Commission staff working document - Background document to the 2008 annual report on Phare, Turkey pre-accession instrument, CARDS and Transition Facility country sections & additional information {COM(2009) 700 final}
Date: 2009-12-21
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU aid, EU programme, Türkiye, accession to the European Union, enlargement of the Union, pre-accession strategy, report, transitional period (EU)

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EUROPEAN COMMISSION  

   Brussels, 21.12.2009 
    SEC(2009) 1726 final  

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 

BACKGROUND DOCUMENT TO THE  2008 ANNUAL REPORT ON PHARE, 
TURKEY PRE-ACCESSION INSTRUMENT, CARDS AND TRANSITION 
FACILITY 

COUNTRY SECTIONS & ADDITIONAL INFORMATION 

{COM(2009) 700 final}

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 

List of Acronyms………………………………………………………………………………6 

Part I: Country section................................................................................................................ 9 

1. 

1.1. 

1.2. 

1.3. 

2. 

2.1. 

2.2. 

2.3. 

3. 

3.1. 

3.2. 

3.3. 

4. 

4.1. 

4.2. 

4.3. 

5. 

5.1. 

5.2. 

5.3. 

6. 

6.1. 

6.2. 

6.3. 

7. 

7.1. 

7.2. 

7.3. 

Albania ......................................................................................................................... 9 

The year in review........................................................................................................ 9 

Financial assistance in 2008....................................................................................... 10 

Results and impact ..................................................................................................... 13 

Bosnia and Herzegovina ............................................................................................ 17 

The year in review...................................................................................................... 17 

Financial assistance in 2008....................................................................................... 18 

Results and impact ..................................................................................................... 24 

Bulgaria ...................................................................................................................... 28 

Summary .................................................................................................................... 28 

Phare/pre-accession, financial and Transition assistance in 2008 ............................. 28 

Results and Impact ..................................................................................................... 29 

Croatia ........................................................................................................................ 31 

The year in review...................................................................................................... 31 

Pre-accession assistance in 2008................................................................................ 32 

Results and impact ..................................................................................................... 34 

Cyprus ........................................................................................................................ 38 

Summary .................................................................................................................... 38 

Pre-accession, financial and Transition assistance in 2008 ....................................... 38 

Results and Impact ..................................................................................................... 38 

Czech Republic .......................................................................................................... 40 

Summary .................................................................................................................... 40 

Pre-accession, financial and Transition assistance in 2008 ....................................... 40 

Results and Impact…………………………………………………………………..41 

Estonia........................................................................................................................ 42 

Summary .................................................................................................................... 42 

Pre-accession, financial and Transition assistance in 2008 ....................................... 42 

Results and Impact ..................................................................................................... 43 

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8. 

8.1. 

8.2. 

8.3. 

9. 

9.1. 

9.2. 

9.3. 

10. 

The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia........................................................... 44 

The year in review...................................................................................................... 44 

Financial assistance in 2008....................................................................................... 45 

Results and impact ..................................................................................................... 48 

Hungary...................................................................................................................... 51 

Summary .................................................................................................................... 51 

Pre-accession, financial and Transition assistance in 2008 ....................................... 51 

Results and Impact ..................................................................................................... 52 

Kosovo (under UNSCR 1244/99) .............................................................................. 53 

10.1. 

The year in review...................................................................................................... 53 

10.2. 

Financial assistance in 2008....................................................................................... 54 

10.3.  Results and impact ..................................................................................................... 58 

11. 

Latvia.......................................................................................................................... 62 

11.1. 

Summary .................................................................................................................... 62 

11.2. 

Pre-accession, financial and Transition assistance in 2008 ....................................... 62 

11.3.  Results and Impact ..................................................................................................... 63 

12. 

Lithuania .................................................................................................................... 64 

12.1. 

Summary .................................................................................................................... 64 

12.2. 

Pre-accession, financial and Transition assistance in 2008 ....................................... 64 

12.3.  Results and Impact ..................................................................................................... 64 

13. 

Malta .......................................................................................................................... 66 

13.1. 

Summary .................................................................................................................... 66 

13.2. 

Pre-accession, financial and Transition assistance in 2008 ....................................... 66 

13.3.  Results and Impact ..................................................................................................... 67 

14. 

