Report from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament - 2006 Report on PHARE, pre-accession and transition instruments {SEC(2007) 1462}
Date: 2007-11-06
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU aid, EU programme, accession to the European Union, enlargement of the Union, pre-accession strategy, report, transitional period (EU)

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 6.11.2007 
COM(2007) 679 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL 
AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

2006 REPORT ON PHARE, PRE-ACCESSION AND TRANSITION INSTRUMENTS 

{SEC(2007) 1462} 

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Introduction 

Together  with  two  other  instruments  financed  by  the  European  Communities,  namely  ISPA 
(Instrument  for  Structural  Policies  for  Pre-Accession)  and  SAPARD  (Special  Accession 
Programme  for  Agriculture  and  Rural  Development),  the  Phare  Programme  aims  to  assist 
candidate  and  acceding  countries  in  their  preparations  for  joining  the  European  Union.  In 
2006, following the accession of the 10 new Member States, Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia 
continued to benefit from the three pre-accession instruments; the respective regulations were 
subsequently amended and credits were assigned in the budget for PHARE and ISPA already 
in 2005 and for SAPARD starting in 2006. Turkey continued to receive support under its own 
pre-accession assistance instrument. 

The  objectives  of  Phare  pre-accession  assistance  are  to  assist  candidate  and  acceding 
countries in their efforts to strengthen their public administrations and institutions to function 
effectively  inside  the  European  Union,  to  promote  convergence  with  the  European 
Community’s legislation, to reduce the need for transition periods and to promote Economic 
and Social Cohesion (ESC). 

Programming  is  based  on  the  Phare  Guidelines  that  were  revised  in  2004  in  order  to 
accompany  the  further  alignment  of  the Cross Border Co-operation (CBC)  Regulation with 
INTERREG, to accommodate the unique approach required in the area of nuclear safety and 
to emphasise the transition to Extended Decentralisation Implementation System (EDIS). The 
programming and implementation of pre-accession assistance for Turkey largely mirrored the 
procedures and content of Phare support. In order to prepare for the decentralised approach to 
programme  management  established  under  the  Structural  Funds,  the  European  Commission 
has  increasingly  intensified  the  support  to  Bulgaria  and  Romania  to  allow  for  a  further 
transfer of responsibility for the management and implementation of Phare programmes to the 
national authorities. 

This report also contains information on the Transition Facility for new Member States which 
was  introduced  to  allow  for  the  continuation  of  institution  building  support  with  a  view  to 
strengthening  and  consolidating  institutional  and  administrative  capacity  to  implement  the 
acquis  communautaire.  Programming  is  based  on  needs  identified  in  the  Commission’s 
Comprehensive Monitoring Report (November 2003). 

1. 

THE YEAR IN REVIEW 

1.1.  Main evolutions of the Enlargement Process in 2006 

2006 was a crucial year for the enlargement policy. The fifth round of EU enlargement was 
completed with the accession of Bulgaria and Romania on 1 January 2007. With a view to the 
present  enlargement  challenges,  in  particular  the  accession  negotiations  with  Croatia  and 
Turkey and the stabilisation and association process with the Western Balkan countries in the 
framework  of  a  pre-accession  strategy,  the  Commission  proposed  a  strategy  for  building  a 
renewed  consensus  on  enlargement.  This  strategy  was  endorsed  by  the  December  European 
Council.  

As regards Bulgaria and Romania, the Commission closely  monitored their preparations for 
accession and created a special regulation to be able to provisionally reduce disbursement of 

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parts of the agricultural payments in case the criteria for using these funds are not met. On 13 
December  the  Commission  took  decisions  establishing  for  both  countries  a  mechanism  for 
cooperation  and  verification  of  progress  on  judicial  reform,  the  fight  against  corruption  and 
organised crime.  

In  parallel,  the  accession  negotiation  process  with  Croatia  and  Turkey  continued.  The 
'screening'  process  was  successfully  completed  with  both  countries  in  October.  In  view  of 
Turkey  not  having  fulfilled  its  obligation  of  full  non-discriminatory  implementation  of  the 
Additional Protocol to the Association Agreement, the Commission issued a recommendation 
on 29 November on further conduct of accession negotiations, which was largely endorsed by 
the Council. 

