The works included earthworks for forming the river 
bed, concrete works of the bank of the minor bed, 6,080 m2 of cobble-stone layer on the river 
bed, several cascades for regulation of the wate r flow and sets of steps to the river. 
Several interruptions occurred during the construction period, mainly resulting from the 
unexpected discovery of unexploded destructive mi nes on site. The strong commitment of all 
parties involved in this project resulted in the successful completion of the works. 
 
 
EN 45   EN 9. HUNGARY  
9.1. Summary  
In 2009, Hungary continued to implement su ccessfully the post-accession assistance to 
address the remaining needs related to institution building for the implementation of the acquis , in line with the EDIS. 
Since June 2004 implementation is  carried out under the entire re sponsibility of Hungarian 
authorities applying national procurement rule s. The CFCU-Central Finance and Contract 
Unit, the ESF-European Social Fund Agency  and the VATI-Hungarian Public Company for 
Regional Town Planning are fully responsible fo r the daily implementation of the projects. 
The National Aid Coordinator (NAC) continued to exercise the monitoring of both PHARE 
and Transition Facility Programme s. The National Authorizing Officer (NAO) carried out the 
financial supervision.  
9.2. Implementation of the Tran sition Facility in 2009 
i) - Transition Facility 2005 – finalisation of payments
 
The implementation of the Transition Facility (TF) 2005 programme was completed 
successfully by the end of 2008. 96.89% was disbursed by the end of 2009.  
ii) - Transition Facility 2006 – finalisation of payments  
On 15 December 2009, at the end of the impl ementation period for the 2006 TF programme, 
87.32% of it had been disbursed.  
 iii) -  Institution Building highlights  
A total of around EUR 36 million of  post-accession assistance has been allocated to Hungary 
from the Transition Facility programmes 2004-2006 (national allo cation, not including 
horizontal and multi-country programmes).  
Implementation of the Transition Facility in Hung ary has been considered successful in all the 
areas, where most projects reached the foreseen objectives and assistance provided real value 
added. 
9.3. Results and Impact 
i) Joint Monitoring Committees / Sector Monitoring Sub-Committees  
In 2009 no physical Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) meetings were held. Two JMCs were 
concluded via written procedure. The Implem entation Status Reports were of good quality, 
including sufficiently detailed informati on regarding projects implementation and the 
achievement of their results. 
No particular monitoring actions were unde rtaken by the Commission, since the amount of 
the assistance and the number of the projec ts implemented in 2009 were rather small. 
 
EN 46   EN ii) Monitoring and Evaluation Reports in 2009 - Lessons Learned  
Overall responsibility for m onitoring of the Pre-accession and the Transi tion Facility 
programmes lies with the National Aid Coordi nator (NAC) in the National Development 
Agency. Activities in this area were carried  out on the basis of the Evaluation Plan on 
decentralisation of monitoring and evalua tion, in line with European Commission 
requirements. 
The independent evaluator prepared two consolid ated Interim Evaluation reports in order to 
evaluate 7 sectors monitored in 2009. The ev aluator prepared also the Country Summary 
Evaluation Review (CSER) for the JMC  meeting in  July 2009, which was carried out by 
written procedure, and for the JMC meeting scheduled in January 2010. 
The conclusions available from the Interim Evaluation reports and the Country Summary 
Evaluation Review are that, on the whole, pr ojects implementation was running smoothly in 
its final phase and no major problems were identified.  Many of the recommendations 
regarding the 2004 and 2005 Transition Facility  programmes referred to visibility or 
dissemination of information issues, but also staffing issues, notably in the area of civil 
society (political criter ia) and transport.   
Depending on the sector, the effectiveness was considered from adequate to satisfactory.  
 
EN 47   EN 10. KOSOVO6 
10.1. Summary 
The European Commission Liai son Office (ECLO) in Kosovo7 took over the responsibility 
for projects financed under the CARDS pr ogramme from the European Agency for 
Reconstruction (EAR) in July 2008. The EAR comp leted its operations in Kosovo at the end 
of that year. Initially, CARDS projects transf erred to the ECLO represented some EUR 57 
million and involved 134 contracts. The EC LO implements remaining CARDS and IPA 
programmes in Kosovo under deconcentrated centralised management. 
10.2. Financial assistance in 2009 
i) Programmes launched  
As of 2007 the CARDS  instrument  was replaced by the new Instrument for Pre-Accession 
Assistance. Therefore, no new CARD S programmes were launched in 2009 . 
ii) Overview of programmes implemented  
In continuation of programmes implemented during 2008, the main developments of the 
CARDS programme in 2009 included the following: 
Enhancing economic and social sustai nability of minority communities 
CARDS funds supported employment gene ration and community development in 
disadvantaged minority communities. Examples include cheese and milk production, textile 
production, carpentry, sweets and pastry production, auto-mechanic workshops, dry herbs and 
mushroom production, furniture production, dairy farming, horticulture, blacksmiths, barber 
and hairdresser shops. Furthermore, the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities were 
specifically targeted so as to improve childre n’s education and reduce school drop-out levels, 
as well as health and family  planning by providing health sessions on hygiene, reproductive 
health, waste management, infectious and cardi ovascular diseases. In  addition, CARDS funds 
supported direct assistance to the returns proces s as well as building the institutional capacity 
of the Ministry of Communities and Returns to e ffectively coordinate this process. A special 
emphasis was put on assisting the reconstructi on of Kosovo’s religious sites damaged in 
March 2004. 
Guiding Kosovo on the path towards Europe 
The CARDS programme continued to build the in stitutional capacity of the newly established 
ministries and municipalities to more effec tively perform their gov ernance roles and to 
strengthen the rule of law, in line with Europe an Partnership priorities and EU best practices. 
Support was provided to the construc tion of the Ministry of Intern al Affairs’ headquarters and 
to its institutional capacity to strengthen internal security, public order, border and boundary 
management. The Agency for Coordination of Development and European Integration, since 
April 2010 part of the newly cr eated Ministry of European Integration, was supported to 
                                                 
6  Under UNSCR 1244/99 
7  Under UNSCR 1244/99 
 
EN 48   EN enhance the professionalism of the civil service. Other su pport included improving public 
finance management and national statisti cs. During 2009 CARDS also funded capacity 
building for Kosovo's institutions for the prep aration and implementation of cross-border 
cooperation programmes. 
Fighting poverty through sustainab le industrial and rural development 
CARDS supported economic and social developmen t by assisting municipalities and socially 
owned entreprises. Assistan ce was provided to increase domestic and foreign direct 
investment, develop quality standard infrastr ucture, improve industrial competitiveness and 
exports, support enterprise development in disadvantaged areas and among marginalised 
groups, strengthen corporate fina nce, continue the privatisa tion process and incorporate 
publicly owned utilities. The development of the rural economy and natural resource 
management was targeted through support to the Mi nistry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural 
Development. Further support was provided to rural communities in the establishment of 
Local Action Groups and local development strate gies, addressing specific local problems.  
Shaping Kosovo’s participation in the Ener gy Community of South East Europe 
The CARDS programme provided support to the upgrading of heavy coal mining machinery 
for the removal of waste, including a bucket wh eel excavator, conveyor belt and spreader. The 
refurbished system should be used to open the new mine in the Sibovc SW field. The 
programme should lead to reduc ed damage to machinery, unplanned forced outages and 
increase the reliability of the excavating system. 
Strengthening local government to support democratic governance 
CARDS support to local governance followed a cross-sector appro ach. Projects provided 
assistance to local government institutions targeting different sectors, reflecting the multi-faceted responsibilities increasi ngly assumed by local authoritie s. Reconstruction of physical 
infrastructures was the main objective of several municipal development projects. At the central level, the CARDS progra mme built the institutional capacity  of the Ministry of Local 
Government to effectively perform its mandate  and provided hands-on a dvice directly to the 
municipalities to improve service delivery to  citizens including an integrated Public 
Investment Programme. 
iii) Cards management performance
 
 Table 1 - Financial execution as at the e nd of December 2009 (in million EUR) – CARDS 
annual programmes 
  Allocated  Contracted RAC  % contracted Paid  RAL  % paid
CARDS 2001 143.21 142.53 0.68 100% 142.53 0.68 100%
CARDS 2002 162.54 162.08 0.45 100% 161.80 0.74 100%
CARDS 2003 62.28 58.24 4.04 94% 57.53 4.75 92%
CARDS 2004 72.60 72.60 0.00 100% 67.85 4.75 93%
CARDS 2005 76.50 75.53 0.97 99% 71.33 5.18 93%
CARDS 2006 46.50 46.48 0.02 100% 40.85 5.66 88%
TOTAL 563.63 557.46 6.16 99% 541.89 21.76 96%
 
 
 
 
 
EN 49   EN iv) Institution Building highlights  
The CARDS programme continued to support th e institutions of Kosovo by building their 
capacity to effectively implement their mandates. 
In close coordination with EULEX , the CARDS programme provided support to the justice 
institutions  in Kosovo to develop and strengthen the justice structure so as to guarantee an 
area of freedom, security and ju stice for all Kosovo citizens, in accordance with EU standards 
and best practices. 
Support to local government institutions  targeted different sectors,  reflecting the multi-faceted 
responsibilities increasin gly assumed by local authorities. Complementary to this, a EUR 15 
million CARDS programme sought to upgrade the social and economic infrastructure of a 
number of municipali ties throughout Kosovo. 
CARDS supported Kosovo on the path towards Eu rope by strengthening the capacity of the 
government to carry out its dutie s in line with the European Partnership. This included the 
continuation of the Young Cell Scheme, which provides scholarships for Kosovo graduate 
students  to gain Master’s degrees in European St udies at some of Europe’s most prominent 
universities. 
10.3. Results and impact 
i) Monitoring and Evaluation Reports in 2009 - Lessons Learned  
Kosovo is included in the target area of th e Results Oriented Monitoring (ROM) project 
managed by the Commission. All contracts with  a value of more than EUR 1 million are 
subject to ROM, providing an independent  opinion on the efficiency, impact and 
sustainability of project implementation. 
In 2009 a total of 50 projects were monitored, of wh ich 36 Kosovo projects and 14 
components of regional projects. These included 23 CARDS projects8. 
– Lessons learned as concerns project relevance : i) results and indicators are set at a very 
general level, stating only ove rall development and reconstruction goals; ii) indicators are 
often a mix of activities and results; iii) in accurate needs assessments reflect a lack of 
capacity, notably within ministri es, related to project design  and development; iv) neither 
the European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR ) nor the beneficiary set aside sufficient 
resources for projects preparation; v) CARDS assistance had positive effects in supporting 
the development of new institutions and the legal or strategic framework in a majority of the sectors, and in building the capacity of staff in some sectors. 
– Lessons learned regarding effectiveness : i) overall, CARDS has performed better in 
concrete and specific technical projects than in  strategic and planning type of projects; ii) 
in some sectors, project design has not taken the administrative situation into account; iii) 
donor coordination was generally a weak point, not functioning e ffectively in a majority of 
the areas subject to the evaluation; iv) too few resources have been set aside by the 
government to ensure donor coordination and generally donors have only led the process 
on a case by case basis. 
                                                
 
8  In the areas of justice, energy, economic development and rural development 
 
EN 50   EN – Lessons learned regarding efficiency : i) delays in implementation have been registered 
because institutions were being set up when pr ojects started and lacked administrative 
capacity and staff; ii) it has been difficult to  assess CARDS in relation to national sector 
strategies, as these did not exist in most sectors;  iii) lack of develope d sector strategies and 
prior needs assessments may have contributed  to inadequate project design, which has 
impacted CARDS performance; iv) some proj ects, which were still under implementation 
in the justice sector (Further Support to Justice), economic development (Kosovo 
Development Plan) and rural developm ent (IMPARD II and Local Development 
Strategies), would benefit from an extension. 
– Lessons learned as concerns impact : i) impact can be noticed in particular at the 
institutional level in many projec ts in all four sect ors subject to the ev aluation, but lack of 
institutional capacity will limit wider impac t; ii) CARDS assistance has focused on direct 
training more than on training-of-trainers and developing training capacity, and is therefore 
vulnerable to staff turnover and movement; ii i) many projects have been implemented in a 
continuously changing environment, with new staff at all levels; iv) frequent project 
extensions were required because proj ect design did not set sufficient time for 
implementation. 
– Lessons learned in the area of sustainability : i) project design has not taken the 
administrative situation into account; ii) furthe r development of the ad ministration in terms 
of staff numbers and competen ces, as well as top level management in the ministries 
engaging in the reform processes,  will be prerequisites for sust ainability, i.e. factors which 
cannot be influenced by CARDS assistance as su ch; iii) sustaining the results of many of 
the projects will demand significant investme nt from both the state budget and donors. 
ii) Sectors with positive results  
CARDS supported Kosovo in achie ving positive results in the justice sector , notably as 
concerns youth. A CARDS project implemented  by UNICEF aiming to support the reform of 
the juvenile justice system, based on the right s of children and adolescents and evidence-
based research, offered alternatives to deten tion and promoted a juvenile crime prevention 
programme and social rehabilitation of juven iles. A main result was the mobilisation of a 
network of child protection service providers and community stakeholders, which laid the 
foundation for future work in establishing a coordinated response in preventing juvenile 
delinquency, despite the challenging political context. Please refer to section iii) Success 
stories for more details on this project. 
With the support of CARDS, Kosovo promoted economic development and employment 
creation . CARDS supported the establishment and expa nsion of growth oriented enteprises in 
the agro-processing, industry manufacturing and service sectors through employment creation 
and export potential in the north ern region of Kosovo. One of th e projects in this sector 
assessed current market needs and priorities, identified points of synergy and prevented 
duplication, evaluated business profiles and awarded grants to the best ones, conducted 
monitoring and inspection visi ts, promoted dialogue between governement and the business 
community, conducted final evaluation and a udit of supported enterprises, analysed 
monitoring and inspection vi sits' results, and conducted SME development workshops. The 
new business ventures are expected  to create a total of 295 new j obs. A further project in this 
sector created employment oppor tunities in two targeted m unicipalities, Mitrovice/a and 
Zvechan, and stimulated their economic development by increasi ng the capacities to establish 
new or to expand existing businesses. Work ing conditions were improved through the 
 
EN 51   EN refurbishment of existing facilities and equipmen t and new infrastructure facilities for the 
development of mostly small and medium  sized business schemes were provided 
CARDS furthermore helped to alleviate poverty in ma rginalised municipalities  by creating 
income generating and employ ment opportunities among vulnerabl e groups in the targeted 
municipalities. It thus contri buted to stabilising socio-eco nomic conditions and stimulating 
the economic development of marginalised gr oups in Kosovo's economy and supported the 
growth of entrepreneurial spirit. CARDS pr ojects contributed to the growth of positive 
community development, to increased local en trepreneurs' capacities to establish or expand 
businesses, and to the improvement of th e marketability of locally produced goods. 
CARDS assistance supported a balanced economi c and social development at the municipal 
level through a municipal and social infrastructure development  programme. The 
municipalities’ capacity to de sign and implement municipal development strategies was 
strengthened and the quality of  public services infrastruc ture was enhanced. Technical 
assistance was provided to the municipalities to prepare their bids . Finally, 43 municipal 
infrastructure project schemes were selected and eleven works contracts awarded to local 
construction companies. The main results of  these schemes included: 12 new municipal 
buildings of which 10 schools were constructed,  1 archive building was refurbished and one 
sports centre was constructed; 12 new local roads were built in different villages increasing 
mobility and access of citizens, and 19 water a nd sewage projects were carried out improving 
the drinking water and wellbeing of citizens. 
iii) Success stories  
“Support to Kosovo Juvenile Justice System” (CARDS 20069) 
The overall aim of this action, worth EUR 1 m illion, was to establish a Juvenile Justice 
System based on children’s rights and evidence based research, offeri ng alternatives to 
detention and promoting a juvenile crime prev ention programme and soci al rehabilitation of 
boys and girls in conflict with the law. The ma in activities focused on bui lding the capacity of 
juvenile justice professionals, research development, and prevention of juvenile delinquency 
through a targeted prevention and rehabilitation programme. A key strategy was also to reach 
the minority population and notably children at risk in the northe rn part of Kosovo covering 
Mitrovicë/a North and Zve čan/Zveçan. 
The main project result was the mobilisation of a network of child protection service 
providers and community stakeholders, whic h laid the foundation for future work in 
establishing a coordinated response in pr eventing juvenile delinquency, despite the 
challenging political context. Through regular meetings, this action successfully mobilised 
and sensitised professionals from various se ctors including educati on, health, police, NGOs 
and young people themselves with a view to the importance of a cross-sectoral and 
coordinated approach in deali ng with children at risk and/or  in conflict with the law. 
Some of the concrete outcomes were as follows: – Research on violence in schools conducted in all primary and se condary schools in 
Mitrovicë/a North and Zve čan/Zveçan: in total, 557 student s and 83 adults working with 
children participated in the quantitative and qualitative research. The main finding showed 
                                                