Montenegro ................................................................................................................ 68 

14.1. 

The year in review...................................................................................................... 68 

14.2. 

Financial assistance in 2008....................................................................................... 69 

14.3.  Results and impact ..................................................................................................... 73 

15. 

Poland......................................................................................................................... 76 

15.1. 

Summary .................................................................................................................... 76 

15.2. 

Pre-accession and financial assistance in 2008.......................................................... 76 

15.3.  Results and Impact ..................................................................................................... 77 
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16. 

Romania ..................................................................................................................... 78 

16.1. 

The year in review...................................................................................................... 78 

16.2. 

Phare/pre-accession, financial and Transition assistance in 2008 ............................. 78 

16.3.  Results and Impact ..................................................................................................... 79 

17. 

Serbia.......................................................................................................................... 81 

17.1. 

The year in review...................................................................................................... 81 

17.2. 

Financial assistance in 2008....................................................................................... 82 

17.3.  Results and impact ..................................................................................................... 88 

18. 

Slovakia...................................................................................................................... 91 

18.1. 

Summary .................................................................................................................... 91 

18.2. 

Pre-accession, financial and Transition assistance in 2008 ....................................... 91 

18.3.  Results and Impact ..................................................................................................... 92 

19. 

Slovenia...................................................................................................................... 93 

19.1. 

Summary .................................................................................................................... 93 

19.2. 

Pre-accession, financial and Transition assistance in 2008 ....................................... 93 

19.3.  Results and Impact ..................................................................................................... 94 

20. 

Turkey ........................................................................................................................ 95 

20.1. 

The year in review...................................................................................................... 95 

20.2. 

Pre-Accession assistance in 2008............................................................................... 96 

20.3       Results and Impact……………………………………………………………….     98 

Part II: Additional information on implementation and programme management issues ..... 101 

21. 

Technical and Financial assistance .......................................................................... 101 

21.1. 

Twinning .................................................................................................................. 101 

21.2. 

TAIEX...................................................................................................................... 102 

21.3. 

SIGMA..................................................................................................................... 102 

22. 

Information on multi-country and horizontal programmes...................................... 103 

22.1. 

Political Criteria ....................................................................................................... 103 

22.2. 

Economic Criteria: IFI Cooperation and Competitiveness ...................................... 107 

22.3. 

European Standards.................................................................................................. 110 

22.4        Support Activities…………………………………………………………………115 

23.           Programme Management Issues - Monitoring and Evaluation…………………   116 

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23.1.  Monitoring and Interim Evaluation.......................................................................... 116 

23.2. 

Ex-post evaluation.................................................................................................... 116 

23.3.  Other activities of the monitoring and evaluation function ..................................... 117 

Part III: Financial data............................................................................................................ 118 

24.1 

Phare, Turkey pre-accession and transition facility funds by year 1990 – 2008 ..... 118 

24.2 

Phare, Turkey pre-accession and transition facility funds by country 1990–2008 .. 118 

24.3 

CARDS funds by year 2000 – 2008......................................................................... 119 

24.4 

CARDS funds by country 2000 – 2008 ................................................................... 119

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LIST OF ACRONYMS 

Agency for the Coordination of Development and European Integration 
Agricultural Rural Development Plan 
Aviation safety and Air Traffic Control 
Business Advisory Services 
Coordination of International Aid 
Business Support Programme 
Common Agricultural Policy 
Cross Border Cooperation  
Candidate Country  
Cross-Cutting Issue 
European Development Bank 
Central European Free Trade Agreement 
Central Financing and Contracting Agency 
Central Financing and Contracting Department 
Central Finance and Contracts Unit 
Common Forestry Policy 
CzechInvest 
Common Market Organisations 
Case Management System 
Consumer Protection 
Country Phare Evaluation Review 
Central Programme Management Agency 
Center for Regional Development 
Civil Society Organisation 