The  Commission  also  continued  to  monitor  progress  in  Turkey,  Croatia  and  the  former 
Yugoslav  Republic  of  Macedonia  towards  meeting  the  accession  criteria  as  well  as  the 
accession  partnership.  Financial  co-operation  programmes  were  geared  to  supporting 
accession related reforms. The commitments in financial assistance to candidate countries in 
2006 amounted to €450 million for Turkey, €140 million for Croatia and €43.6 million for the 
former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.  

Work  on  measures  aimed  at  ending  the  isolation  of  the  Turkish  Cypriot  community  and 
facilitating the future re-unification of Cyprus continued. Following the adoption of the Aid 
Regulation  in  early  2006,  programming  documents  and  Commission  decisions  on  a  €259 
million aid programme for the Turkish Cypriot community were prepared. 

Work  on  the  implementation  of  the  Stabilisation  and  Association  Process  (SAP)  in  the 
Western  Balkans  continued  throughout  2006.  With  Albania,  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  the 
former  Yugoslav  Republic  of  Macedonia,  Montenegro  and  Serbia  negotiations  on  visa 
facilitation  agreements  were  opened  in  December.  The  negotiations  on  readmission 
agreements  were 
the 
launched  with 
readmission agreement entered into force in May 2006. 

the  same  countries,  except  Albania  where 

A Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with Albania was signed in June 2006. An 
Interim  Agreement  allowed trade-related  provisions  to  enter  into  force  in  December  2006, 
pending ratification of the SAA itself. 

As regards the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), negotiations with Serbia and 
Montenegro began  in October  2005. Substantial  progress  was  made in  the  first  months  of 
2006. However, its commitments on co-operation with the International Criminal Tribunal for 
former  Yugoslavia  (ICTY)  were  not  met,  the  Commission  decided  to  call  off  the  SAA 
negotiations on 3 May 2006. 

In 2006 the Commission contributed to the smooth developments relating to the definition of 
the state status in Montenegro. Following the referendum and the recognition of Montenegro's 
independence by the EU, the Council adopted the Commission's proposal of a new mandate to 
negotiate  the  SAA  with  Montenegro.  Negotiations  resumed  in  September  and  technically 
concluded  in  December;  the  Agreement  will  be  initialled  once  the  country  makes  sufficient 
progress in the areas highlighted by the Commission. 

Negotiations  on  the  SAA  with  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  were  technically  concluded  in 
December; the Agreement will be initialled once the country makes sufficient progress in the 
key  areas  highlighted  by  the  Commission.  It  has intensified  the  monitoring  of  the  reform 

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process,  notably  through the  Reform  Process  Monitoring  (RPM).  It  formally  launched  the 
economic dialogue in January. The Commission has also been deeply involved in preparing a 
reinforced EU engagement in Bosnia and Herzegovina after the closure of the Office of the 
High Representative, and has actively participated in the Peace Implementation Council.  

The process to settle Kosovo's status continued under the auspices of the UN special envoy. 
The  Commission  continued  to accompany  Kosovo  in  its  reform  efforts  under  the  SAP 
Tracking Mechanism. 

On  31  July  2006,  the  European  Council  adopted  a  new  Instrument  for  Pre-accession 
Assistance,  IPA,  which  had  been  proposed  by  the  Commission  in  the  framework  of  the 
Financial  Perspectives  2007-2013,  with  a  view  to  providing  focussed  and  effective  pre-
accession assistance to both candidate countries and potential candidate countries. This single 
instrument,  which  replaces  five  separate  legal  bases,  applies  from  1  January  2007.  The 
Commission  started  the  related  strategic  planning  exercise  in  the  last  months  of  2006  by 
drafting  country  multi-annual  planning  documents  (MIPDs)  and  presented  a  draft 
implementing regulation to Member States in December 2006. The first IPA programmes are 
expected  to  be  adopted  in  the  second  quarter  of  2007.  In  2006,  DG  ELARG  executed 
commitment credits for €2,3 billion and payment credits for €2,0 billion as overall financial 
assistance to enlargement countries. 

The  DG  gave  priority  to  communicating  about  enlargement  through  strategic  partnerships, 
including  other  EU  institutions,  regional  and  local  administrations,  the  media,  NGOs  and 
other  multipliers,  which  culminated  in  a  comprehensive  media  campaign  regarding  the 
accession of Bulgaria and Romania at the end of 2006.  

Moreover,  the  Commission  continued  the  implementation  of  its  civil  society  dialogue  in 
particular in Turkey and Croatia, which aims at reinforcing links between civil society in the 
EU  and  in  candidate  countries  with  a  view  to  improve  mutual  understanding  and  address 
citizens’ concerns about enlargement. 