 
9  Also further supported by IPA 2009 
 
EN 52   EN that 45% of the students experienced some fo rms of violence against them at least once 
during the previous three months. 
– Training activities for different sectors on working with children and youth: AMITY 
trained 171 professionals and community memb ers (teachers, social workers, police - 
including also parents and young people) from 27 institu tions in the following areas: 
working with children at risk or in conflict with the law, child abuse/neglect, domestic violence, drug abuse in children, prevention of p eer violence in schools, role of the Centres 
for Social Work (CSW) in working with childr en at risk, and intern ational standards on 
juvenile justice. 
– Establishment of a Youth Club: a local schoo l took the ownership of the Youth Club with 
the technical support of AMITY and established the club in its premises. The objective of 
the Club is to empower young pe ople to become active partners  in their own protection and 
development and for young people to serve as role models to their peers while also providing peer support and mediation to those engaged in risky behaviour. Established in 
early 2009, the Youth Club gather s 60 children aged 15-18 from  all high schools in the 
north of Kosovo, of which 19 are trained p eer mediators and 41 are young people with 
behavioural problems at risk of entering into  conflict with the law. The Youth Club hosts 
vocational trainings and different workshops in line with interest expressed by children 
(e.g. non-violent communication, consequences of drug abuse, peer violence, etc.). 
“Promoting Local Enterprise Developm ent and Employment Creation in the 
Mitrovicë/Mitrovica and Zve čan/Zveçan Areas (FAIR Grant Programme)” (CARDS 
2004) 
This overall objective of this EUR 3.2 million project was to stimulate economic growth, 
encourage greater local and foreign investment  and promote greater adherence to European 
standards of environmental protection and financial accountability. More specifically, the project aimed to encourage the establishmen t of modern, sustainable SMEs that are 
competitive, environmentally friendly and financially sound in the municipalities of 
Vushtrri/Vucitrn, Mitrovicë/a Zve čan/Zveçan, Leposavic/Leposaviq and Zubin Potok, 
particularly in the agro-processing, industry an d service sectors. Furthermore, the project 
sought to increase employment opportunities in  these municipalities, promote greater 
transparency and accountability in business and in environmental protection, financial 
planning and accounting. 
The Fund for Agro-Processing & Industrial Re vitalization (FAIR), implemented under the 
PLEDEC project, supported the establishment and/or e xpansion of growth-oriented 
enterprises in the agro-proces sing, industry/manufacturing and service sectors, aiming to 
increase employment and raise th e export potential in Kosovo’s five northern municipalities. 
FAIR offered financial and tech nical support to entrepreneur s who were selected through a 
competitive application process. New and expanding businesses could receive grants ranging from EUR 50,000 to EUR 200,000 for new inve stments. FAIR provided 75% of the 
investment value and recipients had to secure the remaining 25%. 
A total of 17 beneficiaries th rough three rounds of calls for pr oposals (nine in the first round, 
five in the second, and three in the third round ) were selected and subsequently approved for 
funding by the FAIR Grant Approval Committee.  In total, FAIR had received 395 
applications in response to the three calls. The majority of applications submitted were from 
Vushtrri/Vu čitrn municipality, followed by M itrovicë/Mitrovica municipality. 
 
EN 53   EN “Ministry of Internal Affairs headquarters” (CARDS 2006) 
The overall objective of this EUR 3.2 million pr oject was the construction of a functioning 
headquarters for the Ministry of Internal Affairs,  including sufficient reso urces to carry out its 
responsibilities. Furthermore,  the project assist ed the development and strengthening of 
effective performance of the Ministry, in accord ance with EU standards and best practices.  
“Support the supply of coal to ex isting power plants” (CARDS 2005) 
This programme involved the rehabilitation of heavy coal mining machinery for waste 
removal, including bucket wheel excavator, c onveyor belt and spreader. The refurbished 
system will be used for opening the new mine  in the Sibovc SW field. The programme will 
lead to reduced damages of the machiner y, unplanned forced outages and increase the 
reliability of the excavating system. The tota l amount of the programme is EUR 20.3 million: 
EUR 17.3 million from CARDS pl us EUR 3 million from the KCB. The programme is being 
implemented in close cooperation with the benefi ciary (KEK) and relevant  stakeholders such 
as the World Bank and particularly KfW, who are considering complementary assistance for 
the coalmines in particular a nd the energy sector in general.  
 
EN 54   EN 11. LATVIA  
11.1. Summary  
In 2009, Latvia continued to successfully im plement post-accession assistance to address 
remaining needs related to institution building for the implementation of the acquis , in line 
with the Extended Decentralised Im plementation System (EDIS).   
Since May 2004 procurement is ca rried out under the entire re sponsibility of the Latvian 
authorities applying national pr ocurement rules. The Central Financing and Contracting 
Agency (CFCA) in the Ministry of Finance and the Society Integra tion Foundation are fully 
responsible for the daily implementation of the projects. 
The National Aid Coordinator (NAC) continued to exercise the monitoring of both PHARE 
and Transition Facility Programme s. The National Authorizing Officer (NAO) carried out the 
financial supervision.  
11.2. Implementation of the Tran sition Facility in 2009 
i) - Transition Facility 2005 – finalisation of payments  
Implementation of the Transiti on Facility (TF) 2005 programme  was completed successfully 
by the end of 2008. 90.62% was disbursed by the end of the 2009.  
ii) - Transition Facility 2006 – finalisation of payments  
On 15 December 2009, at the end of the impl ementation period for the 2006 TF programme, 
93.26% of it had been disbursed.  
 iii) -  Institution Building highlights  
A total of around EUR 19 million of post-accession assistance has been allocated to Latvia 
from the Transition Facility programmes 2004-2006 (national allo cation, not including 
horizontal and multi-country programmes).  
During the period, there was substantial over all progress towards the achievement of 
objectives and results of EU assistance. The projects under TF 200 6 were successfully 
completed and achieved their results. 
In 2009, Twinning continued to be the main impl ementing instrument in many areas of the 
acquis  in Latvia and has helped the Latvian admi nistration to further strengthen its capacities 
to implement and enforce EU le gislation. Although extensive re organisation of public sector 
institutions was necessary in Latvia in the light  of the financial crisis , the sustainability of 
project results was not hampere d, as the issue continued to be carefully monitored by the 
national authorities and the main observations  were regularly repor ted to the Commission. 
 
EN 55   EN 11.3. Results and Impact 
i) Joint Monitoring Committees / Sector Monitoring Sub-Committees  
In 2009 no physical Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) meeting was held. Two JMCs were 
concluded via written procedure. The Implem entation Status Reports were of good quality, 
including sufficiently detailed informati on regarding projects implementation and 
achievement of their results. 
No particular monitoring actions were undert aken by the Commission since the amount of the 
assistance and number of the projects implemented in 2009 were rather small. 
ii) Monitoring and Evaluation Reports in 2009 - Lessons Learned  
Overall responsibility for monitoring and evalua tion of the Pre-accession and the Transition 
Facility programmes in Latvia lies with the Mi nistry of Finance (MoF). The contract with the 
independent evaluator was completed in August 2008 and no Evaluation Reports were 
submitted in 2009. Since most of the TF 2006 proj ects were not evaluated by the external 
evaluators due to the contracting dates, almost all of these projects were included to the on-
the-spot monitoring plan developed by the NAC office.  
The issues raised during these on-the-spot monitoring visits were  the following: the status of 
the guidelines / strategy papers / concepts developed within the Twinning/Twinning Light 
contracts, quality of training ma terials, efficiency and sustainability of training activities and 
their assessment practices and visibility issues . The conclusions mainly concentrated on risks 
of project implementation, measurement of eff ectiveness of training results, ownership of 
project results and more efficient mana gement of visibility guidelines.  
 
EN 56   EN 12. LITHUANIA  
12.1. Summary  
In 2009, Lithuania completed the implementation of  the Transition Facility instrument, which 
addressed the remaining needs related to inst itution building for the implementation of the 
acquis , in line with the Extended Decentral ised Implementation System (EDIS). 
Since July 2004 implementation is carried out u nder the entire responsibili ty of the Lithuanian 
authorities applying national procurement rules. The Ministry of Finance, Central Programme 
Management Authority (CPM A) is responsible for ex ante control and twinning. The CPMA 
is fully responsible for daily implementation of projects. 
The National Aid Coordinator (NAC) continues to exercise the monitoring of both PHARE 
and Transition Facility Programme s. The National Authorizing Officer (NAO) carries out the 
financial supervision. 
12.2. Implementation of the Tran sition Facility in 2009 
i) - Transition Facility 2005 – finalisation of payments  
Implementation of the Transiti on Facility (TF) 2005 programme  was completed successfully 
by the end of 2008. 91.28% was disbursed by the end of the 2009.  
ii) - Transition Facility 2006 – finalisation of payments  
On 15 December 2009, at the end of the impl ementation period for the 2006 TF programme, 
93.26% of it had been disbursed.  
 iii) -  Institution Building highlights  
A total of around EUR 36 million of post-accession assistance has been allocated to Lithuania 
from the Transition Facility programmes 2004-2006 (national allo cation, not including 
horizontal and multi-country programmes).  
During the period, there was substantial over all progress towards the achievement of 
objectives and results of EU assistance. The projects under TF 200 6 were successfully 
completed and achieved their results, which fu rther contributed to the enhancement of 
Lithuanian public administration.  
12.3. Results and Impact 
i) Joint Monitoring Committees / Sector Monitoring Sub-Committees  
In 2009 no physical Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) meeting was held. Two JMCs were 
concluded via written procedure. The Implem entation Status Reports were of good quality, 
including sufficiently detailed informati on regarding projects implementation and 
achievement of their results. 
No particular monitoring actions were undert aken by the Commission since the amount of the 
assistance and the number of projects im plemented in 2009 were rather small. 
 
EN 57   EN ii) Monitoring and Evaluation Reports in 2009 - Lessons Learned  
Overall responsibility for monitoring and evalua tion of the Pre-accession and the Transition 
Facility programmes in Lithuania lies with the NAC Office which is in the Ministry of 
Finance.  
The evaluators concluded that the overall performan ce rating in 2009 for all sectors of the EU 
Transition Facility 2005 and 2006 programmes (envir onment, justice and home affairs, public 
administration, public finance and customs, nucl ear safety, energy and transport, internal 
market and statistics, agriculture) is good . The thematic evaluation re port also showed that the 
relevance of all PHARE and Transition Faci lity projects in the area of IT was good . In total 
there were 9 recommendations provided after these evaluations (5 recommendations were 
provided by the Interim Eval uation Report and 4 recommenda tions were provided by the 
thematic IT evaluation report).  
 
EN 58   EN 13. MALTA  
13.1. Summary  
In 2009, Malta completed the implementation of the Transition Facility instrument, which 
addressed the remaining needs related to inst itution building for the implementation of the 
acquis , in line with the Extended Decentral ised Implementation System (EDIS). 
Since June 2004 implementation is carried out under the entire responsib ility of the Maltese 
authorities applying national procurement rules. The role of Accredited Implementing Agency 
is performed by the Department of Contracts in  the Ministry of Finance. The Planning and 
Priorities Coordination Division in the Office of the Prime Minist er is acting as NAC service. 
The National Aid Coordinator (NAC) continue d to exercise the m onitoring of both Pre-
Accession and Transition Facil ity Programmes. The National Authorizing Officer (NAO) 
carried out the financial supervision. 
13.2. Implementation of the Tran sition Facility in 2009 
i) - Transition Facility 2005 – finalisation of payments  
The implementation of the Transition Facility (TF) 2005 programme was completed 
successfully by the end of 2008. 84.35% wa s disbursed by the end of the 2009.  
ii) - Transition Facility 2006 – finalisation of payments  
On 15 December 2009, at the end of the impl ementation period for the 2006 TF programme, 
57.96% of it had been disbursed.  
 iii) -  Institution Building highlights  
A total of around EUR 21 million of post-accession assistance has been allocated to Malta 
from the Transition Facility programmes 2004-2006 (national allo cation, not including 
horizontal and multi-country programmes).  
During the reporting period, there was substantia l overall progress towards the achievement of 
objectives and results of EU assistance. The projects under TF 200 6 were successfully 
completed and achieved their results, which fu rther contributed to the enhancement of the 
Maltese public administration.  
Regarding the Unallocated Institution Building Facility, Malta has fully absorbed the funds 
available under TF 2006 . The small-scale projects, implemen ted under this facility have 
proved to be very efficient and have ge nerated good and sustainable results.  
13.3. Results and Impact 
i) Joint Monitoring Committees / Sector Monitoring Sub-Committees  
In 2009 no physical Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) meetings were held. Two JMCs were 
concluded via written procedure. The Implem entation Status Reports were of good quality, 
including sufficiently detailed informati on regarding projects implementation and 
achievement of their results. 
 
EN 59   EN No particular monitoring actions were undert aken by the Commission since the amount of the 
assistance and the number of projects im plemented in 2009 were rather small. 
ii) Monitoring and Evaluation Reports in 2009 - Lessons Learned  
Overall responsibility for monitoring and inte rim evaluation of the Pre-accession and the 
Transition Facility programmes in  Malta lies with the NAC services located at the Office of 
the Prime Minister (OPM). Activities in this area were carried out on the basis of the Action 
Plan on decentralisation of monitoring and ev aluation, which was endorsed by the European 
Commission in February 2005.  
In 2009, the following evaluation reports were prepared by external evaluators: First and 
Second Interim Evaluation Report 2009 and Coun try Summary Evaluation Report on TF 2005 
and TF 2006 programmes. 
The average rating stated in the Interim Evaluati on Reports per cluster in terms of relevance, 
effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustaina bility was "satisfactory", whereas the main 
recommendations were related to the need fo r timely implementation of projects and for 
additional funds as well as human resources to guarantee the sustainability  of project results. 
The only recommendation presented in the fina l Country Summary Ev aluation Report also 
addressed the sustainability issues of  four projects under TF 2005 and TF 2006.  
 