ACDEI  
ARDP  
ASATC 
BAS     
BCIA    
BSP 
CAP 
CBC 
CC 
CCI       
CEB 
CEFTA      
CFCA   
CFCD   
CFCU   
CFP 
CI         
CMO   
CMS     
CP         
CPER   
CPMA  
CRD     
CSO 
DABLAS        Danube-Black Sea Task Force for 
                        co-operation on water protection in the wider Black Sea Region 
DFID    
DIS 
EAG 
EAGGF 
EAR     
EBRD  
EC 
ECAA   
ECLO   
EDIS 
EEFF     
EFTA   
EFSE    
EIB 
ENPI 
ERDF   
EPAP    
ESC 
ESF 
ESCB   
EU 

United Kingdom's Department for International Development 
Decentralised Implementation System 
Evaluation Advisory Group 
European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund 
European Agency for Reconstruction 
European bank for reconstruction and development 
European Communities 
European Common Aviation Area 
European Commission's Liaison Office 
Extended Decentralised Implementation System 
Energy Efficiency Finance Facility 
European Free Trade Association 
European Fund for Southeast Europe 
European Investment Bank 
European Neighbourhood and Partnerships Instrument 
European Regional Development Fund 
European Partnership Action Plan 
Economic and Social Cohesion 
European Social Fund 
European System of Central Banks 
European Union 

6

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
EU Awareness Programme 
Foreign Direct Investment  
Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance 
Gross Domestic Product 
Genetically Modified Organisms 
Government Office for European Affairs 
High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council 
Implementing Agency 
Integrated Administration and Control System 
Institution Building 
Integrated Border Management 
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia 
Internally Displaced Persons 
International Financial Institutions 
International Monetary Fund 
Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance 
Infrastructure Projects Facility 
Integrated Planning System 
Information and Telecommunication 
Justice and Home Affairs 
Joint Monitoring Committee 
Kosovo Judicial Institute 
Local Action Group 
Ministry of Communities and Returns 
Mediterranean 
Municipal Infrastructure Facility 
Management Information System 
National Authorising Officer 
National Aid Coordinator 
National Development Plan 
Non-Governmental Organisation 

EUAP   
FDI 
FIFG 
GDP 
GMO    
GOEA   
HJPC    
IA 
IACS   
IB 
IBM      
ICTY    
IDPs     
IFI 
IMF      
IPA 
IPF       
IPS        
IT 
JHA 
JMC 
KJI       
LAG     
MCR    
MED     
MFF     
MIS      
NAO 
NAC 
NDP 
NGO 
NIPAC           National IPA Coordinator 
NPA 
NP 
NPP 
NROS   
NSI       
NTF      
ODIHR           Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights 
OECD   
OHR     
OLAF   
OP 
OSCE   
OVI      
PAO 
PAP 
PAR      
PBS      
PCM     

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 
Office of High Representative 
European Antifraud Office 
Operational Programmes 
Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe 
Objectively Verifiable Indicators 
Programme Authorising Officer 
Pre-Accession Programme 
Public Administration Reform 
Public Broadcasting Service 
Project Cycle Management 

National Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis 
National Programme 
Nuclear Power Plant 
Civil Society Development Foundation 
National Statistical Institute 
National Training Fund 

7

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Public Internal Financial Control Agency 
Programme Monitoring Committee 
Public-Private Partnership 
Probation service of Kosovo 
Quality Support Group 
Regional Cooperation Council 
Regional Development Agency 
Regional Development Support Agency 
Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals 
Results-Oriented Monitoring 
Resident Twinning Advisor 
Stabilisation and Association Agreements 

PIFCA  
PMC     
PPP       
PSK      
QSG 
RCC     
RDA     
RDSA   
REACH 
ROM    
RTA 
SAA     
SALW             Small Arms and Light Weapons 
SEE      
South East Europe 
SEETO            South East Europe Transport Observatory 
SF 
SIGMA 
SME 
SMEFF           SME Finance Facility 
SMSC  
TA 
TAIEX 
TSE 
TSMO   
UNDP  
UNFPA        United Nations Population Fund 
UNHCR          United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees  
UNMIK      United Nations Mission in Kosovo 
Value Added Tax 
VAT 
Vocational Education and Training 
VET      
Water Framework Directive 
WFD     
Water Quality Management 
WQM   
WTO    
World Trade Organisation 
WWTP            Waste Water Treatment Plant 

Sector Monitoring Sub-Committee 
Technical Assistance 
Technical Assistance Information Exchange Unit 
Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy 
Transmission System and Market Operator 
United Nations Development Programme 