1.2.  Main conclusions of the 2006 European Council 

As shown in the following extracts, the Brussels European Council of 14/15 December 2006 
confirmed the conclusions of 15/16 June1, and endorsed the 2006 enlargement package as the 
basis for a renewed consensus on enlargement:  

"As  agreed  at  the  June  2006  European  Council  and  on  the  basis  of  the  Commission 
communication  on  the  enlargement  strategy  and  its  special  report  on  the  EU's  capacity  to 
integrate new members, the European Council held an in-depth debate on enlargement. The 
European Council agrees that the enlargement strategy based on consolidation, conditionality 
and  communication,  combined  with  the  EU's  capacity  to  integrate  new  members,  forms  the 
basis  for  a  renewed  consensus  on  enlargement.  The  EU  keeps  its  commitments  towards  the 
countries that are in the enlargement process. 

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the 

full 

text 

For 
consult 
2006 
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/cms3_applications/Applications/newsRoom/LoadDocument.asp?direct
ory=en/ec/&filename=90111.pdf. For the full text of the December 2006 Presidency conclusions, please 
consult http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/ec/92202.pdf. 

conclusions, 

Presidency 

please 

June 

the 

of 

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[…] To sustain the integration capacity of the EU the acceding countries must be ready and 
able  to  fully  assume  the  obligations  of  Union  membership  and  the  Union  must  be  able  to 
function  effectively  and  to  develop.  Both  these  aspects  are  essential  for  ensuring  broad  and 
sustained  public  support,  which  should  also  be  promoted  through  greater  transparency  and 
better communication. 

The  European  Council  confirms  that  the  EU  keeps  its  commitments  regarding  the  ongoing 
accession negotiations. The recently enhanced rules governing the accession process provide 
for strict conditionality at all stages of the negotiations. The European Council agrees with the 
improvements suggested by the Commission concerning the management and the quality of 
the negotiations. […] The European Council reaffirms that the future of the Western Balkans 
lies  in  the  European  Union.  It  reiterates  that  each  country's  progress  towards  the  European 
Union  depends  on  its  individual  efforts  to  comply  with  the  Copenhagen  criteria  and  the 
conditionality of the Stabilisation and Association Process. […]  

The  European  Council  stresses  the  importance  of  ensuring  that  the  EU  can  maintain  and 
deepen its own development. The pace of enlargement must take into account the capacity of 
the Union to absorb new members. The European Council invites the Commission to provide 
impact  assessments  on  the  key  policy  areas  in  the  Commission's  Opinion  on  a  country's 
application  for  membership  and  in  the  course  of  accession  negotiations.  As  the  Union 
enlarges,  successful  European  integration  requires  that  EU  institutions  function  effectively 
and that EU policies are further developed and financed in a sustainable manner." 

2. 

PROGRAMMING  AND  IMPLEMENTATION  OF  THE  PROGRAMMES:  GENERAL 
OVERVIEW 

2.1. 

Phare and Pre-Accession for Turkey 

Total actual commitments amounted to €1401.7 million, comprising: 

National Programmes 

€ 1086.5 million 

cross border co-operation 

€ 84.0 million 

regional  and  horizontal  programmes 
(including TAIEX) 

€ 168.0 million 

nuclear safety 

Bulgaria – Kozloduy 
Decommissioning 

€ 13.2 million 

€ 50.0 million 

National programmes were divided as follows: 

Bulgaria 

€ 166.8 million 

Romania 

€ 408.6 million 

Croatia 

€ 61.1 million 

Turkey 

€ 450.0 million 

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Detailed  information  about  Phare  in  each  country  and  Pre-accession  financial  assistance  for 
Turkey can be found in the Annex - Part I: Country section - to this report. 

2.2. 