EN 60   EN 14. MONTENEGRO   
14.1. Summary 
As in previous years, the implementati on of CARDS programmes in Montenegro was 
centrally managed by the EU Delegation to Montenegro.  
Altogether, CARDS 2001 – 2006 can be considered  almost fully contracted and paid in 
Montenegro. Throughout 2009, the implementati on of remaining CARDS programmes has 
been of valuable assistance to the country. Programmes were  realised in the area of 
wastewater infrastructu re, public administration reform, tr ade and single market policies, 
environmental sector, preparation for decentral ised management and fostering the economic 
and business environment.  
14.2. Financial assistance in 2009 
i) Programmes launched  
As of 2007 the CARDS  instrument  was replaced by the new Instrument for Pre-Accession 
Assistance. Therefore, no new CARD S programmes were launched in 2009 . 
ii) Overview of programmes implemented  
In the area of wastewater infrastructure , existing wastewater pumping stations were 
rehabilitated in four municipa lities (Bar, Herceg Novi, Budva , Ulcinj). Existing equipment 
from pumping stations was removed, cleaned a nd repaired. In additi on, new pumps and other 
equipment were installed in altogether 13 pumping stations. 
The 2006 CARDS project "Implementation of budgeting and salary system reform"  was 
divided into two components, focusing on M ontenegro's Budgeting System and Salary 
System. The Project had a positive impact on the ab ility of the Ministry of Finance to prepare 
a realistic budget and medium term financial framework. 
The project development of the environment sector  supported the establishment and 
functioning of the Environmental Protection Ag ency (EPA) and Project Implementation Unit 
(PIU), as well as supported the drafting of necessary legi slation. Implementation of both 
established organisations had star ted by the end of the project.  
In the energy sector,  a project supported the government of  Montenegro in investigating new 
power production capacities in the north of the country. Assessments and feasibility studies 
were carried out to establish a financial a nd economic model including price scenarios and 
risk analyses for the existing and possibly a second thermal power pl ant in Pljevlja. The 
project also provided r ecommendations for further transactio ns required in the energy sector 
of Montenegro. 
A technical assistance project carried out in  2009 aimed at enhanc ing the existing legal 
framework and developing instit utional capacity within the G overnment for establishing 
Private Public Partnerships  (PPP). The project provided support on how to attract 
investments in the strategically important sectors of the Montenegrin economy, including 
 
EN 61   EN support for implementation of at least two co ncrete high priority PPP projects promoting 
sustainable tourism development in Montenegro. 
iii) Cards management performance  
Table 1 -  Financial execution as at the end of December 2009 (in million EUR) – CARDS 
annual programmes   
 
iv) Institution Building highlights  
Main achievements of the technical assistance project “ Support to the L abour Market 
Reform”  in terms of policy making were the prepar ation of a number of significant strategic 
documents, such as the National Strategy  for Employment and Human Resource 
Development 2007-2011 and related 2007-2008 Nati onal Action Plan, the National Life-Long 
Entrepreneurship Learning Strategy 2008-2010 and related 2008-2009 National Action Plan. 
In terms of capacity building in the Minist ry of Labour (Employm ent Agency) relevant 
institutions, trainers and teachers were s upported. The project provided training on labour 
market information and statistics, on Life -Long Entrepreneurship Learning and on policy 
development and implementation issues related to the above mentioned. The positive results 
of this project served as a basis for the impl ementation of IPA programmes in the sector of 
vocational education and training and labour market development. 
In the area of EU Approximation in trade  and single market policies , a project covered three 
components: trade, competition as well as stat e aid and consumer protection. The main results 
involved the improvement of th e regulatory framework in th e above mentioned sectors, 
strengthening of the relevant institutions and civil society organisations, establishment of 
complaints mechanisms and raising of the public awareness in th e target sectors. 
14.3. Results and impact 
i) Monitoring and Evaluation Reports in 2009 - Lessons Learned  
A thematic evaluation of CARDS assistance in three sectors (jus tice, public administration 
reform and civil society development) was co mpleted in 2009. It has been concluded that 
CARDS was focused on the objectives of the re levant planning and strategic documents, but 
the documents were not adequately detailed and developed. Due to limited institutional and 
absorption capacity only some projects show resu lts and short-term impacts. Some results and 
impacts may be sustainable if supported by suffici ent staff and resources. In general, results 
and impacts have not been achieved in an efficient and effective manner due to the lack of experienced institutions. CARDS has addressed gender equality and inclusion of minorities, primarily in civil society development projects,  but there has been less focus on sustainable 
development. Donor coordination, especially at sectoral level has to be further developed.   Allocated  Contracted  RAC  % contracted  Paid  RAL  % paid  
CARDS 2001 16.10 16.07 0.06 99.6% 16.04 0.06 99.6% 
CARDS 2002 12.00 11.95 0.05 99.6% 11.95 0.05 99.6% 
CARDS 2003 12.00 11.89 0.11 99.1% 11.89 0.11 99.1% 
CARDS 2004  16.76 16.71 0.05 99.7% 16.62 0.13 99.2% 
CARDS 2005  23.12 22.98 0.14 99.4% 22.69 0.43 98.2% 
CARDS 2006  20.71 20.09 0.62 97.0% 19.88 0.83 96.0% 
Total  100.69 99.69 1.03 98.9% 99.07 1.61 99.0% 
 
EN 62   EN – Lessons learnt in relation to projects relevance : i) projects are in co mpliance with strategic 
documents, but project design has been made without in-depth institutional assessment and national strategies;  
– Lessons learnt regarding effectiveness : i) irrespective of implementation problems, most 
projects have met most of their objectives. Ho wever, the projects were  designed with focus 
on the delivery of specific outputs rather than on  capacity building; ii) lack of staff and staff 
capacity have in many projects been iden tified as key obstacles to achieving full 
effectiveness and thereby using a nd implementing projects results.  
– Lessons learnt regarding efficiency : i) contractors have in general been efficient and 
flexible in their implementation, but in some instances they met a la ck of ownership which 
delayed implementation; ii) Montenegro has become an independent  state in the period 
covered by the CARDS programme, which may al so have impacted efficiency as there 
have been many competing tasks. 
– Lessons learnt related to impact : i) some project results in public administration reform and 
justice will have impacts beyond the immediat e institutional and proj ect environment; ii) 
monitoring of overall and medi um to long-term impacts only ta kes place in a very limited 
number of ministries. 
– Lessons learnt in the domain of sustainability : i) lack of staff and budget allocations is a 
key impediment to sustainability of capacity building projects. Adding to this is the budget 
uncertainty and lack of institut ional stability which make sust ainability of project results 
uncertain; ii) ownership of project results is  mixed in CARDS projects. Ownership has in 
some projects been present at the time of the planning and program ming phases, but has 
been missing with regard to implementing the operational commitment or resources; iii) 
despite sustainability being a key issue for most projects, it has only been directly 
addressed in a few projects as part of the reporting.  
ii) Sectors with positive results
 
In 2009, one of the sectors profiting most fr om CARDS was the labour  market. The labour 
market reform project has been carried out with tangible success and sustainable long-term 
impact on the Montenegrin social and economic  development. The monitoring reports were 
positive on all aspects of the action, although they  also identified some remaining challenges 
and emphasised the lack of personnel at the Ministry of Labour an d the weakness of the 
department for social statistics at MONSTAT. 
iii) Success stories  
"Rehabilitation of Wastewater Pumping Statio ns, Bar, Herceg Novi, Budva and Ulcinj" 
(CARDS 2006) 
During the 1990's the wastewater infrastructure in Montenegro became increasingly degraded 
and many of the existing wastew ater pumping stations caused environmental pollution due to 
improper functioning. The CARDS programme financed the reha bilitation of a number of 
these wastewater pumping stations (removal, cl eaning of old pumps and installation of new 
ones) in four municipalities, improving the si tuation of wastewater management in these 
coastal towns and having hereby a positive impact on the environmental sector as such. 
 
 
EN 63   EN 15. POLAND  
15.1. Summary 
In 2009, Poland continued to implement successfully  the post-accession assistance to address 
the remaining needs related to institution building for the implementation of the acquis , in 
line with the EDIS. 
Since February 2005 implementa tion is carried out under the entire res ponsibility of Polish 
authorities applying national pr ocurement rules. The Central Finance and Contracts Unit 
(CFCU), the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PAED) and the Implementing 
Authority for European Programmes (formerl y Implementing Authority for PHARE Cross-
Border Cooperation Programmes, IA-CBC) are fully responsible for the daily implementation of the projects. 
The National Aid Coordinator (NAC) continued to exercise the monitoring of both PHARE 
and Transition Facility Programme s. The National Authorizing Officer (NAO) carried out the 
financial supervision.  
15.2. Implementation of the Tran sition Facility in 2009 
i) - Transition Facility 2005 – finalisation of payments
 
Implementation of the Transiti on Facility (TF) 2005 programme  was completed successfully 
by the end of 2008. 86.60% was disbursed by the end of the 2009.  
ii) - Transition Facility 2006 – finalisation of payments  
On 15 December 2009, at the end of the impl ementation period for the 2006 TF programme, 
83.79% of the programme had been disbursed.  
 iii) -  Institution Building highlights  
A total of around EUR 115 million of post-accessi on assistance has been allocated to Poland 
from the Transition Facility programmes 2004-2006 (national allo cation, not including 
horizontal and multi-country programmes).  
Implementation of the Transition Facility in Po land is considered generally successful and 
projects provided notable va lue added. During the period, there was substantial overall 
progress towards the achievement of objectiv es and results of the EU assistance.  
15.3. Results and Impact 
i) Joint Monitoring Committees / Sector Monitoring Sub-Committees  
In 2009 no physical Joint Monitoring Committ ee (JMC) meeting was held. One JMC was 
concluded via written procedure.  
The Implementation Status Report has not been approved by the EU sinc e it did not provided 
comprehensive and updated information on th e achievement of the projects' objectives, 
purpose, results and sustainabi lity for TF projects.   
 
EN 64   EN No particular monitoring actions were undert aken by the Commission since the amount of the 
assistance and the number of projects im plemented in 2009 were rather small. 
ii) Monitoring and Evaluation Reports in 2009 - Lessons Learned  
Overall responsibility for m onitoring of the Pre-accession and the Transi tion Facility 
programmes in Poland lies with the NAC depart ment within the Office of the Committee for 
European Integration (UKIE). The NAC depart ment assures the proper monitoring of the 
projects and information about the monitori ng results are delivered to the European 
Commission on a regular basis. 
During 2009, NAC services prepared the Implem entation Status Report  and an independent 
evaluator issued nine Interim Evaluations Re ports, covering agriculture, the environment, 
transport, the internal market, justice and home affairs and public administration.  
The Implementation Status Report, submitt ed in June 2009, did not provide updated 
information on projects implementation, did not c over all projects for which activities were 
implemented in the reporting period and did not inform on achievement of projects objectives, 
purpose and results. As the report was not updated following an in itial request by the 
Commission, it was exceptionally approved with a rese rvation that missing information on TF 
2005 should be provided in the progress repor t for the Final Declaration and that 
comprehensive information for TF 2006 proj ects should be provided in the next 
Implementation Status Report.  
 
EN 65   EN 16. ROMANIA  
16.1. Summary 
In 2009, Romania implemented both pre-accessi on and post-accession assistance to address 
the remaining needs related to Institution Building for the implementation of the acquis , in 
line with the Extended Decentralised  Implementation System (EDIS). 
Since January 2007 implementation is carried out under the entire responsibility of the 
Romanian authorities applying national procur ement rules. Three implementing agencies are 
fully responsible for daily implementation of pr ojects (two of them accredited in December 
2006 and one in April 2007). 
The National Aid Coordinator (NAC) continued to exercise the programming function for the 
Transition Facility programmes and monitoring  of both Pre-accession and Transition Facility 
Programmes. The National Authorizing Officer (NAO) carried out the financial supervision. 
DG Enlargement continued to exercise the func tions related to Commi ssion responsibilities 
regarding the monitoring, payments, closure, etc., in line with th e Financial Regulation. 
16.2. Implementation of PHARE and th e Transition Facility in 2009 
i)  PHARE 2005 – finalisation of payments  
At the end of 2009, 79.62% were disbursed. Th e Romanian authorities requested the 
extension of the execution period for 3 components under the 2005  Economic and Social 
Cohesion PHARE programme. The Commission approved the request. 
ii)  PHARE 2006 – finalisation of payments  
At the end of the implementation period for the majority of the 2006 PHARE programmes, 
69% of the funds were disburse d. The Romanian authorities re quested the extension of the 
execution period for 33 projects under PHAR E 2006, that the Comm ission approved.   
iii)  Transition Facility 2007  
At the end of the contracting period for th e 2007 Transition Facil ity, on 15 December 2009, 
68.63% of the programme was contracte d. The disbursement rate was 39.45%. 
iv)  Institution Building highlights  
The tasks and responsibilities related to twinni ng are dealt with by CFCU as Administrative 
Office, whereas DG Enlargement is responsible  for issuing the Steering Committee Opinion 
on twinning contracts.  Sixteen such opini ons were issued during 2009, to which added 
another 29 twinning light projects contracted under Transition Facility which continued to be 
useful in many priority areas and helped Roma nia prepare for implementation of EU policies 
and laws.     
In order to address unforeseen needs, additiona l assistance from the unallocated Institutional 
Building 2007 envelope referring mainly to the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism 
continued to be provided for projects mainly in th e justice and public administration sectors.    
 
EN 66   EN 16.3. Results and Impact 
i) Joint Monitoring Committees / S ector Monitoring Sub-Committees  
In 2009, two Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) meeting took place, in January and June, in 
line with the revised JMC Mandate introduced in  the new Member Stat es in May 2004, which 
establishes an integrated monitoring a nd evaluation system over the programmes under 
implementation. 
Two rounds of Sector Monitori ng Sub-Committee (SMSC) meeti ngs took place in spring and 
autumn 2009. The number of s ub-committees was reduced to se ven by unifying ‘justice’ and 
‘home affairs’ in a single SMSC, split in 2 sess ions. Also ‘transport’ and ‘agriculture’ were 
merged in a single SMSC, with 2 sessions.  
 ii) Monitoring and Evaluation Reports in 2009 (lessons learned)  
The overall responsibility for monitoring of the PHARE and Tr ansition Facility programmes 
in Romania lies with the Central Evaluation Unit  within the Authority for the Coordination of 
Structural Instruments in the Ministry of Public  Finance. Activities in this area were carried 
out in 2008 with the support of a PHARE In terim Evaluation external contractor. In 
November 2009, although with significant dela y, the Romanian authorities concluded a 
contract for Interim Evaluation to ensure the ev aluation of the last PHARE/Transition Facility 
projects under implementation. 
 
EN 67   EN 17. SERBIA  
17.1. Summary 
As from September 2008, the implementation of CARDS programmes in Serbia is centrally 
managed by the EU Delegation in Serbia.  
By the end of 2009, CARDS 2001 and 2002 were fu lly contracted and disbursed. Regarding 
CARDS 2003, the final date of disbursement e xpired in June 2008 with 97.18% of the overall 
allocation contracted and 97.07% disbursed. 
The contracting deadline of CARDS 2004 and CARDS 2005 fell in December 2008, with a 
final date for payments scheduled for Decem ber 2012. By the end of the reporting period, 
99.71% of the overall allocation was contr acted and 94.41% disbur sed. Concerning CARDS 
2005, contracting reached 98.35% of the overall  allocation and disbursements totalled 
91.93%. Furthermore, 98.48% of the  CARDS 2006 allocation was contracted by the end of 
the reporting period, with disbursements at 65.96%, due to a large number of CARDS 2006 
projects being still on-going. 
Throughout 2009, the implementation of CARDS continued with a specific emphasis on 
launching the remaining CARDS 2006 projects, not ably covering civil society and health. In 
parallel, projects in the infras tructure sector worth almost EUR 13.5 million were brought to a 
successful completion. In add ition, CARDS 2006 programmes in the fields of municipal 
support (completed in 2009) and enterprise de velopment (on-going) were of an extremely 
valuable assistance to Serbia, providi ng immediate impact and added value. 
17.2. Financial assistance in 2009 
i) Programmes launched  
As of 2007 the CARDS  instrument  was replaced by the new Instrument for Pre-Accession 
Assistance. Therefore, no new CARD S programmes were launched in 2009 . 
ii) Overview of programmes implemented  
Democratic stabilisation  
Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons 
The 2005 CARDS funded in stitution-building support to the Commissari at for refugees (EUR 
1.2 million) was completed in March 2009. Th e CARDS 2005 “Legal aid programmes for 
internally displaced persons ” was successfully implemented from May 2008 to December 
2009. The value of the contract was EUR 1.5 million. 
Civil society 
Within the CARDS 2006 programme supporting ci vil society, the following projects were 
contracted and were being implem ented during the reporting period: 
– "Strengthening the role of ci vil society in shaping poverty -related policies and practices " 
(EUR 4.5 million grant agreement with UNDP):  this project is contributing to the 
 
EN 68   EN decentralisation of social protection servi ces by supporting the 'Social innovation fund'. 
Through a second pillar, the project is supporti ng civil society organisations in drafting 
regulation, advocate for a better enabling envi ronment and monitor government policies in 
the area of poverty reduction and social exclusion.  
– "Support to the introduction of the legislative framework for anti-di scrimination and set up 
for institutional and technical stru ctures for its implementation " (EUR 2 million). The 
project is aiming to introduce mediation and alte rnative dispute resolution for prevention of 
discrimination in Serbia.  
– “Roma assistance programme ” (EUR 1 million grant agreemen t with OSCE). This project 
is supporting State institutions in the impl ementation of the action plans adopted by the 
Serbian government within the framework of the Roma decade. The priorities of the 
project have been formulated on the basis of the action plans, which cover education, 
healthcare and legalisation of the Roma settlements. 
Good governance and institution building  
Public Administration Reform 
The CARDS 2004 project ‘ Support to Parliamentary Institutions ’ (EUR 1.5 million), 
implemented by the Council and aimed at reinforcing the efficiency of the Serbian 
Parliament, including the introduction of new procedures, ended in October 2009.  
Police 
The CARDS 2006 twinning  “Implementation of the Serbi an integrated border strategy ” 
(EUR 1.5 million) was still on-going by the end of the reporting period. Achievements 
included the following: 
– The Law on border control and State border protection has been reviewed and updated 
according to EU-best practises and the Schengen acquis . 
– The new Law on international police co-operati on has been elaborated and subsequently 
the Law on police has been amended. 
– The Serbian veterinary Law has been revise d and proposals have been made for further 
amendments. Additionally a separate Law fo r veterinary border inspection has been 
drafted. 
– The Serbian customs Law has been revised and proposals have been made for further 
amendments.  
– The Law on plant health has been reviewed and updated. 
– The guidelines for risk analysis in border  police have been reviewed and updated. 
– The guidelines for customs inspection of phytosanitary goods have been elaborated. 
– The guidelines for customs inspection of veterinary goods have been elaborated. 
 