Structural Funds 
Support for Improvement in Governance and Management 
Small and Medium Sized Enterprises 

8

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
PART I: COUNTRY SECTION 

1. Albania 

1.1.      The year in review 

1.1.1.  Political developments 

In 2008, Albania made some progress on democracy and the rule of law and continued to play 
a  constructive  role  in  terms  of  stability  and  good  regional  cooperation.  The  Albanian 
parliament  adopted  major  constitutional  amendments  and  important  legislative  acts  on  the 
organisation of the judiciary. However, much remains to be done to ensure the independence, 
transparency  and  efficiency  of  the  judiciary.  Improvements  are  needed  to  establish  an 
independent, efficient and merit-based civil service.  

There  was  some  progress  in  the  fight  against  corruption  and  the  perception  of  corruption 
changed.  But  further  efforts  are  required  as  corruption  still  remains  widespread.  Fighting 
corruption in the judiciary remains a key issue. There was progress on consolidating property 
rights  and  the  legislative  and  institutional  framework  improved  in  the  area  of  human  rights 
and the protection of minorities, but overall progress remained limited as regards protection of 
women and minorities, and anti-discrimination policy for children. New prisons and pre-trial 
detention  centres  were  built  but  very  poor  detention  standards  remained  an  issue  of  serious 
concern. 

Civil  society  organisations  remained  weak  and  their  participation  in  policy-making  required 
further strengthening.  

1.1.2.  Macroeconomic developments and structural reforms 

In  2008,  the  economy  of  Albania  continued  growing  at  a  relatively  fast  pace.  Inflationary 
pressures  were  contained  and  the  country  progressed  towards  establishing  a  functioning 
market economy. While macroeconomic stability was broadly maintained, risks increased as 
the  current  account  deficit  widened.  The  administration  of  public  finances  improved  and 
State-induced  distortions  of  competition  remained  limited.  The  government  intensified  its 
fight against corruption and tax evasion but the large informal sector remained an important 
challenge.  Privatisation  of  large-scale  state-owned  companies  progressed  and  the  business 
environment improved, but unreliable energy supply, poor infrastructure, as well as weak rule 
of law and contract enforcement continued to hinder economic development.  

1.1.3.  Progress in meeting the acquis communautaire 

Overall,  Albania  made  progress,  albeit  unevenly,  in  aligning  its  legislation,  policies  and 
capacity with European standards and in implementing its Interim Agreement commitments.  

In  some  areas,  such  as  customs  and  competition,  progress  made  in  previous  years  was 
sustained. There were also positive developments on SME policy and in the field of electronic 
communications.  In  other  areas,  such  as  energy,  transport  and  intellectual  property  rights, 
progress remained limited. The legal framework on food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary 
policy  improved,  but  compliance  with  EU  standards  remained  poor  hindering  Albania's 
capacity  to  export.  Overall,  administrative  capacity  and  implementation  of  legislation 
remained weak.  

9

 
 
 
In  the  field  of  justice,  freedom  and  security,  some  progress  was  made  in  most  areas,  but 
further improvements are needed overall. Regarding visas, a reliable civil registry and address 
system  was  set  up  to  improve  document  security.  The  law  on  foreigners  was  adopted.  The 
EC-Albania visa facilitation agreement entered into force and the visa liberalisation dialogue 
was launched. But distribution of biometric passports needs to be stepped up. The visa regime 
is not yet in line with EU standards. 

Border control improved as a result of a new law on border management, better infrastructure 
and  inter-agency  co-operation.  The  legal  framework  and  co-operation  between  banks  and 
financial institutions on money laundering improved.  However, organised crime remained a 
serious  problem  despite  improvements  in  the  legal  framework  and  better  co-operation  with 
Interpol.  A  strategy  to  combat  trafficking  in  human  beings  has  been  adopted,  but  much 
remains  to  be  done,  as  Albania  remained  a  significant  country  of  origin  for  trafficking  of 
human beings.  

1.2.      Financial assistance in 2008 

Programmes launched  

As  from  2007,  the  CARDS  instrument  has  been  replaced  by  the  new  Instrument  for  Pre-
accession Assistance (IPA).  