Transition Facility 

The  ten  countries  which  used  to  receive  pre-accession  financial  assistance  under  Phare  (or 
specific pre-accession facilities in the cases of Cyprus and Malta) benefited for the first time 
in 2004 from a special Transition Facility for institution building aimed at allowing the new 
Member  States  to  strengthen  and  consolidate  institutional  and  administrative  capacity  to 
implement  the  acquis  communautaire  and  thus  continue  the  institution-building  measures 
initiated under Phare. This report covers the final year  of the Transition  facility  programme 
for the new Member States.  

instrument.  Programming 

The Transition Facility was created by article 34 of the Act of Accession, as a temporary post 
accession  financial 
the 
Commission’s Comprehensive Monitoring Report (November 2003). The article gives a non-
exhaustive list of examples of key acquis where weaknesses exist, but also excludes any area 
which is eligible for funding under the Structural Funds. Reflecting continuity with Institution 
Building support funded by Phare, part of each annual envelope of the Transition Facility has 
been allocated to certain multi-beneficiary programmes. 

is  based  on  needs 

identified 

in 

Total commitments amounted to €67.2 million, comprising: 

National Programmes 

€ 63.1 million 

Multi-country 
programmes 

and 

horizontal 

€ 4.1 million 

National programmes were divided as follows: 

Cyprus 

€ 3.2 million 

Latvia 

€ 4.0 million 

Czech Republic 

€ 7.2 million 

Lithuania 

€ 4.0 million 

Estonia 

€ 3.7 million 

Poland 

€ 22.1 million 

Hungary 

€ 6.7 million 

Slovenia 

€ 3.7 million 

Malta 

€ 3.3 million 

Slovakia 

€ 5.2 million 

2.3.  Moving towards Extended Decentralisation Implementation System (EDIS)  

The Commission's objective is to enable the recipient countries of Phare assistance to manage 
Community  funds  under  EDIS  in  order  to  acquire  before  accession,  sufficient  practical 
experience  in  the  management  of  a  fully  decentralised  system,  and  thus  prepare  them  to 
effectively manage structural funds upon accession (in a shared management environment). 

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The  acceptance  by  the  Commission  of  Phare  implementing  agencies  operating  under  EDIS 
will be given upon demonstration of having appropriate resources, structures and systems in 
place for the effective and timely management of Community assistance. 

The application for EDIS by Bulgaria for its four Implementing Agencies was delayed2. The 
December  2006  draft  report  indicated  a  number  of  issues  to  be  addressed.  The  Bulgarian 
authorities  are  required  to  finalise  an  Action  Plan  to  address  the  findings.  Full  EDIS 
accreditation is expected before mid-2007. 

In  2006,  Romania  submitted  its  applications  for  the  waiver  of  ex  ante  control  and 
accreditation  under  EDIS  to  the  Commission.  The  application  concerned  the  Ministry  of 
European  Integration  (MEI)  and  the  CFCU  as  main  Implementing  Agency.  A  separate 
application  was  submitted  by  the  Ministry  of  Labour,  which  was  set  up  as  a  separate 
Implementing Agency for ESF type pre-accession programmes. The MEI and CFCU received 
accreditation on 14 December 2006. The EDIS Decision includes a number of so called "type 
2"  findings,  which  require  further  follow  up  and  improvements  to  the  system  within  strict 
deadlines from the date of the Decision. The final report and accreditation will be completed 
in 2007.  

The  Commission  decision  on  partial  conferral of  management  for  Phare  and  CARDS  under 
the decentralised implementation system (DIS) to Croatia was taken on 7 February 2006.  

Turkey moved to a DIS in October 2003, with the indicative target to proceed with EDIS in 
2007. 

2.4. 

Co-ordination of the Community Pre-accession assistance 

•  SAPARD3  (Special  Accession  Programme  for  Agriculture  and  Rural  Development)  aims 
to  help  candidate  countries  deal  with  the  problems  of  the  structural  adjustment  in  their 
agricultural sectors and rural areas, as well as in implementing the acquis communautaire 
concerning  the  CAP  (Common  Agricultural  Policy)  and  related  legislation.  Detailed 
information on SAPARD activities can be found in the SAPARD annual report.  

•  ISPA4  (Instrument  for  Structural  Policies  for  Pre-Accession)  is  directed  mainly  towards 
aligning  the  applicant  countries  on  Community  infrastructure  standards.  It  also  finances 
major environmental and transport infrastructure. Detailed information on ISPA activities 
can be found in the ISPA annual report.  

2 

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4 

CFCU,  Ministry  for  Regional  Development  and  Public  Works,  the  Ministry  for  Labour  and  Social 
Policy, the Ministry of Economy 
For general information on SAPARD, we refer to the website of DG Agriculture. 
For general information on ISPA, we refer to the website of DG Regional policy. 