EN 69   EN In addition, a strategy paper re garding human resources in th e border police directorate has 
been drafted. This strategy paper, which has to be approved by the border police directorate 
and other relevant departments within the Minister  of Interior, will serve as the strategic basis 
for the elaboration of the related action plan. It will then also be necessary to involve relevant 
people from the Ministry of Finance, in or der to guarantee result s. Working groups to 
implement the integrated border management acti on plan have been esta blished at the central 
level. 
Border crossings 
Implementation of the CARDS 2006 EU R 1.6 million supply project for the “ Procurement of 
equipment for the border poli ce and customs administration ” was completed in December 
2009. Assistance included also project prepar ation and acceptance of supplies to nine 
secondary border crossing locations. 
Public administration  
Through the CARDS 2006 project “ Support to the Serbian tax administration ”, a supply of IT 
equipment (EUR 0.8 million) and  technical as sistance (EUR 1.7 million) were provided in 
order to establish a "Tax administration contact  centre" with a client-oriented approach, to 
ensure that citizens are provided with systemized information so that they fulfil their rights 
and obligations regarding the tax system require ments. The project was finalised in November 
2009. 
The on-going CARDS 2006 technical assistance project “ Support to national investment 
planning and implementation ”, started during the summer 2009, has already delivered several 
useful outputs for the beneficiary. The most important ones are the following: 
i) A mechanism for intra- and inter-sectoral pr ioritisation of public investment projects; 
ii) A model for forecasting monthly reve nues of the budget, by main items;  
iii) Guidelines for improving the cash management function of the treasury; 
iv) Recommendations for elaborating a fiscal responsibility law ; 
v) Medium-term macroeconomic projecti ons of main economic indicators; 
vi) A methodology for assessing the index of macr oeconomic stabilisa tion in the Serbian 
economy. 
Through a contribution agreement from the CARDS 2006 programme, the European System 
of Central Banks (ESCB) has delivered a “ Needs analysis report for the National Bank of 
Serbia (NBS) ”. The project was completed in June  2009. The report assessed the regulatory 
and operational framework of the NBS, as we ll as its policies and practices, against EU 
standards. The analysis covere d six areas: 1) Superv ision of banks; 2) Ha rmonisation with the 
acquis of legislation under the competence of the NBS; 3)  Liberalisation of capital 
movements; 4) Conduct of monetary policy a nd the exchange rate regime; 5) Monetary, 
financial and balance-of-payment s statistics; 6) Financial se rvices consumer protection. 
The report and its annexes provide very va luable input to the follow-up project on 
“Strengthening the institutional  capacities of the NBS ”, to be financed under IPA. 
Health 
 
EN 70   EN Within the CARDS 2006 programme for the s upport of the health sector the following 
projects were contracted a nd are currently implemented: 
– A direct grant agreement of EUR 1 million wa s signed with the European Investment Bank 
(EIB) for the provision of technical assist ance to the Ministry of Health's Project 
Implementation Unit, to support the implementation of a EUR 200 million loan provided by the EIB. A first contract was signed for the amount of EUR 8 million, for the design and 
supervision of the four  university clinical centres in Serbia.  
– The EUR 2.5 million technical  assistance project “ Support to the implementation of 
capitation payment in primary health care in Serbia ” aims to facilitate the completion on a 
single fiscal year using the new payment model.  
– The EUR 4 million service contract for “ Training in health service management ” 
completed the education of two generations of  Master’s course students, the accreditation 
of which is pending through a ppropriate national bodies. The designs for the construction 
works to set up the School of Health Manageme nt were delivered. A works contract worth 
EUR 0.4 million for the building of the health management school was contracted. The works are on-going. 
Local government 
The CARDS 2006 technical assistance project for the “ Municipal infrastructure support 
programme ” (EUR 4 million) started in January 2008. Up to December 2009, the programme 
covered implementation of three environmental in frastructure projects worth EUR 12 million,  
delivered fully fledged feasibility studies fo r infrastructure projects, prepared tender 
documents for five works projects totalling close to EUR 90 million and prepared a green paper and chapters of the draft National stra tegy for the transformation of public utility 
companies.  
The CARDS 2006 " EXCHANGE 2 " programme of EUR 5 milli on, consisting of technical 
assistance and an operating grant to the Sta nding Conference of Towns and Municipalities 
(SCTM), started at the beginning of 2008. Among five other components, the project 
developed and piloted until December 2009 a methodology, to be the future SCTM 
recommended methodology of all local self-gove rnments in Serbia, for the development, 
management and monitoring of Local Sust ainable Development Strategies (LSDS). 
Four municipal infrastructure contract s worth EUR 13.5 million, under the CARDS 2006 
“Municipal support programme  to North-East Serbia ”, and four munici pal infrastructure 
contracts close to EUR 14 million, under the “ Municipal infrastruc ture support programme ” 
which covers the whole Serbian territory, we re contracted and are under implementation. 
Economic and social development
 
Enterprise development 
An on-going EUR 1.5 million project  for the development of “ Enterprise policy and 
innovation ” (CARDS 2006) is provid ing technical support to the following components:  
1. Small and Medium Size Enterprise (S ME) policy development and implementation  - 
technical assistance to the Ministry of Econo my and Regional Development and the National 
Agency for Regional Development in the implem entation of the strategy for competitive and 
 
EN 71   EN innovative SMEs 2008-2013. Also, a European En terprise Network Office was established 
and managed with assistance from the project since June 2009.  
2. Assistance to SMEs in developing competitiveness through innovation  – direct assistance is 
delivered to 150 SMEs from Belgrade and six other regions, with emphasis on the implementation of innovative practices and inno vation management 'best practice' (IMP3rove 
Innovation Assessment Tool - EU INNOVA aw ard winning Innovation Assessment Tool in 
October 2008). Innovation management best pr actices are benchmarked against similar 
enterprises across the EU and in other acce ssion countries. The "Top Twenty" from the 150 
SMEs covered will receive intensive technica l assistance in a range of technical and 
management disciplines.  
Education  
The CARDS 2004 project " Strengthening higher education system in Serbia " (EUR 0.7 
million), enhancing the harmonisation with th e Bologna process, ended in December 2009. 
Vocational education and training 
The CARDS 2006 project “ Additional support to the Voca tional Education and Training 
(VET) reform ” of EUR 0.8 million was successfully co mpleted by the end of August 2009 - 
some 1.050 school staff was trained.  
Social inclusion 
The CARDS 2006 ongoing project “ Transforming residential institutions and sustainable 
alternatives ” (EUR 1.4 million) has been implemented throughout 2009 with good results: a 
master plan for transformation of residential institutions was prepared for adoption in 2010, 
foreseeing a high number of trainings (instituti ons staff: 200 persons; foster families: 300 
persons; health staff: 400 persons). Furthermore,  the project aims at the deinstitutionalisation 
of children (disabled and without parental care ) through the transformation of the institutions, 
development of fostering and speci al fostering and social servic es given at local level, and 
tailored for the special needs of the children. 
Agriculture 
The new agricultural Law has been prepared wi th the assistance of two EU funded twinning 
projects - “ Capacity building within th e veterinary directorate ” and “ Capacity building of the 
food chain laboratories administration ” -, both part of the CARDS 2005 annual programme. 
The renovation of the Batajnica complex was funde d from counterpart funds generated within 
previous EU-funded food commodities and ag ricultural inputs supp ly programmes. The 
Batajnica complex hosts the national reference laboratories directorate established by the food 
safety Law adopted in May 2009. The projects were completed in July 2009. 
Furthermore, preparations for the “ Legislation on wine, ethanol , spirits, animal welfare, 
agriculture and rural development ” were supported through a twinning under CARDS 2005. 
The legislation was part of a package of 15 agricultural/food safety laws adopted by the 
National Parliament. The project was completed in November 2009. 
Trade 
 
EN 72   EN An on-going EUR 1.2 milli on CARDS 2006 project “ Technical assistance to quality 
infrastructure sector in Serbia ” is assisting the Minist ry of Economy and Regional 
Development (MoERD) and other relevant institutions in the field of standardisation, accreditation and metrology in the adoption of th e policies and legislation harmonised with 
the EU acquis . EU and WTO/TBT enquiry points for standards and technical regulations have 
been established.  The capacities of the MoER D, Sector for quality infrastructure, the 
accreditation body of Serbia, the Institute of Standa rdization of Serbia a nd the Directorate of 
Measures and Precious Metals are being strengthened and th e technical knowledge of the 
relevant staff is being increased through a numbe r of hands-on trainings abroad, workshops in 
country, inter-laboratory comparisons and peer revi ews, as part of the process of preparation 
for application for membership of the relevant EU bodies. The process of removal of technical 
barriers to trade and thus free movement of goods  is seen as one of the priorities that are 
tackled by this project.  
Infrastructure and energy 
The CARDS 2006 construction of the new road border crossing Presevo (at the border with 
the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) wa s successfully finalised in September 2009. 
The assistance covered works and superv ision, for an amount of EUR 5.5 million. 
The CARDS 2006 reconstruction of the rail border crossing Dim itrovgrad (at the border with 
Bulgaria) was successfully finalised in October 2009. The assistance covered works and supervision, for an amount of EUR 3 million.  The border crossing facilities include the 
railway station and offices for border police and customs which are to be shared by the 
authorities of both countries. 
The CARDS 2005 preparation of “ General transport master plan for Serbia ” has been 
finalised in December 2009. The plan  consists of an updatable transport model and a priority 
list of infrastructure tr ansport projects for Serbia until 2027, covering all modes of transport. 
It is intended to be used by the Serbian author ities as a tool for more  detailed planning and 
guidance for attraction of investments from IFIs. 
To enhance the security of tr ansport and the freedom of move ment around the most important 
bridges across the Danube a nd the Sava rivers, CARDS 20 05 funds were used for “ Survey 
and recovery services for unexploded ordnance (UXO) removal in the Inland waterway 
transport System ” in Serbia. The project was executed in March 2009 to help the Serbian 
Government in locating UXO.  
The CARDS 2004 works for the environmental project – “ Ash disposal in Nikola Tesla B 
power plant ”, with a budget of EUR 30 million, were on-going by the end of the reporting 
period. The first power plant unit was connected to the new system and the trail run was in 
progress. Activities for the c onnection of the second unit star ted after the reporting period.  
The CARDS 2005 contract " Renewable energy feas ibility studies for the preparation of 
secondary legislation and preparation of 15 pr e-feasibility studies for small scale hydro 
projects in Serbia " was completed in April 2009. The whol e package of secondary legislation 
was  adopted by the Serbian Government.  
Two CARDS 2006 works contracts for construc tion of 400kV line Nis-Leskovac (EUR 7 
million, 40 km) and Leskovac-the former Yugo slav Republic of Macedonia border (EUR 20 
million, 100 km) were signed in 2008. The first phase, from Nis to Leskovac, started in 2008 
 
EN 73   EN and was due to be finalised after the reporting period. The second phase, from Leskovac to the 
former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia border, started in 2009. The purpose of the project is 
to assist in developing the investments needed in cross-border electric ity interconnections in 
order to help creating a functioning regiona l energy market. Section Nis-Leskovac was 
completed (September 2009) and put into opera tion under lower voltage than constructed for 
(110 kV instead of 400 kV) because the substa tion Leskovac 2 was not yet completed for a 
400 kV level. The electricity transmission sy stem and market opera tor is finalising the 
installation of high voltage (HV) equipment a nd a HV transformer is expected under an IPA 
2010 project. Works on the section Leskovac-th e former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 
border are ongoing with some delay a nd completion is expected by May 2011. 
Regional cooperation 
Serbia's territorial cooperation programm e under CARDS (2004-2006) is gradually drawing 
to a close. By the end of 2009, the following summary can be drawn:  
The three bilateral cross- border cooperation programmes with Hungary, Romania and 
Bulgaria, as well as the two transnational c ooperation programmes Adriatic and CADSES had 
a total budget of around EUR 17.5 million. There is considerable enthusiasm for regional 
cooperation on the ground. A total of 856 project applications we re received, and 174 projects 
were selected for funding, in res ponse to a total of 13 calls for pr oposals that were launched in 
the period 2006–2008.  
While the implementation of a number of beneficiary grant cont racts is ongoing, the 
programme has achieved an overall contracting rate  of about 97%, and is expected to achieve 
a disbursement rate of about 92%. 
Project beneficiaries included municipalitie s, non-governmental institutions, chambers, 
agencies, academic, educational and cultural institutions. The funded projects targeted a 
variety of sectors such as economy, culture, t ourism, environmental and social issues.  
Many of the organisations/citizens involved in implementation of these projects have 
experienced cross border cooperation and worki ng according to EU standards and procedures 
for the first time.  
The CBC unit at the Ministry of Finance perfor ms essential management  functions to support 
EU authorities with programme implementation. The Serbian authorities are committed to CBC programme management on an operational level. CBC unit sta ff continues to build their 
experience. This is a good basis for management  of IPA and preparation for a Decentralised 
Implementation System (DIS). 
Efforts need to continue to build the capacity of  beneficiaries to genera te more strategically 
oriented projects that achieve a high er level of socio-economic impact.  
iii) CARDS management performance
 
 
Table 1 -  Financial execution as at the end of December 2009 (in million EUR) – CARDS 
annual programmes   
 
 
EN 74   EN   Committed Contracted RAC  %Contracted Paid RAL  %Paid 
CARDS 2001 143.50 143.50 0.00 100.00% 143.50 0.00 100.00%
CARDS 2002 161.00 161.00 0.00 100.00% 155.28* 0.00 100.00%
CARDS 2003 220.00 213.78 6.21 97.18% 213.54 6.45 97.07%
CARDS 2004 207.13 206.52 0.60 99.71% 195.55 11.58 94.41%
CARDS 2005 147.17 144.74 2.43 98.35% 135.29 11.87 91.93%
CARDS 2006 157.46 150.97 6.49 95.88% 103.85 53.60 65.96%
TOTAL 1036.26 1020.51 15.73 98.48% 947.01 83.5 91.39%
* All contracts closed and paid, balance on the decision has been de-committed and decision is closed 
iv) Institution building highlights  
Through a Preparation Facility project financ ed under CARDS 2006, nationa l authorities were 
supported in programming of IP A 2009 and 2010, with assistance in drafting related project 
fiches (10 fiches for IPA 2009 and 27 fiches for IPA 2010) and in preparing the IPA 2009 
budget support (EUR 100 million). Beneficiary in stitutions were assisted in improving 
programming mechanisms and in having an inte grated and coordinated system for project 
identification that should be applied as of IPA 2011. Training events/workshops for the 
Serbian administration involved in programming and project prep aration were also completed. 
The total number of training c ourses held in 2009 wa s 23, out of which 2 specific training 
courses, 10 general training cour ses and 11 tailored training c ourses. The trainings included 
the following topics: programming of EU funds, project preparation, procurement rules, cost-
benefit analysis and IPA Components III and IV.  
The total number of particip ants attending the trainings was 550 (the number of public 
servants trained being closer to 250, out of whic h some attended more than one training). The 
project developed an open source web-base d platform called MOODLE (Modular Objective-
Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) that is accessible at different le vels of data queries. 
The project was due to be comple ted after the reporting period. 
17.3. Results and impact 
i) Monitoring & evaluation Reports in 2009 - Lessons learned  
During 2009 monitoring progressed accordi ng to plan. Specifically, the following 
developments occurred during the year: 
Over the year some fifty contracts under the national CARDS were mo nitored by the Results 
Oriented Monitoring (ROM) team, providing findings and conclusions on relevance and 
quality of design, efficiency of implementation to date, effectiveness,  impact prospects and 
potential sustainability. Projects were generally graded as “good”. 
Apart from the above-describ ed external monitoring, the EU Delegation also ensures 
regular/internal monitoring, e.g. through attend ance to project steering committee meetings 
                                                 