Overview of programmes implemented 

In 2008, particular emphasis was given to progress in the implementation of the CARDS 2005 
programme in order to finalise contracting before the contracting deadline in September 2008. 
By its expiry date in September 2008, 95% of CARDS 2005 funds had been contracted.  
At the end of 2008, contracting rates for the CARDS 2006 had reached 40%. CARDS 2006 
contracting will be completed in 2009. 

The  area  of  Justice,  Freedom  and  Security  remained  an  important  area  of  focus. 
Programmes supported the sustainability of the School of Magistrates, support to the General 
Prosecutor  Office,  the  provision  of  additional  assistance  for  the  modernisation  of  the  data 
telecommunication  system  of  the  Albanian  Police  and  the  provision  of  specialised  software 
for financial intelligence unit of the Albanian Ministry of Finance. Support was also provided 
for  the  design  of  pre-detention  facilities  as  well  as  the  construction  of  ten  Border  Control 
Points  and  Special  Operative  Groups  at  the  borders.  Works  continued  to  finalise  the 
construction of a serious crime court building and a reintegration centre for juveniles, as well 
as  the  renovation  of  the  State  Publication  Centre  and  the  Saranda  and  Dibra  Courts. 
Substantial  technical  assistance  in  the  field  of  justice  and  police  continued  to  be  provided 
through  EURALIUS,  PAMECA  and  Twinning  of  assistance  to  the  police  in  investigations 
techniques  and  organised  crime,  as  well  as  support  to  the  training  of  prison  staff,  juvenile 
justice reform and to the implementation of the national strategy on migration. 

Assistance in the area of democratic stabilisation concentrated its efforts on the creation of a 
modern  Civil  Registry  and  address  system  in  close  cooperation  with  the  Organisation  for 
Security  and  Co-operation  in  Europe,  the  Council  of  Europe,  Norway  and  the  US.  Further 
programmes were implemented to support the development of civil society and the integration 
of marginalised persons, as well as the promotion of education programmes in rural areas and 
gender equality. Support was as well provided to foster media development and capacities. 

10

 
 
 
 
 
 
As  regards  administrative-capacity  building,  the  programme  continued  to  support  the 
implementation of public administration reform. Substantive support has been provided to the 
Ministry of European Integration in capacity-building for the management of EU assistance, 
in legal approximation and in inter-institutional coordination for the execution of the National 
Plan for the Implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement. Support has also 
been provided to strengthen the capacity to deliver public service of public administration at 
local  governments'  level.  Additional  assistance  concerning  European  integration  capacity 
building has been provided by contributing to the Integrated Planning System Trust Fund of 
the World Bank. Support has also been provided to the establishment of the National Agency 
for Information Society.   

Support  was  also  provided  in  the  area  of  public  internal  financial  control  and  to  the 
National Agency for Information Society. In the field of financial control technical assistance 
is provided to the Ministry of Finance through Twinning implemented by the British National 
Audit  Office  and  Polish  Ministry  of  Finance.  Financed  under  CARDS  2005  project  entitled 
'Development of Public Internal Financial Control' started in November 2008. 

As regards economic and social development, the support to the registration of immovable 
property  in  cadastral  zones,  reinforcement  of  the  capacity  of  trade  unions,  assistance  was 
provided  to  support  technical  regulations,  market  surveillance  and  consumer  protection, 
accreditation,  standards  and  certification.  Assistance  was  provided  also  to  strengthen  the 
labour market and employment. 

Support  was  also  provided  for  vocational  education  and  training  (VET)  and  higher 
education in order to improve the quality of training opportunities available. CARDS assisted 
the preparation of VET strategy, curriculum and legislative amendments in order to improve 
the quality of VET.  

In  the  area  of  environment  and  natural  resources,  support  to  the  approximation  of 
environmental legislation has been provided, as well as assistance to environmental clean-up 
and disposal of hazardous waste in major hot-spots.  

Assistance  has  been  provided  in  food  safety,  to  the  rehabilitation  and  the  furnishing  of  the 
national food authority building.  

Support to the development of cultural and historical heritage has also been provided. 