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•  The Commission’s Co-ordination Committee for the three pre-accession instruments, set at 
Directors  level,  has  not  officially  convened  during  2005,  although  several  meetings  have 
taken place notably in view of creation of the new Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA) and 
its relevant components5. A General Assistance Document, through which the Commission 
informs  the  Phare  Management  Committee  of  the  co-ordination  of  pre-accession  aid  in 
2005 and planned assistance for 2006, was presented to the Committee on 19 May 2006. In 
particular, this document provided the indicative financial allocations for the year for each 
country in relation to the three instruments, information on co-ordination with EIB and IFIs 
and  about  progress  and  perspectives  for  decentralised  management.  A  separate  annual 
report on co-ordination of pre-accession assistance provides more detailed information on 
co-ordination between PHARE, ISPA and SAPARD. 

3. 

CO-OPERATION WITH THE EIB AND INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS 

The Commission consults the international financial institutions ("IFIs") and bilateral donors 
regularly  throughout  the  programming  cycle,  to  identify  the  scope  for  joint  activities  and 
complementary approaches to addressing pre-accession priorities. 

The  cooperation  and  co-financing  of  projects  with  the  EIB  and  other  IFIs,  in  particular  the 
European  Bank  for  Reconstruction  and  Development  ("EBRD"),  the  World  Bank  and  the 
Council of Europe Development Bank ("CEB"; in association with the German Kreditanstalt 
für Wiederaufbau "KfW"), is organized under the amended Memorandum of Understanding 
between the European Commission and participating IFIs for the enlargement countries of 26 
April 2006.  

In  the  Phare  context,  implementation  of  horizontal  programmes  have  offered  wide 
possibilities of IFI co-operation by allowing extension of IFI loans combined with EU grants 
in  a  more  flexible  way  compared  with  the  investment  projects  financed  by  national 
programmes. Nonetheless, the Commission has ensured that the two types of programmmes 
were complementary.  

Concerning  horizontal  programmes  financed  under  Phare,  the  new  programmes  launched 
since 2005 cover Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Turkey6. The technical nature and the multi-
country  approach  of  the  successive  horizontal  finance  facilities  required  the  involvement  of 
highly-specialised  financial  institutions,  with  a  long  track  record  in  international  finance, 

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Of the proposed 6 external relations instruments that are due to apply in the period 2007-2013, one is 
the new instrument for pre-accession assistance, IPA. At the junction between external assistance and 
internal policies, the IPA intends to facilitate the entry into the Union of candidate countries (Turkey, 
Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) and potential  candidate countries (Albania, 
Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  Montenegro,  and  Serbia  including  Kosovo  under  UN  Security  Council 
Resolution 1244). IPA will be an accession driven instrument, fulfilling all the requirements stemming 
from the accession process, notably in terms of priorities, monitoring and evaluation. IPA will replace 
the  current  pre  accession  instruments  notably:  Phare,  the  scope  of  which  is  support  for  the 
implementation  of  the  acquis  communautaire  in  the  form  of  institution  building  and  related 
investments, investments in economic and social cohesion and cross-border cooperation; ISPA, which 
is  the  precursor  of  the  Cohesion  Fund  and  deals  with  environment  and  transport  infrastructure; 
SAPARD, the precursor of Rural Development plans, dealing with Common Agricultural Policy acquis 
and Rural development, Turkey pre-accession, with the same scope as Phare; CARDS, which covers the 
Western Balkans. 
Turkey is covered by Pre-accession financial assistance for Turkey 

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SME  and  Municipal  sector  development.  The  preference  was  for  financial  institutions  with 
the status of international public-law bodies, which shared the values of the EU, in particular, 
in relation to enlargement and had similar public policy objectives, rather than private-sector 
financial institutions looking for commercial investment terms.  

The  first  facility  programme  was  launched  in  1999  with  the  EBRD.  The  CEB,  which 
implements  the  programme  in  association  with  KfW,  and  the  EIB  have  joined  the  Facility 
programmes in the following years. Since 1999, 32 Facility Programmes have been initiated 
by the Commission. 

–  18  SME  Finance  Facilities  comprising  in  total  €376  million  of  EU  incentives  and 

€2,328.25 million of credit lines from the IFIs.  

–  11 Municipal Finance Facilities comprising a total of €117.8 million of EU incentives and 

€589 million of loans from the IFIs.  

–  3  Energy  Efficiency  Finance  Facilities  for  the  first  time  in  2006  and  comprising  €53 
million  of  EU  incentives  and  €212  million  of  loans  from  the  IFIs.  Implementation  will 
begin in April 2007. 