 
 
 
EN 75   EN and project visits. In December 2009 the EU De legation prepared its monitoring plan for 
2010. 
A retrospective evaluation of 2000-2006 CARDS pr ograms in Serbia with a special focus on 
local and municipal development, economic de velopment, justice and integrated border 
management was conducted by an independent  evaluator and the debriefing meeting was 
organized in Belgrade on October 2009. The ev aluation report assessed the relevance, 
efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustaina bility of the CARDS a ssistance in the above 
sectors. Recommendations coul d be summarized as follows:  
– Relevance : i) active coordination with all stakehol ders during the desi gn phase and close 
involvement of local stakeholders in the pr eparation of project pl anning documents should 
be ensured; ii) systematic use of logical frameworks needs to be stressed; iii) contractors 
should be instructed to carefully reassess the project context during th e inception phase, in 
order to control compliance between planned versus  actual targets and costs, as well as 
securing a realistic timeframe.  
– Efficiency : i) administrative procedures need to be  upgraded in terms of efficiency within 
national structures, to enable timely deliver y of outputs, timely procurement procedures 
and prevent implementation delays; ii) in terventions should ut ilise and strengthen 
economic tools to assess unit costs and benefits  in order to create benchmarks and allow 
the assessment of cost efficiency. 
– Effectiveness : i) relevant expertise of consultants must  be ensured i.e. experts with practical 
experience and good knowledge on the beneficiary country.  
– Impact : i) as impact is often lin ked to sustainability and pa rtner cooperation, the use of 
conditionality or pre-condition instruments should be consider ed (e.g. national partners 
appropriately staffed; adequate premises provided; strategies or laws adopted). 
– Sustainability : i) phase-out strategies should be integrated in th e programme planning; ii) 
line ministries need to adequately and timely address lack of human resources in order to 
be able to continue activities af ter the closure of interventions.  
– Cross-cutting issues : i) integration of gender aspect s during design and implementation 
(e.g. gender aggregation of log frame indicato rs, encouraging gender-b alanced TA teams, 
gender-specific impact analysis in proj ect documents) needs to be continued. 
Based on the above recommendations, the addr essee institutions have commented and a 
debriefing table was prep ared and circulated. 
ii) Sectors with positive results – Success stories  
Among other sectors, EU support for local government, enterprise development and 
vocational training was successful. As examples: 
“EXCHANGE 2, Joint support to  local government” (CARDS 2006)   
Throughout two years of implementation, this EUR 4.5 million worth project produced local 
government legal review and sector analysis providing key recommenda tions to the central 
Government on how to make the functioning of the local administrations more transparent, 
effective and predictable. Furthermore, the Lo cal Sustainable Development Strategies (LSDS) 
 
EN 76   EN methodology for strategic planning of sustaina ble development of lo cal governments in 
Serbia has been created and piloted in 25 Serbian municipalities. The methodology was 
developed and adopted through a wide consultative process with more then  14 national 
ministries and agencies, with the general aim to serve as a standard methodology for Serbian 
local governments. The project also designed and applied an innovative approach in the 
delivery of technical assistance/capacity buildi ng in 10 Serbian municipalities. In this way, 
selected municipalities received demand driven Municipal service packages (MSP) that are 
transferable to all mu nicipalities within the country through 6 toolkits in areas such as 
municipal budgeting, property manage ment, human resource management. 
“Enterprise development” (CARDS 2006) 
The third phase of the Turn-around manageme nt (TAM) project from CARDS 2006 (EUR 4 
million), implemented by the EBRD – TAM team, was completed in December 2009. The 
project provided support to rest ructuring and development of 72 SMEs in priority sectors, 
enterprises with environmental and energy efficiency concerns, enterprises owned/run by women entrepreneurs and young high-tech ente rprises. Also, high-quality training was 
provided to more than 100 SMEs. The impact of  this project on the Serbian SME sector is 
considered very high. 
“Additional support to the Vocational Education and Traini ng (VET)” (CARDS 2005) 
This project, for a value of EUR 0.8 million, trained a large number of teachers, school 
managers, change agents (i.e. th e focal points in V ET schools in charge of the reform) as well 
as the staff of the regional school depa rtments in modernised teaching methods, 
implementation of pilot curricula, outcome base d assessment of students and preparation of 
teaching materials. The project resulted in incr eased motivation on the side of students and 
teachers, more regular presence of pupils, be tter performance and achievements as well as 
increased interest of future pupi ls for the pilot profiles. The re sult of this project brought the 
reform to the attention of trained staff a nd further dissemination is ensured through peer-
learning. 
 
EN 77   EN 18. SLOVAKIA  
18.1. Summary  
In 2009, Slovakia continued to implement succe ssfully post-accession assistance, to address 
the remaining needs related to institution building for the implementation of the acquis , in 
line with EDIS. 
Since October 2004, implementation is carried out under the entire resp onsibility of Slovak 
authorities applying national pr ocurement rules. The Central Finance and Contracting Unit 
(CFCU), the Regional Development Support Agen cy (RDSA) and the National Agency for 
Development of Small and Medium Enterpri ses (NADSME) are fully responsible for the 
daily implementation of the projects. 
The National Aid Coordinator (NAC) con tinued the monitoring of both PHARE and 
Transition Facility Programmes. The National Authorizing Officer (NAO) carried out the 
financial supervision.  
18.2. Implementation of the Tran sition Facility in 2009 
i) - Transition Facility 2005 – finalisation of payments  
The implementation of the Transition Facility (TF) 2005 programme was completed 
successfully by the end of 2008. 92.87% wa s disbursed by the end of the 2009.  
ii) - Transition Facility 2006 – finalisation of payments  
On 15 December 2009, at the end of the impl ementation period for the 2006 TF programme, 
97.57% of it had been disbursed.  
 iii) -  Institution Building highlights  
A total of around EUR 29 million of  post-accession assistance has been allocated to Slovakia 
from the Transition Facility programmes 2004-2006 (national allo cation, not including 
horizontal and multi-country programmes).  
During the period, there was ove rall progress towards the achie vement of objectives and 
results of EU assistance. TF 2006 projects we re successfully completed and mostly achieved 
their results.  
18.3. Results and Impact 
i) Joint Monitoring Committees / Sector Monitoring Sub-Committees  
In 2009 no physical Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) meeting was held. Two JMCs were 
concluded via written procedure. The Implem entation Status Reports were of good quality, 
including sufficiently detailed informati on regarding projects implementation and the 
achievement of their results. 
No particular monitoring actions were undert aken by the Commission since the amount of the 
assistance and the number of projects im plemented in 2009 were rather small. 
 
EN 78   EN ii) Monitoring and Evaluation Reports in 2009 - Lessons Learned  
Overall responsibility for monitoring and evalua tion of the Pre-accession and the Transition 
Facility programmes in Slovakia lies with th e Aid Co-ordination Unit, as the executive body 
of the NAC, at the Office of the Governme nt. An updated set of rules concerning the 
implementation of PHARE TF Assistance (appr oved end 2009) focuses more on the ex-post 
monitoring exercise and docum entation archiving. As such, ex -post monitoring reports are 
expected to be sent by ACU to the European Commission for information on a yearly basis (at 
least until 2012), whilst archiving of documen ts will be ensured for 5 years following the 
official closure of programmes. 
One final Interim Evaluation Report was pr epared in 2009 which covered the following 
components/sectors: justice and home affairs, social affairs and human resources 
development, agriculture and statistics, enviro nment and energy, internal market. The report, 
issued on 15 June 2009, rated a ll projects as satisfact ory. Projects were c onsidered generally 
relevant  and, in particular, those related to agricu lture and environment were rated as highly 
relevant. In terms of efficiency , the reviewed projects showed mostly positive results. The 
effectiveness was considered as well adequate. Also, sustainability appeared to be secured for most projects and it was expected that the majo rity of operations will have positive impact.   
With regard to the implementation of the Tr ansition Facility, some conclusions could be 
drawn.  
• Twining Light remained a popular instrument  for transferring know-how of EU partner 
countries to national author ities. In order to allow fo r a smooth implementation, 
beneficiaries should always allocate adequa te capacities and be familiar with twinning 
procedures. On the other hand, flexibility on th e side of the Resident  Technical Assistant 
and well defined individual res ponsibilities for consortia pa rtners are essential for the 
achievement of projects results. 
• As regards Technical Assistance,  the quality of requirements concerning experts, directly 
influences the performance and results expected  from those selected. In this respect, vague 
requirements with a view to increase the num ber of potential offers should be avoided. 
• Concerning Grants, the technical assistance su pport provided for the management of the 
schemes, combined with on-the-spot monitori ng by the relevant institutions, proved useful. 
 
EN 79   EN 19. SLOVENIA  
19.1. Summary  
In 2009, Slovenia continued to implement successf ully post-accession assistance to address 
the remaining needs related to institution building for the implementation of the acquis , in 
line with EDIS. 
Since 17 September 2004 implementation is carrie d out under the entire responsibility of the 
Slovenian authorities applying national procurement rules. The ATMinistry of Finance, 
Central Financing and Contracting Department  is responsible for ex-ante control and 
twinning. The Ministry of Finance, Central Fina ncing and Contracting Department (CFCD) is 
fully responsible for the daily implementation of the projects. 
The National Aid Coordinator (NAC) continued to exercise the monitoring of both PHARE 
and Transition Facility Programme s. The National Authorizing Officer (NAO) carried out the 
financial supervision. 
19.2. Implementation of the Tran sition Facility in 2009 
i) - Transition Facility 2005 – finalisation of payments  
The implementation of the TF 2005 programme  was completed successfully by the end of 
2008. 93.48% was disbursed by the end of the 2009.  
ii) - Transition Facility 2006 – finalisation of payments  
On 15 December 2009, at the end of the im plementation period for the 2006 Transition 
Facility programme, 86.39% of th e programme had been disbursed.  
 iii) -  Institution Building highlights  
A total of around EUR 17 million of  post-accession assistance has been allocated to Slovenia 
from the Transition Facility programmes 2004-2006 (national allo cation, not including 
horizontal and multi-country programmes).  
In 2009 the implementation of the Transition Faci lity projects in Slovenia was completed. 
There were no major problems with the implementation of the programme. The 
implementation of the Transition Facility is considered successful in the following areas: 
agriculture, justice and home affairs and internal market. 
19.3. Results and Impact 
i) Joint Monitoring Committees / Sector Monitoring Sub-Committees  
In 2009 no physical Joint Monitoring Committ ee (JMC) meeting was held. One JMC was 
concluded via written procedure in June. The Implementation Stat us Report was of good 
quality, including sufficiently detailed informa tion regarding projects implementation and the 
achievement of results. 
 
EN 80   EN No particular monitoring actions were undert aken by the Commission since the amount of the 
assistance and the number of the projects implemented in 2009 were rather small. 
ii) Monitoring and Evaluation Reports in 2009 - Lessons Learned  
Overall responsibility for m onitoring of the Pre-accession and the Transi tion Facility 
programmes in Slovenia lies with the Na tional Aid Coordinator (NAC) within the 
Government Office for European Affairs (GOEA).  
Only the project “Advanced Chemical Safety – Third stage” was subject to interim evaluation 
in 2009. Although rated by the eval uator in May as unsatisfa ctory, in July the updated 
information proved that the results should be met.  
 
EN 81   EN 20. TURKEY  
20.1. Summary 
The new law on the organisation and duties of th e Secretariat General for the European Union 
(EUSG) adopted in July 2009 provided the basi s for strengthening this  institution. As the 
National Aid Coordinator (NAC), it has a cr ucial role for programming, monitoring and 
management of pre-accession funds. The Turkey  pre-accession instrument being in its final 
phase (all contracting deadlines expired, implementation near finalisation), implementation of 
the Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA) is now coming to full speed.   
On 13 January 2010 the European Court of Aud itors (ECA) presented its special report on 
'The European Commission's management of pre-accession assistance to Turkey' covering the 
performance effectiveness of aid under the Tu rkey Pre-Accession (TPA) instrument between 
2002 and 2006.10 The report concluded that there has been an insufficient direction and lack 
of specific criteria to determine the priorities of  EU assistance, an insufficient compliance of 
pre-accession assistance with accession cr iteria and insufficient measurability of 
achievements under TPA. At the same time th e Court found that projects audited had 
achieved their intended outputs and that results are likely to be sustained in the future. 
Furthermore, measures aimed at addressing many of the weaknesses in the Decentralised 
Implementation System have been introduced with  IPA. The selection process is accordingly 
already improved as pointed out by the ECA, but the full impact of these changes can only be 
assessed as the IPA projects are implemented in  the coming years. Following the release of 
the report, the Commission has taken additional concrete m easures to further strengthen 
programming, implementation and monitoring. Howe ver, as TPA projects are coming to an 
end, these measures are mainly aiming at IPA. 
20.2. Pre-accession in 2009 
i) Programmes launched  
As of 2007 the Turkey pre-accession  instrument  was replaced by the new Instrument for Pre-
Accession Assistance. Therefore, no new pr ogrammes were launched in 2009 under the 
Turkey pre-accession  instrument. 
ii) Overview of programmes implemented  
Two programmes under the Turkey pre-accession in strument were under implementation in 
2009, the National Programmes 2005 and 2006.   
The following 12 projects were still ongoing and to be finalised  under the National 
Programme 2005: 
– Training Programme on the Istanbul Protoc ol: Enhancing the Knowledge Level of Non-
Forensic Expert Physicians, Judges and Prosecutors 
                                                 
10  Special Report No 16/2009 The European Commission’s management of pre-accession assistance to 
Turkey , published on 13 January 2010. Available at   
http://eca.europa.eu/portal/pls /portal/docs/1/3632589.PDF  
 
EN 82   EN – An Independent Police Complaints Commissi on & Complaints system for the Turkish 
National Police and Gendarmerie  
– Small Enterprises Loan Programme, 2nd Phase (SELP II) 
– Upgrading the Statistical Syst em of Turkey – Phase II   
– Çanakkale Regional Solid Waste Management Project  
– Kuşadas ı Regional Solid Waste Management Project 
– Regional Development in TR90 NUTS II (DOKAP) Region (Artvin, Giresun, Gümü şhane, 
Ordu, Rize and Trabzon) 
– Support to the Solu tion of Economic and Social Integration Problems in Diyarbakir, 
Sanliurfa, Gaziantep and Erzurum as  Major In-Migrant Destinations  
– Strengthening of the Epidemiological Surv eillance and Control of Communicable    
Diseases System (ESCCDS) in Turkey – Phase II. 
– Control of rabies disease in Turkey 
– Establishing New Border Inspection Posts (BIPs)  
– Establishment of National Food Reference Laboratory 
The following 41 projects were  still ongoing and to be finalised under the National 
Programme 2006: 
– Support to the set up an Asylum and Country  of Origin Information (COI) System  
– Civilian Oversight of Internal Security Sector  
– Training of Gendarmerie Officers on Eu ropean Human Rights  Standards 
– Support to Court Management System  
– Shelters for Women Subject to Violence  
– Strengthening of capacity for the in terdiction of drugs  in rural areas 
– Supporting Turkey’s efforts to combat human tr afficking and promote access to justice for 
all trafficked persons 
– Ethics for the Prevention of Corruption in Turkey 
– “Children First” – “Modelling Child Prot ection Mechanisms at Provincial Level” 
– Nevşehir Wastewater Treatment Plant Project  
– Tokat Wastewater Treatment Plant Project 
 
EN 83   EN – Active Employment Measures and Support to Turkish Employment Organization at Local 
Level 
– Support to Human Resources Development through Vocational Education and Training 
– Support to the Solution of Economic and Social  Integration Problems in Istanbul, Izmir, 
Ankara and Bursa as Major In-Migrant De stinations 
– Expansion of the European Tu rkish Business Centres Network 
– Industrial Restructur ing of Sanliurfa 
– Improvement of Road Safety in Turkey 
– Amasya Regional Solid Waste Management Project  
– Kütahya Regional Solid Wa ste Management Project 
– Bitlis Regional Solid Waste Management Project  
– Technical Assistance for the Management of the Ekmekçizade Caravanserai in Edirne  
– Upgrading of K ırklareli-Dereköy –Aziziye –Turkish Bulg arian Border State Road Project  
– Capacity Improvement for Flood Forecasting and Flood Control in the TR- BG cross-
border cooperation Region 
– Protection and Sustainable Development of Natural Resources and Biodiversity in the 
Yıldız Mountains 
– 2004-2006 Cross-Border Co-operation (CBC) Progr amme between Turkey and Bulgaria  
– Mitigating Flood Risk in Flooded Areas in the GAP Region 
– Establishment of a pilot Turkish Fa rm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) 
– Control of Foot and mouth disease in Turkey  
– Improvement of the Conditions for Cross Bo rder Electricity Trade in Turkey in 
Compliance with the Best Practice in EU 
– Capacity Building Support to Turkey for the water sector 
– Modernisation of the Turkis h Customs Administration III 
– Development of the seed sector in Turkey and alignment to the EU  
– Improving the Labour Inspection System  
– Capacity Building Support for the Ministry of National Education 
– Establishment of an Environmental Information Exchange Network (TEIEN) in Turkey 
 
EN 84   EN – Support Activities to Strengthen th e European Integration Process 
– Promotion of the Civil Society Dialogue between EU and TK 
– Continuation of the Jean Monnet Scholarshi p Programme for post-graduates in Turkey 
– Civil Society Dialogue - EU-Turkish Chambers Forum  
– Bringing together workers from Turkey and European Union countries through a “shared 
culture of work”. 
– Supporting Civil Society Development and Dialogue in Turkey 
iii)Pre-accession assistance management performance  
Table 1 -  Financial execution as at the end of December 2009 (in million EUR) – Turkey 
pre-accession instrument annual programmes   
 
  Allocated  Contracted RAC  % contracted Paid  RAL  % paid
TPA 2002 126 112 14* 89% 105 7  83% 
TPA 2003  144 122 22* 85% 117 5  81% 
TPA 2004  236 194 42** 82% 186 8  79% 
TPA 2005  277 234 43*** 84% 218 16 79% 
TPA 2006  450 389 61*** 86% 272 117 60% 
TOTAL 1233 1051 182 85% 898 153  73% 
* De-committed in 2007; ** De-committed in 2008;  *** Partially de-committed during 2009  
The last contracting deadlines under the Tu rkey pre-accession programmes expired in 2009 
and contracting rates for all programmes ‘landed’ above 80 %. Intermediate procurement 
deadlines established by the Joint Monito ring Committee for the submission of tender 
documents for ex ante  control by the EU Delegation originally established for the National 
Programme 2005 – and further strengthened fo r the 2006 contracting phase – led to an 
acceleration of the procurement proce ss compared with previous years.  
After a decline in the performance of the EUSG  in handling programming, monitoring as well 
as project management functions (EUSG acti ng as Senior Programmi ng Officer) during the 
first half of 2009, a new law adopted in July  provided the basis fo r strengthening this 
institution and increasing its staffing levels at least over the medium term. It also led to a 
restructuring, with most key positions changed at management level a nd with new recruitment 
starting towards the end of 2009. A more cooperativ e spirit was also evident, for example at 
the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) meeting he ld on 16 October. Monitoring activities 
that were discontinued were slowly resumed w ith the organisation of Sector Monitoring Sub-
Committee (SMSC) meetings in September. Despite these improvements, the monitoring 
activity was still insufficient and the antic ipated new recruitment in the monitoring 
department was delayed due to a court case. EUSG has committed to improve the situation 
but at the end of 2009 it was st ill not clear when the full r ecruitment procedure could be 
completed.  
The National Authorising Offi cer (NAO) Office/National Fund and the Central Finance and 
Contracts Unit (CFCU) made progress in establ ishing adequate procedures and organisational 
structures as part of an improved decentral ised implementation system (DIS) supervision 
under the Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA) which also benefited the management of 
 
EN 85   EN Turkish pre-accession funds. Identified weaknesses by Commission auditors have been 
addressed and the Central Financing and Co ntracts Unit (CFCU) displayed increasing 
confidence and ownership in its  role as Programme Authorising Officer (PAO) and in 
exercising its functions. Upon advice given by the Commission, the CFCU undertook "mini-
accreditations" to ensure that beneficiary ministri es have the necessary capacity to implement 
their projects.  
Some weaknesses remain neverthe less. For example, rejection ra tes still remained at a high 
level and problems with late contracting preva iled. An internal analysis was launched to 
improve the system with involvement of the EU  Delegation in Ankara. Relations between the 
different institutions involved in management of pre-accession assistance need to improve, for 
instance through a better communication fl ow and overall smoother collaboration. 
iv) Institution Building highlights  
The project Strengthening of capacity for the interdiction of drugs in rural areas  funded 
under the National Programme for Turkey 2006 was successfully completed by the end of 2009. The project was implemented between 2007 and 2009 through a direct agreement (EUR 
2.4 million) to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime  (UNODC) together  with the  
Anti-smuggling and Organised Crime Depart ment under Turkish Gendarmerie General 
Command. It also contained a supply compone nt (EUR 0.65 million) providing an electronic 
database to improve the flow of information between rural regions a nd the central drugs unit 
of the Gendarmerie, as well as mobile trai ning units (vehicles) and detection dogs for 
recognition of concealed drugs.
 The UNODC provided training to strengthen th e capacity for 
drugs law enforcement in 5 pilot provinces (one of them being Van, which is one of the most 
risky cities in terms of drugs trafficking in Turkey). 
Project implementation faced some delays, how ever was followed with a high commitment 
by the Gendarmerie. Due to delay in assigning a dog trainer, one of the dogs procured under 
the project could not be trained and mobilized  anymore. Following the training given on the 
use of the equipment and the dogs, operations resulted with considerable amounts of drug seizures since the completion of the project. A significant increase is for example noted in 
Van. Mobile training units allow the Gendarmerie to reach each officer in the rural area where physical conditions are difficult. Apart from th at, the Gendarmerie officers are now able to 
receive training without leav ing their work locations.  
Other positive results achieved were the developm ent of an Action Plan on fight against drugs 
in rural areas, the development of a training cu rriculum to be used at law enforcement schools 
and the establishment of drugs intelligence un its and enhanced international cooperation 
through networks established with Europol and EU member states or ganisations (customs 
offices etc.). While this action plan will give the Gendarmerie a specific role as concerns the 
rural areas, it will also complement the implem entation of the National Strategy against Drugs 
which is coordinated by the Turkish Focal Po int to the EMCDDA-(TUBIM under the Turkish 
National Police). The preparation of this rural action plan in creased the cooperation between 
the Police and the Gendarmerie. Overall, the impact can be summarized as the use of new 
technology by the Gendarmerie officers and th e synergy created between the Police and 
Gendarmerie in terms of implementing the Strategy at national level.  
Under the National Programme for Turkey 2005, EUR 1 million was given to support the 
project Increasing Public Awareness on Energy Efficiency in Buildings  which was 
successfully finalised in 2009. Th e Directorate General of the Electrical Power Resources 
 
EN 86   EN Survey and Development Administ ration (EIE) was given technica l assistance to improve its 
institutional capacity, resulting in enhanced competence to execute public awareness raising 
activities in the field of energy efficiency and learn best practises in EU Member States.  
A wide range of groups, particularly the sta ff (experts) of the EIE has been trained and 
informed about the Energy Efficiency in Build ings. The current capacity, deficiencies and 
needs of staff have been analysed and defi ned. The know-how and implementation experience 
of the EU countries, mainly Denmark and Fi nland, have been observed through the on-site 
visits and programmes.  
Subsequently as part of the project, seminars and conferences were organised to inform the 
public of pilot programmes implemented in Anka ra and Istanbul designed for specific target 
groups: pupils of elementary, secondary and hi gh schools, university st udents, teachers and 
housewives. Subjects covered were, for instance , energy efficiency in lighting, heating and 
waste management at home.  Public atten tion was attracted by publishing well prepared 
materials (Enver) and campaigns through media a nd billboards .The projec t culminated in the 
National Energy Efficiency Forum, which was he ld in Istanbul in Ja nuary 2009 with a high 
number of participants. Besides, all the relate d parties have been informed through seminars 
and conferences about the current Energy Efficiency Law and its implementations in Turkey 
within the framework of the EU implemen tations. Information materials about energy 
efficiency have been prepared to be disseminated to the di fferent target groups and through 
various media channels. It has been estimated that improved energy efficiency could result in 
a 25% reduction in energy consumption and save  up to EUR 4 billion eu ros per year from the 
national budget.       
20.3. Results and impact 
i) Joint Monitoring Committees/S ector Monitoring Sub-Committees  
During the year two Joint Monitoring Comm ittee (JMC) meetings were organised in 
combination with IPA Transition Assistance and Institution Building Monitoring Committees, on 28 January and 16 October 2009. The January 2009 JMC analysed results from a sub-system audit on monitoring, recommendations from an external expert as well as results from 
the performance audit of the European Court of  Auditors and concluded that an overhaul of 
the monitoring system, including streamlining of monitoring repor ts and the reorganisation of 
Sector Monitoring Sub-Committees, would be launched. Given the prevailing weaknesses in 
monitoring by the Turkish institut ions, it was agreed that tec hnical assistance to carry out 
Results Oriented Monitoring (ROM ) would be recruited to assist  in particular the EUSG, but 
also the CFCU in carrying out mon itoring of the intensity needed.  
The October 2009 JMC meeting took stock of ongoing work to reduce rejection rates and 
delays in contracting as well as efforts to  improve implementation of grant schemes and 
procurement planning.  
The Sector Monitoring Sub-Committees (SMS Cs) were initially halted but took place in 
September 2009 for the following sectors: civil so ciety dialogue, public finance, statistics & 
accession process support, cross-border cooperati on, human resources development, internal 
market, customs union, energy, rural developm ent, regional development & transport, 
environment, justice, liberty a nd security and political criteria.  Monitoring reports were also 
submitted, but the focus still needed improvement in terms of strategic sector policy overviews – which have been requested to ensure the necessary link between the policy 
 
EN 87   EN dialogue and the project discussion that ta kes place within the management committees. 
Furthermore, more active involvement of benefici aries both in the draf ting of agendas and in 
the discussions was deemed beneficial for efficient monitoring.  
ii) Monitoring & Evaluation Reports in 2009 - Lessons Learned  
The Interim Evaluation (IE) scheme on Europ ean Union pre-accession assistance to Turkey 
mainly implemented during 2008 was comple ted in the beginning of 2009. The interim 
evaluation covered ten sectors (c ivil society dialogue , cross-border cooperation, environment, 
human resources development, internal market , political criteria, public finance, regional 
competitiveness, rural development, and transport) and three thematic/horizontal evaluations (gender equality, municipal environmental infras tructure and donor coordination in Turkey).  
Regarding thematic/horizontal evaluations, the evaluation on  Gender  Equality concluded that 
the pre-accession strategy has ensured that gender e quality is firmly on the political agenda in 
Turkey, but that pre-accession assistance has ha d uneven impact in the field. Gender-specific 
projects have had notable outco mes for women, but mainstreaming of gender issues is needed 
to ensure that also projects that are not gender-specific deliver outcomes for women. Key 
institutions in Turkey have insufficient cap acity to promote gender equality and the overall 
partnership between the Turkish authoritie s, the EU, other b ilateral donors and the 
international community n eeds to be strengthened. 
The evaluation on  Municipal Environm ental Infrastructure  concluded that smaller and 
medium-sized municipalities are highly depe ndant on central aut horities for project 
preparation. Risks identifie d related to the difficulties faced by smaller municipalities to cover 
maintenance costs of infrastructure. Late tenderi ng and contracting difficulties have hampered 
efficient delivery of assistance, but once st arted, implementation has been relatively good. 
The evaluation on Donor Coordination  in Turkey concluded that the requirements for 
effective donor coordination are partly in pl ace (National Development Plan and sector 
strategies exist), but the admini strative capacity needs to be st rengthened in terms of overall 
framework for donor coordination. Harmonisati on of donor arrangements is generally still 
weak, but information sharing takes place. 
A Country Program Interim Evaluation (CPiE)  covering both IPA and Turkish Pre-accession 
Assistance between the years 2005-2008 was launched in 2009. It replaces the previous Interim Evaluation scheme and is more focu sed on programme level as compared to the 
previous sector level approach. The CPiE will continue to serve as a management tool for 
programme managers by providing inputs for decision-making.  
iii) Sectors with positive results
 
The interim evaluation scheme from 2008-2009 c oncluded that moderate ly positive results 
were achieved in the areas of the internal market, Transport and Public Finance where interventions in general were relevant, effective, overall adequate and that wider impacts can be measured in a number of sub-sectors. 
iv) Success stories
 
“Promoting Gender Equality” (Turkey Pre-Accession Instrument 2005)  
 
EN 88   EN This project funded through a total EU cont ribution of EUR 7.2 million under the National 
Programme 2005 included a twinning component (EUR 1.7 million), a direct agreement with 
the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA, EU R 3 million) and a service contract (EUR 
2.5 million). The twinning was implemented together  with the Ministry of Social Affairs and 
Employment of the Netherlands and was comp leted in the last m onths of 2008. The final 
report submitted in July 2009 concluded that the project had been successful, with the 
National Action Plan on Gender Equality 2008 – 2013 being a particularly important result in 
the Turkish context. The Turkish institutions participated enthusiastically in trainings, seminars and awareness raising activities on ge nder equality and expressed high appreciation 
for the networks established through the proj ect (almost 800 decision makers in relevant 
institutions convened). A Disc ussion Paper on a Draft Model for a Gender Equality Body 
(GEB) was also produced which will support the responsible body (the Di rectorate General on 
the Status of Women) in achieving its instit utional goals in promo ting gender equality in 
Turkey.  
The Directorate General on the Status of Women implemented the second component of the 
project aiming to combat domestic violence against women through policy development and 
awareness raising. The project strengthened the capacities of public agencies that provide 
services to women victimized by or under the risk of domesti c violence. The project also 
encouraged the relevant institu tions to draw up medium term plans, consolidated under a 
National Action Plan on Combating Domes tic Violence 2007-2010. The responsible bodies 
and service providers had the opportunity to a ssess the efficiency of, and the challenges 
encountered, in their efforts to end violence  against women. Data collection forms were 
developed as the first step in setting up an in formation system on violence against women. A 
communication strategy was formulated and awar eness raising activities targeting different 
groups were conducted.  
The research on causes and consequences of vi olence against women, helped –for the first 
time- to provide comprehensive data at national,  regional levels as well as urban and rural 
settings, describing the scale and the nature of the problem. The information gathered is 
expected to prompt policy makers to review th e priorities set earlier in the fight against 
violence and trigger a revision of existing polic y documents in the social and economic sector. 
As a matter of fact, Turkey has allocated nati onal resources for the implementation of the 
Action Plan. The Status of Women has taken the lead to coordinate the process of updating 
the National Action Plan on Combating Domes tic Violence for the year 2011-14 together 
with the relevant institutions. As a furthe r step in setting up a national database and 
information system, the forms develope d are being tested by the police.  
The support that the EU has cha nnelled in the field of comba ting domestic violence against 
women produced the tools to help the Government  of Turkey in its efforts towards advancing 
women’s rights in the country  
"Çanakkale Regional Solid Waste Mana gement Project" (Turkey Pre-Accession 
Instrument 2005)  
The EU helped reduce the pollution of groundw ater and the environment in Çanakkale and 
nearby municipalities and increase recycling by establishing a solid waste management 
system in the region. In order to do so, the EU helped construct a new landfill with a leachate 
treatment plant, a gas collection and flaring syst em and a pilot compost plant. A civic amenity 
centre was constructed and five old dumpsites were rehabilitated. Furthermore, the EU 
supplied landfill, collection and composting equipment, as well as waste containers. As a 
 
EN 89   EN result, water -, soil – and air pollution caused by the current dumpsites and related health risks 
will be reduced.  
“Active Employment Measures and Support to Turkish Employment Organization at 
Local Level" (Turkey Pre-Accession Instrument 2006)  
A total of 101 projects have been funded in 26 provi nces of Turkey in orde r to assist Turkey's 
public employment services in implementing mo re efficient employment measures in line 
with labour market needs at the local level. Moreover, these projects aim to increase the 
employability of young people and women. These pr ojects ranged from vocational training, 
on-the-job training, job matching services, sh ort-term placements with companies, the 
development of apprenticeship programmes and the development of career guidance and 
advisory services including jo b clubs, to name only a few. The projects not only made a 
difference in the lives of those directly concer ned, but also led to an institutional reformation 
of the Turkish public employment service. It  now has the necessary tools, mechanisms, 
experience and much improved capacity to design  and implement labour market measures for 
specific target groups, which are also reflected in their actions  funded by the national budget. 
Furthermore, the project has helped them ge t acquainted with the European Social Fund. 
 