The  SME  Finance  Facility  is  a  multi-beneficiary  programme  which  aims  to  strengthen  the 
capacities  of  financial  intermediaries  (i.e.  banks,  leasing  companies)  in  the  Enlargement 
beneficiary countries, to expand and sustain their financing operations to SMEs.  

The  mechanism  of  the  Municipal  Finance  Facility  is  similar  to  the  SME  Finance  Facility 
mechanism. Loan and risk-sharing instruments from resources of IFIs are combined with non-
reimbursable financial incentives for local financial intermediaries. It is foreseen that a limited 
amount  of  technical  assistance  for  municipalities  will  be  funded  by  Phare  to  strengthen  the 
demand side of the municipal credit market. 

The  Energy  Efficiency  Facility  was  launched  in  2006  in  response  to  the  Energy  Efficiency 
Green Paper and the Directive on Energy Performance of Buildings. It aims at stimulating the 
energy efficiency investments in all sorts of buildings and in the industry sector, by making 
appropriate  financing  available  to  the  end-borrowers.  The  programme  combines  IFI  credit 
lines extended to financial intermediaries, with incentives to improve the cost effectiveness of 
equipment  and  make  the  energy  investment  more  attractive,  and  fees  to  the  benefit  of  local 
financial  intermediaries  to  encourage  them  to  lend  for  the  purpose  of  energy  efficiency 
financing. 

The EIB and the Commission have established a facility at border regions, as requested by the 
Nice  European  Council,  and  as  outlined  in  the  Commission  Communication  on  Border 
Regions of 25 July 2001. The project concentrates on the implementation of small municipal 
infrastructure in border regions to promote integration with current EU regions: It consists of 
2  Municipal  Infrastructure  programmes  comprising  a  total  of  €40  million  of  EU  incentives 
and  €200  million  of  loans  from  the  EIB.  This  programme  is  still  in  the  process  of 
implementation.  The  EU  contribution  has  been  reduced  from  €50  to  €40  million  in  2006  in 
order to commensurate the size of the programme with potential projects.  

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4. 

MONITORING AND EVALUATION 

The  monitoring  and  evaluation  function  aims  firstly  to  monitor  and  evaluate  the  financial 
support  to  the  beneficiary  countries  in  achieving  pre-accession  objectives  by  assessing  the 
programme  performance  and  deriving  lessons  learned.  Secondly,  it  provides  accountability 
with respect to the value of money and the use of pre-accession funds. A third objective is to 
support the development of local monitoring and evaluation capacity in beneficiary countries 
as a means to strengthen their capacity to manage and control pre-accession aid. 

4.1. 

Ex ante evaluation 

During  2006,  an  ex-ante  evaluation  of  IPA  focussing  on  the  MIPDs  was  finalised.  The 
findings and recommendations of this exercise contributed to the deliberations and the results 
of  the  Quality  Support  Group  (QSG)  process  and  subsequent  revision  of  the  MIPD 
guidelines/documents. 

4.2.  Monitoring and Interim Evaluation  

In 2006, the interim evaluation (IE) scheme in  Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey generated 32 
individual country, sectoral, ad-hoc or thematic evaluation reports covering Phare and other 
pre-accession financial instruments measures.  

On  the  whole,  the  Interim  Evaluation  reports  on  financial  support  in  2006  showed  that  the 
performance of Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey pre- accession assistance was rather mixed and 
displayed  great  variation.  Specific  interim  evaluation  results  for  the  three  countries  are 
described in Part II.3.1. 

4.3. 

Ex post evaluation 

A  major  ex  post  evaluation  of  Phare  covering  national  programmes,  multi-country 
programmes  and  thematic  evaluations  was  completed  in  2006.  The  outputs  of  the  ex-post 
evaluation exercise include eight multi-country reports, ten country evaluation reports, seven 
thematic  evaluation  reports  and  the  Consolidated  Evaluation  Report.  The  results  of  this 
exercise  will  serve  as  inputs  for  decision-making  of  current  pre-accession  assistance  and 
assistance  to  the  Western  Balkans.  The  main  findings  and  conclusion  of  this  ex-post 
evaluation can be found in Part II.3.2. 

5. 

OTHER ACTIVITIES 

A number of other activities were undertaken by the Commission services in order to improve 
the  quality  of  the  programmes  for  the  year  2006,  as  well  as  to  support  the  development  of 
local monitoring and evaluation capacity. Specific actions are described in Annex Part II.3. 

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