 
EN 90   EN PART II:  MULTIBENEFICIARY PROGRAMMES  
21. TWINNING AND OTHER INSTITUTION BUILDING TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE  
21.1. Twinning  
In the course of 2009, many projects launched in previous years and financed under the 
budget lines considered continued to be implem ented. One new project still financed with 
CARDS funds was launched in Serbia. No new twinnings were registered under PHARE or 
Turkish Pre-accession assistance. 
The number of projects funded by the Transition Facility was on the contrary significant. 
Bulgaria and Romania signed 17 and, 10 twinning contracts re spectively for full-fledged 
twinning projects. Both countries  were also rather active in circulating fiches for twinning 
light projects (Bulgari a 26 and Romania 23).  
Projects in the area of  Justice and Home affaires have outrun all other subject in Bulgaria as 
well as in Romania. 
The average cost of the full-fledged projects  launched in 2009 in  Bulgaria was EUR 700,000 
and Romania EUR 650,000. 
Full details of the projects c oncerned are included in the coun try sections of this report. 
An ad-hoc interim evaluation report on Twinni ng in Croatia was released in December 2008. 
Overall, Twinning in Croatia has performed well. The acceptance of twinning has increased 
significantly and the instrument is well rece ived by the beneficiaries. Weaknesses of 
Twinning in Croatia include inadequate needs assessment, insufficient political support, and lack of coordination between institutions. Th e report suggested developing a mechanism of 
ex-post monitoring which is now foreseen in  the new Common Twinning Manual (issued on 
September 2009). 
21.2. TAIEX 
TAIEX
11 started operations in 1996 as a follow-up to the Commission’s White Paper on the 
preparation of the associated countries fo r integration into the internal market.  
Since then, TAIEX has evolved in to an instrument providing short-term technical assistance 
to facilitate the approximation, implementa tion and enforcement of EU legislation.  
The TAIEX instrument remained available for the 10 Member States which acceded in 2004 
(until May 2008), to Bulgaria an d Romania, to candidate countri es and potential candidates, 
to the Turkish Cypriot community, as well as to the countries covered by the European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI). 
                                                
 
11 Technical Assistance Inform ation Exchange Instrument 
 
EN 91   EN Almost 7% of TAIEX activit ies (118) have been funde d under residual CARDS funds. 
TAIEX events organised under the Transition F acility accounted for 15% of the total number 
of events in all budget lines. 
Table 1- TAIEX Events by CARDS & TF budget line and type 2009 
Budget Line Event Type Total 
CARDS 2006 Agriculture 36 
  Infrastructures  14 
  Internal Market 31 
  Justice, liberty and security  37 
CARDS 2006 Total   118 
Transition Facility - 2007 I&II Agriculture 56 
  Infrastructures 36 
  Internal Market 29 
  Justice, liberty and security 81 
  Regional Training 
Programme 59 
Transition Facility - 2007 I&II Total   261 
Grand Total (CARDS + TF)   379 
 
21.3. SIGMA  
Since 1992 this institution- building instrument has been provi ding assistance in horizontal 
areas of public management including public se rvice, legal administrative framework, public 
integrity system, policy-making and co-ordinat ion, regulatory framew ork, public expenditure 
management, public internal financial control, external audit and public procurement. It is 
principally financed by the EU and implem ented by the Organisati on for Economic Co-
operation and Development (OECD)  through contribution agreem ents between the European 
Commission and the OECD. 
In the framework of the Instrument for Pre- accession Assistance (IPA), SIGMA work with all 
EU candidate countries and potential candi dates was launched in January 2009 and will 
continue until December 2010 under a new contribution agreement between the Commission and the OECD, which provides for a global budget of EUR 10.7 million.  
No SIGMA activities funded under the budget lines  considered by this report were conducted 
in 2009. 
22. M
ULTI -COUNTRY , REGIONAL  AND HORIZONTAL PROGRAMMES  
22.1. Political Criteria 
22.1.1.  Participation in Community Agencies 
The purpose of this assistance is to ensure that beneficiaries can particip ate effectively in the 
Community Agencies either if permitted prior to accession or following accession to the EU.  
The Beneficiaries can participate in EU Progr ammes, Agencies and Committees on a case-by-
case basis and the ticket to part icipate in those is financed through the National Programmes. 
 
EN 92   EN As was the case with previous Enlargements  however, the EU supports the Community 
Agencies to prepare their counterparts in the Bene ficiaries for participation in the activities of 
the EU Agencies. 
The purpose of this assistance is to ensure that beneficiaries can particip ate effectively in the 
Community Agencies either if permitted prior to accession or following accession to the EU.  
The programme provide support to the Community  Agencies by allowing them to carry out 
preparatory measures in the Beneficiaries with  the Beneficiary counter parts and stakeholders 
so as to facilitate future participation in  these Community Agencies, and to stimulate 
cooperation between the Benefici aries and their stakeholders. 
The activities under this programme allow the Be neficiaries to increase their understanding of 
the function and operations of the Community Ag encies and more importantly the role they 
should play within these bodies. Secondly, the s upport allows Beneficiar ies to involve other 
relevant stakeholders in ways similar to those of the EU Member States. Agencies will be able 
to support Beneficiaries by providing advice on  organisational matters and by training the 
appropriate staff of the Beneficiar ies. Furthermore, participation in specific events (if possible 
with EU Member States) provide Beneficiarie s with invaluable opportu nities for networking 
and exchange of experience. 
In those cases where Community Agencies supported by the Commission line DGs are not 
sufficiently informed about the state of progress and hence the specific gaps that need to be 
plugged prior to joining their Agency, awarene ss-raising actions and fact-finding missions 
allow Agencies on the one hand an d Beneficiaries on the other to  clearly assess their needs. 
These needs are addressed either under this programme or under follow-up actions.  
Under the CARDS Regional Action Programme (RAP) 2005, Contribution Agreements were 
concluded with the European Environment Ag ency (EEA), the European Aviation Safety 
Agency (EASA), the European Maritime Sa fety Agency (EMSA), and the European 
Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addi ction (EMCDDA). Activities foreseen under 
those agreements (CARDs), as well as its  continuation under IPA 2007 ended during 2009. 
The Agencies presented their final reports  under the CARDS and IPA 2007 programmes to 
the Commission for assessment. The assistan ce continues under the IPA 2008 programme. 
Therefore it is too early to present final results, but it can be concluded that some Beneficiaries are already knocki ng on the door of some Agenci es, notably the EEA and the 
EMCDDA. Croatia plans to join th e EMCDDA in the coming months. 
A conference organised by the EMCDDA in Sintra (Lisbon, Portugal) in November 2009 
allowed Beneficiaries to exchange views with  the Agencies. At this event both parties 
increased their mutual unders tanding on the needs, require ments and the way forward.  
22.1.2.  Social inclusion 
During 2009, the project " Social inclusion of and access to human rights for Roma, Ashkali 
and Egyptian communities in the Western Balkans"  under the CARDS Regional Action 
Programme 2006 continued its implementation.  The overall purpose is to contribute to 
increased legal and social inclusion of marg inalised communities and facilitate their full 
enjoyment of citizenship rights in the Western Balkans. Activities were implemented in all the areas targeted. Overall, solid progress can be reported particularly in  matters of legal aid 
provision, the centrepiece of the project. Networks were also se t up; information material was 
 
EN 93   EN produced and disseminated; information meetings were held and in general direct assistance 
was provided to an increasing number of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian population, in 
particular in the area of civ il registration. This contract wa s completed on 31 July 2009.  
22.1.3.  Justice, freedom and security 
The actions aim to strengthen the efficiency and autonomy of law enforcement agencies and 
judicial bodies in their capacity to deal with corruption, illicit trafficking and organised crime. 
The main general activities under these projects  were: Capacity build ing activities: regional 
and national thematic meetings, seminars and conferences, round tables, study visits, training 
activities, including exchange pr ogrammes; gaps and needs-analys is sessions, specific studies, 
assessment missions; actions to pool informa tion, enhance co-operatio n and facilitate co-
ordinated activities; ad vice on legislation, regulations, ope rational procedures, exchange of 
experience, lessons learned, best prac tices and other relevant information. 
The following projects were  under implementation:  
Under the CARDS Regional Acti on Programme 2005 the project " International Law 
Enforcement Co-ordination Units ILECUS"  was under implementation in 2009. The objective 
of this project is to further strengthen nationa l platforms for international police co-operation, 
through the establishment of International Law Enforcement Co-ordinat ion Units, with a view 
to support the exchange of inform ation in internationa l investigations, and facilitate contacts 
on an operational level. Several meetings, inform ation exchange visits and study visits took 
place with the goal to intensify cooperation. Know -how transfer started according to schedule. 
Under the CARDS Regional Acti on Programme 2006 the project " Support to the Prosecutors' 
Network " was under implementation in 2009. The proj ect should strengthen the established 
prosecutors' network and provide support for the identified gap areas. The activities carried 
out were in line with the work plan. Several meetings and visits took place; Expert opinions 
on the field were provided; Agreement on the amendment to the Memorandum of 
Understanding (MoU) for Regional Co-operation against Organised crime was reached. The 
project " Development of monitoring instruments for judicial and law enforcement institutions 
in the Western Balkans " was launched in February 2009 fo r a duration of 24 months. The 
objective is to develop a cor pus of regionally harmonised a nd coherent indicators, in 
compliance with EU best practices, and standa rds established by Europol, that would enable 
the judicial and policing institutions in the Western Balkan countries  to monitor and assess 
their activities, results and performances. A ll focal points were identified, selected and 
recruited. Several on-si te research visits were carried out. A contributi on agreement was 
signed with UNODC in October 2009 for the project “Assessment of Corruption in the 
Western Balkans”. The project will start its implementation in 2010. The overall objective is 
to provide an evidence-based assessment of corr uption nature and patterns in the region and in 
each Western Balkan country/territory, as well as to strengthen capacity to conduct sustainable and regionally comparable assessments.  
22.1.4.  Cross-Border Institution Building (CBIB)  
In November 2008, a service contract (a pproximate budget: EUR 1.5 million) for the 
implementation of the second phase of Cro ss-Border Institution Building (CBIB II) was 
initiated with a view to providing cohere nt and harmonised assistance and guidance at 
 
EN 94   EN regional level for the programming and impl ementation of current and future IPA CBC 
programmes among Western Ba lkan Beneficiaries.  
CBIB II already boasts numerous achievement s, including: support provided for the 
preparation of the first round of Calls for Proposals (CfPs) for eight CBC programmes; 
support to the organisation of 38 information se ssions/kick-off events/partner search forums; 
six three-day trainings on the evaluation of  grant applications received during the 1st round of 
CfPs held for members of the Joint Monitoring Committees, staff of the Operating Structures 
and Joint Technical Secretariats /Antennae and assessors  in six countries; revision of the MIS 
system according to the CBC requirements to be  used for efficient and effective programme 
management, implementation and monitoring of  eight programmes am ong Western Balkan 
countries; fifteen training events on how to  prepare good quality project proposals held in 
three countries (Montenegro, Albania and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) for 
313 potential applican ts; CBIB website redesigned and upg raded, averaging 2000 visitors per 
month; etc. 
22.1.5.  Civil Society Dialogue and Development 
The actions aim to increase capacity and actions  of Civil Society Organisations and improve 
the democratic role of Ci vil Society Organisations. 
The main general activities under these projec ts were: Awareness raising campaigns; Training 
of NGOs; Training of staff, trai ners, beneficiaries, representativ es of the target group, etc.; 
Advisory services; Internships; Manageme nt courses (including on fundraising, PR and 
lobbying); Transfer of specific technical know-how; Study visits and work placements; 
Thematic seminars, workshops, conferences (to pr esent project results to  a wider audience of 
interest specialists) and other dissemination actions; Meetings/campaigns to raise the awareness of the local population and/or the authoritie s; Publications of manuals, leaflets, on 
best practices; Establishment or developm ent of new services; Network building; 
Establishment of best practice and procedures; Other human and institutional capacity building measures; Activities assuring institutio nal support (e.g. steering committees); TV co-
productions documentaries. 
The following programmes were under implementation in 2009:  
- Multi-beneficiary PHARE Business Support Pr ogramme (BSP) for Bulgaria, Romania, 
Croatia and Turkey . The programme addressed the ne eds of Business Representative 
Organisations (BROs) in the i ndustrial sector by strengtheni ng their corporat e functioning 
and by providing training in the relevant acquis . It also enabled these BROs to assist 
businesses in assessing whether they comply with the acquis  allowing them to implement 
remedial measures. Important progress has been  achieved in setting up legal and motivated 
BROs. Following two calls for proposals, 18 projects were selected for funding. The 
implementation of the projects ended in June 200 9. The vast majority of the final reports of 
the projects were received and analysed. Ov erall, one may conclude that business 
representative organisations w ithin the Beneficiaries have in creased their understanding on 
the essential acquis  in their sector. However, a follo w-up involving other segments of the 
civil society is called for. Furthermore, th e advocacy capacity and management of the 
business representative organisa tions should be further improved. 
- Civil Society Dialogue and People to People Project  under the CARDS Regional Action 
Programme 2006:  The contracts that were signed during the second quarter of 2009 with 8 
 
EN 95   EN organisations for a maximum project duration of 24 months are progressing well according to 
schedule. 
22.2. Economic Criteria 
IFI Cooperation and Competitiveness 
The general purpose of the actions aim to: 1) help Beneficiaries to improve the access to 
finance for private investments, in particular for SMEs; 2) fina ncially assist the promotion of 
investments in energy efficiency and renewabl e energy; and 3) support the development and 
upgrading of transport, environment, and ener gy infrastructure and in the social field, 
contributing to sustainable development in the region.  
(i) Support to private investments 
- SME Finance Facility (SMEFF):  The aim is to assist the Bene ficiaries in strengthening their 
financial sectors in order to c ope with the competitive pressure and market forces within the 
EU and to strengthen the capacity of financial intermediaries to expand and maintain in the 
long term their financing operations with  SMEs. During 2009, ther e were 15 programmes 
under implementation. Some new projects and several amendments to projects were 
approved. Several loan agreement compliance checks were executed. KfW transferred the 
related IFI business from Frankfur t to its branch in Berlin.  
-European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) : The aim is to foster economic development 
and prosperity in Southeast Europe through su stainable provision of additional development 
finance, notably to the small and micro enterpri se sector, and to priv ate households via local 
financial institutions. The programme under im plementation was funded out of CARDS 2006.  
- Investment Promotion/Business Climate : The aim is to promote sustainable economic 
development, to improve competitiveness of enterprises and to establish a business environment in the Western Balkan s that will attract FDI. The main activities developed have 
been supporting the attraction of direct investments from the demand side (i.e. marketing the 
region among potential foreign direct investors)  and the supply side (i.e. raising awareness 
among the region's policy makers on action to take  to promote foreign direct investments.) 
There were two projects under implementation:  
-“Defining and Strengthening Sector Specific Sources of Competitiveness in the 
Western Balkans region ” – EUR 1 million - funded under the Regional Action Programme 
CARDS 2005. From the supply side: The OECD I nvestment Compact for South East Europe's 
project is dealing with the identification and pr ioritisation of key sect ors with high growth 
potential followed by the definition of an invest ment promotion strategy for the region and the 
elaboration of action plans concerning policy reforms implementing this strategy in each 
country.  The financial situa tion had direct consequences on the implementation of the 
project, making necessary an extensi on of the duration of the project. 
-“European Investor Outreach Programme -Phase 2 ” – renamed into Invest in the 
Western Balkans Programme  funded under the CARDS Regional Action Programme 2005 -  
EUR 1 million. From the demand side: FIAS/IFC
12 (World Bank Group)' Investment in the 
                                                 
12 FIAS: Multi-Donor Investment Climate Advisory Se rvice; IFC: International Finance Corporation 
 
EN 96   EN Western Balkans Programme is a marketing an d investment facilitation programme focusing 
on automotive components, food and beverages,  information and communications technology 
(ICT), business services, textiles and pharmaceutical s; it consists of targeted dissemination of 
business and factor cost information of mo st relevance to prospective investors; 
implementation of regional image building activ ities; establishment of country desk officer 
functions and traineeships at th e Invest in the Western Balkan s Programme office in Vienna 
for staff members of the benefi ciary organisations, capacity bu ilding and institutional support 
for the beneficiary Investment Promotion Agencies.  
The findings of both projects showed that one of  the main challenges for the region in terms 
of competitiveness in the medium term is to deal with human capital development and the generation of innovation. These findings have b een taken into consider ation for the regional 
programming 2009. 
(ii) Promotion of energy efficiency investments 
- Energy Efficiency Fina nce Facility (EEFF) : The aim is to financially assist the Beneficiaries 
to promote investments in ener gy efficiency and renewable energy generation in order to 
improve the energy performance of the building and industry sectors. There were three 
PHARE programmes under implementation. The in ternational financial institutions (IFIs) 
expressed their wish to amend the Contributio n Agreements in order to include renewable 
energy projects. Given the current market cond itions following the financial crisis, the IFIs 
consider that the inclusion of such projects would facilitate the further development of the 
facility. Only a few projects were approved during 2009. Further contri butions continue under 
IPA. 
(iii) Support to infrastructure inves tments, including Municipalities.  
- Municipal Finance Facility (MFF) : The aim is to assist the Beneficiaries in contributing to 
the reform and the strengthening of the fi nancial sector. There were eleven PHARE 
programmes under implementation. Some new pr ojects were approved. The EIB and KfW 
committed all the funds for MFF 2002 and 200 3, but the implementation of MFF 2005 and 
MFF 2006 was challenging due to the present mark et restrictions associ ated with the on-going 
financial crisis. 
For the EBRD commitment, the pace of disbur sement of grants under committed projects was 
still slow but improving. 
-Municipal Infrastructure Facility (MIF) : The aim is to contribute to the environmentally 
sustainable social and economic development of  border regions in the Beneficiaries and to 
their integration with their neighbouring regions in the current EU Member States. There were 
two PHARE programmes under implementation. The MIF programmes are already fully 
allocated. Only disbursement continued since the contracting period with local financial 
intermediaries expired.   
-Infrastructure Projects Facility (IPF)  - EUR 15.122 million allocated under the Regional 
Action Programme CARDS 2005 and 2006. Additio nal resources continue under IPA 2008. 
The aim is to support the development and upgr ading of infrastructures in transport, 
environment, and energy and the social field, so as to contribute to creating the conditions for 
sustainable development in the region.  During 2009, discussions took place on the transition 
of the IPF management structures – an operatio nal Secretariat and a Steering Committee - into 
the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBI F) structures. Efforts concentrated on the 
 
EN 97   EN implementation of as many project s as possible out of  the 27 first and second round projects 
and considerable progress was made. Terms of  reference were wri tten for 25 of the 27 
projects. The number of projects under implemen tation increased from 15 to 20. Out of these 
20 projects 7 have completed th eir first stage. Project financ ing – the provisional financing 
identified on the first 11 project exceeded EU R 350 million. A project we b site was initiated. 
The support to the IPF in the social sectors is  a parallel framework contract EUR 0.2 million 
aimed at facilitating the mapping and identificatio n of social policies and strategies in the 
region. At the end of December 2009 the contract was at a standstill since since performance 
of expert was not considered satisfactory. 
22.3. European Standards 
Transport 
The aim is to support the development of the So uth East Europe Transp ort Core Network with 
focus on road safety and railways and the im plementation of the European Common Civil 
Aviation Area Agreement in each Beneficiary. 
There were two projects unde r implementation in 2009:  
- “Support to the SEETO Secretariat” – EUR 944 070: The purpose of the project is to assist 
the participants in the SEE Core Regiona l Transport Network for implementing the 2007-
2011 Multi Annual Plan (MAP) soft measures in th e 1) Railways sub-sector with focus on: 
(i) Infrastructure Access & Pricing Regime and Network Statements; and (ii) Railways 
border crossing; and in the 2)  Roads sub-sector, with focus on Road Safety Auditing. The 
project has been completed and the results ha ve been presented at the Annual Ministerial 
Meeting of SEETO held in Zagreb on 3 Decem ber 2009. The most important results related 
to the Railways Component were: a draf t regulatory manual (RM) for a harmonised 
infrastructure changing regime; a draft harm onised Network Statement (NS); Actions Plans 
for the completion of RM and endorsment of NS ; A draft Regional Plan to improve regional 
railways operations at border crossing; and action plan for gr eater integration of railway 
border crossing policies. The most important results related to the Road Safety Auditing Component were: a draft short term Road Safety  Strategy; a proposal for law and regulations 
to implement mandatory RSA; a draft Road Safety Audit Manual; a standardised set of common road safety auditing procedures; a draft RSA agreement and an Action Plan for its implementation; and testing RSA procedures thr ough pilot projects with reference to design 
documents and existing roads on the core road network. 
- “Technical Assistance to the impl ementation of the ECAA Agreement” – EUR 985 000 under 
the CARDS Regional Action Progra mme 2006: It aims at providi ng support in the form of 
long term / short term expert assignments, tr anslation services, trai ning, workshops, seminars 
and study visits to similar size national administ ration in EU Member States, in the fields of: 
aviation legislation, economic regulation, aviation safety, ai r traffic management, aviation 
security and airports regulati on. The contract is cu rrently providi ng legal, translation and on-
the-job training assistance to the benefici aries. The annual ECAA meeting saw the 
participation of the lead expert presenting the st ate of advancement of th e contract and of the 
legislation acquisition. Good work ing cooperation was established between the contractor and 
the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) as well as the Integrated Standby Instrument 
System (ISIS). 
 
EN 98   EN Customs and Taxation 
The aim is to ensure that systems and documen tation in the area of taxation and customs are 
planned and developed in accordan ce with EU requirements.  
There were two projects under implementation during 2009:  
- TACTA 2 under CARDS 2006 Annua l Action Programme for Commu nity Assistance to the 
Customs and Taxation authorities (CAFAO) of the Western Balkans (excluding Croatia) was 
a prolongation of the main TACT A project (EUR 7.10 million), wh ich had ended in February 
2009, in order to complete the project satisfactor ily for the further alignment of customs and 
indirect tax legislation and procedures with the acquis  and the delivery of technical assistance 
on direct taxation. The final conference took place in Florence on 16 October 2009 for the 
presentation of the overall TACTA results and to  set out the direction for future cooperation. 
Most of the beneficiary Custom s and/or Taxation Directors were  present at the meeting. They 
stated their great appreciation of the TACTA project and expr essed their hopes that it would 
be possible to continue with regioanl activitie s as initiated by TACTA in the near future. 
- SEMS13 - EUR 429 914 under CARDS Serbia a nd Montenegro State Union Action 
Programme - Customs and Taxes 2005: The pr oject, which ended on 1 July 2009, supported 
current applications in the region and to adopt “SEMS” as the regional standard for 
information exchange. The objectives of SEMS were  to sustain administrative capacity in the 
exchange of information and to familiarise be neficiaries with the concept of the electronic 
exchange of data as well as to establish a br idge in administrative cooperation. It is intended 
to continue with a similar project under IPA 2010. 
Statistics 
The aim is to upgrade and stre ngthen the statistical systems in the Western Balkans in 
particular in macro-economic, price, external trade, agricultural, demographic and social and 
business statistics. The main activities devel oped included: expert missions, workshops and 
seminars, financing of data coll ection as well as general statis tical assistance, including the 
participation of experts from Beneficiaries in  technical meetings organised by Eurostat and 
other Commission services, study vi sits to official statistics providers in Europe, training, 
consultation visits and traineeships. 
The project “ Multi-beneficiary Programme - Statisti cal cooperation for Bulgaria, Croatia, 
Romania and Turkey 2006 – EUR 12 million, January 2008 – December 2010” was under 
implementation. Activities in one service contract  ended as scheduled a nd Eurostat received 
the final report. Implementation of activities co vered by the other servi ce contract and four 
grant contracts continued and interim reports were received. An extensive amendment for 
Turkey was signed in November 2009. Fu rther support is provided under IPA. 
Environment 
To support candidate countries and potential candi dates to develop the capacities, tools, 
mechansims, frameworks and cooperation needed  to cope with the challenges faced in the 
field of environment (including climate change) on their way to the EU accession. 
                                                 
13 South-East European Messaging System 
 
EN 99   EN There were three projects  under implementation:  
- "Support for Implementation of the Regional Environmental Reconstruction Programme 
(REReP) for SEE ” – EUR 1 million under the CARDS Regional Action Programme 2005. 
REReP is promoted as an effective assistance mechanism with transferred lessons learnt. All 
REReP activities (meetings, workshops, study t ours) took place till the end of June 2009. In 
July and August 2009 the work focu sed on the remaining publications: 
- A Decade’s Difference, Highli ghts of REReP from 2005-2008; 
- Environmental Infrastructure Investments in SEE, Priority  Environmental Investment 
Programme for SEE 
- Manual I “Strategies for Reform – a manual for water utilities in SEE”; 
- Manual II “Speeding up invest ments in the waste sector”  
In parallel to that th e last updates of the web sites took place. 
The project ended on 3 Septem ber 2009. Computers have been handed over to the project 
beneficiaries/SEE ministries of environment. A few issues were observed, such as: difference 
of appropriation levels w ithin the beneficiaries, lack of continuity in some beneficiaries; and 
need for beneficiaries to now move towards more  practical activities addressing their specific 
needs. However, it can be concluded that the project was useful, there has been a good project 
management and results are achieved.   
- “Support to the 'Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Network for Accession' 
(ECENA)” – EUR 1 million under the CARDS Re gional Action Programme 2005. ECENA 
is a network of environmental inspectors and e xperts of the Western Ba lkans and Turkey to 
exchange 'best practice' in the field of following up compliance with the transposed acquis  in 
the field of environment. The fourth annual EC ENA meeting was held in Brussels in October 
2009. On-going support to the activities of the ECENA Secretariat has been provided in 
2009; train-the-trainer activitie s have been carried out, training manuals produced and 
training modules have been designed, includ ing with the collabor ation of Interpol.  
- “PHARE Environment and Enlargement 2006 ” – EUR 4.5 million – sub-delegated to  
DG Environment: Several components were under implementation: complementing the 
capacity building provided through the indivi dual twinning grants by setting up an “E-mail-
network” and conducting a workshop for the gran t beneficiaries; improving the transparency 
and relations between the NGOs and DG Envi ronment (NGO Forum); provision of NGO 
twinning grants; IMPEL/ECENA; progress mo nitoring Turkey and Croatia; DABLAS Task 
Force: preparation of investment projects on wa ter and waste water, as well as methodological 
guidance. All activities were implemented according to schedule. 
Nuclear safety and radiation protection 
The aim is to enhance the technical competen ce and administrative capacity of the national 
radiation safety authorities a nd other relevant public organisa tions, to contribute to align 
national legislation and regulations in the nuclear field with the acquis and to support 
construction, fitting out and/or  upgrading of facilities involvi ng the handling and management 
of radionuclides according to best EU practices.  
PHARE/Transition Facility Nuclear Safety Progr ammes aiming to improve nuclear safety in 
the Central and Eastern European Countries. Bo th programmes are terminated and only a very 
few number of project s were still running.  
 
EN 100   EN - Enhancement of Romanian Nucl ear Regulatory Authority staff capabilities with the view to 
evaluating the Periodic Safety Review for Cernavoda NPP Unit 1 (PHARE 2006 - Romania) 
was successfully completed in November 2009.  
- Border Control of Nuclear and other Radioactiv e Materials with Stationary Portal Monitors 
(PHARE 2006- Croatia) has been extended by 12 months. Probl ems occurred in the delivery 
of one basic component for detec ting neutrons, i.e. Helium-3.   
- Radiological Safety in Uran ium Mining and Milling Faciliti es (Transition Facility 2007 - 
Romania) has started its impl ementation at the end of 2009. 
- Support to VATESI in Safety Assessment of  Ignalina NPP (PHARE 2006 - Lithuania) was 
successfully completed in December 2009. 
- Technical back-up to PHARE/IPA nuclear ac tivities, Joint Research Centre-Petten (PHARE 
2007) was extended until 31st March 2010 due to delays e xperienced by the beneficiary 
organisations in the preparation of Terms of Reference for projects.  
 
EN 101   EN Part III: Financial data at 31st December 2009 
23. PHARE,  TURKEY PRE -ACCESSION AND TRANSITION F ACILITY FUNDS COMMITTED 
BY YEAR 1990  – 200714 
Financial Overview and Performance 
Year Funds Committed 
1990 475.3
1991 769.7
1992 979.6
1993 966.1
1994 946.1
1995 1.114.0
1996 1.207.8
1997 1.135.1
1998 1.153.9
1999 1.481.7
2000 1.651.5
2001 1.635.4
2002 1.695.1
2003 1.698.1
2004 1.240.5
2005 1.353.9
2006 1.772.2
2007 78.2
24. PHARE,  TURKEY PRE -ACCESSION AND TRANSITION FACILITY FUNDS 
IMPLEMENTATION BY COUNTRY AT THE END OF 2009 
Total commitments, contracts and payments, in million EUR15 
Partner Country Commitments  Contracts  Payments  
Bulgaria 2,359.63 1,873.47 1,800.39 
Czech republic 917.24 835.68 834.06 
Croatia 144.60 108.09 79.40 
Cyprus(*) 338.01 209.64 114.74 
Czechoslovakia 230.49 231.82 228.88 
East Germany 34.49 28.86 28.86 
Estonia 346.84 312.66 312.43 
Hungary 1,480.06 1,364.75 1,362.63 
Latvia 423.61 385.05 383.83 
Lithuania 810.27 752.68 751.55 
                                                 
14  The last commitment year fo r PHARE and the Turkey Pre-Accession instrument was 2006. 2007 
commitments relate to the Transition Facility only  
15  Instances of contracted amounts being slightly abov e allocations are due to interest accruing assigned to 
the programmes. Instances of  decreasing contracted and paid amount s when compared to last year are 
explained by closures and de-commitments by the local authorities and by the Commission. Payments 
can also decrease due to some local contract s being excluded from the final declarations 
 
 
EN 102   EN Malta 57.11 48.76 46.88 
Multi-country programmes 3, 357.05 2,779.82 2,640.97 
Poland 3,995.99 3,635.22 3,618.11  
Romania 3,670.00 3,223.14 2,956.94 
Slovakia 717.59 653.93 633.14 
Slovenia 360.33 333.70 332.66 
Turkey 1,861.95 1,379.14 1,234.95 
Total 21,105.26 18,156.41 17,360.42 
(*)  Including assistance to th e Turkish Cypriot Community 
25. CARDS  FUNDS COMMITTED BY YEAR 2000  – 200616 
Year Funds Committed 
2000 834.2
2001 688.9
2002 645.4
2003 602.8
2004 641.4
200517 505.0
2006 482.8
26. CARDS  FUNDS IMPLEMENTATION BY COUNTRY AT THE END OF 2009 
Total commitments, contracts and payments, in million EUR18 
Partner Country Commitments  Contracts19  Payments  
Albania 310.03 274.23 234.20
Bosnia & Herzegovina 467.14 438.67 420.54
Croatia 276.84 251.93 250.32
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 307.87 293.30 287.77
Kosovo 727.18 715.81 705.38
Montenegro 127.40 125.70 124.87
Serbia20 1 396.63 1 362.11 1 295.22
Regional Programme21 583.36 561.23 537.13
Total 4 196.45 4 022.99 3 855.43
                                                 
16  As of 2007 the CARDS instrument was replaced by  the new Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance 
(IPA). The last commitment year for CARDS was 2006 
17 Figures for 2005 and 2006 include re-use of recoveries from previous years (i.e. are above the original 
budgetary allocations) 
18  The difference with the figures available in Part I (Country Section) is explained by the fact that those 
figures include only Annual Action Programmes from 2001, while not including other programmes managed centrally, such as Customs and Taxation. Am ounts allocated to support  the running costs of 
the European Agency for Reconstruction and of the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia and 
Herzegovina may also be excluded from tables in Pa rt I, as well as amounts allocated to support the 
operating costs of the EU pillar of UNMIK in Kosovo  
19  Increased contracting for CARDS in 2009 is explained by the use of N+3 as contracting deadline (“N” 
being the commitment year)   
20 Includes Montenegro in 2000-2001; includes assistance from the Regional Programme for Integrated 
Border Management destined for the whole of FRY/Serbia and Montenegro for 2002-2003 (in 2004, this is included in the regional programme); includes EUR 8 million commitments for the Serbia and 
Montenegro State Union (2005) 
21 Includes EUR 215.8 million commitments for interim civilian administrations 
 
EN 103   EN