Also, in the area of the transports support to the design and supervision for the construction 
of roads was provided as well as technical assistance to the Ministry of Transport in the area 
of  civil  aviation,  rails,  roads  and  ports.  During  2008,  the  master  plan  of  Durresi  Port,  main 
port of Albania, was prepared. 

Furthermore, support to the government for the participation in community programmes and 
integrated support for decentralisation has been provided. 

CARDS management performance 

In 2008, a total of €34.2 million was contracted and a total of €37.7 million was paid.  

11

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The  performance  in  implementing  the  2005  CARDS  programme  was  overall  satisfactory  in 
2008,  as  a  very  significant  part  of  the  programme  was  contracted  in  2008.  However,  this 
effort  led  to  rather  limited  contracting  for  the  2006  CARDS  programmes  with  contracting 
rates for CARDS 2006 of  40 %. As mentioned above the CARDS 2006 contracting will be 
completed in 2009. 

Table 1: Albania: Status of financial assistance at the end of December 2008 (in million €) 
– CARDS annual national programmes 

Allocated  Contracted RAC1  % contracted Paid  RAL2  % paid

CARDS 2001 

33.5 

CARDS 2002 

42.90 

CARDS 2003 

38.50 

CARDS 2004 

62.00 

CARDS 2005 

40.20 

CARDS 2006 

42.50 

30.16 

42.15 

38.26 

61.34 

38.07 

16.91 

3.3 

0.75 

0.24 

0.66 

2.13 

25.59 

92% 

98% 

99% 

99% 

95% 

40% 

29.16 

4.34 

40.90 

1.25 

35.48 

2.78 

87% 

95% 

92% 

38.66 

22.68 

62% 

21.87 

16.20 

54% 

3.38 

13.53 

8% 

Total 

259.6 

226.89 

32.67 

87% 

169.45 

60.78 

36% 

implementation  of  CARDS 

The 
Neighbourhood Programmes and Evaluation and Audit Programmes proceeded smoothly.  

Information  and  Communication  Programmes, 

Further to the €9.2 million of 2007, in 2008 an additional €0.374 million were recovered from 
expired  Phare  programmes.  A  prepared  action  plan  for  2008  regarding  recovery  orders  was 
used in order to continue this exercise. 

Institution Building highlights 

Support  provided  to  the  justice  sector  through  the  Justice  Assistance  Mission  of  the  EU  to 
Albania  (EURALIUS)  brought  the  Albanian  Justice  System  closer  to  EU  standards.  The 
mission  was  composed  of  technical  assistance  drawn  from  EU  Member  States  and  led  to 
improvements  in  particular  as  regards:  1)  Justice  organisation,  2)  Penitentiary  reform,  3) 
Enforcement of rulings, 4) Law drafting and legal approximation, 5) Criminal Justice and 6) 
Immoveable property. 

Support  provided  to  the  Ministry  of  Justice  through  the  Twinning  project  “Enhancing  the 
Judicial System in Commercial Matters” has contributed substantively to the alignment of 
Albania's  commercial  law  with  EU  standards.  Action  plans  for  the  improvement  and 
harmonisation  of  the  current  legal  and  institutional  framework  for  commercial  law  and 
shortening of commercial proceedings at courts have been prepared and adopted. 

The Project “Market Surveillance system at the Ministry of Economy in Albania” aimed 
at  the  support  to  the  establishment  of  an  adequate  market  surveillance  (MS)  and  consumer 
protection  (CP)  systems  able  to  integrate  policies  adopted  from  different  trade  partners  and 

1 Reste à contracter 
2 Reste à liquider 

12

 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
assure  effective  protection  of  consumer  interests.  The  Project  established  consolidated 
foundations for effective MS&CP system in Albania according to EU standards. A number of 
laws Harmonised with EU directives were drafted and approved. Substantial knowledge and 
skills  were  transferred  to  the  Beneficiary  that  is  actually  able  to  undertake  transposition  of 
laws, implement and address the enforcement issues. 

During  2008,  CARDS  assisted  the  Ministry  of  Transports  in  four  sub-sectors:  roads, 
railways, ports and civil aviation. The assistance was given to establish the new Institute of 
Transport  structure  setting  up  transport  planning  and  information  departments,  establishing 
the best practices on EU transport law, establishing links with the executive agencies (GRD, 
PDA, and Railways) and setting up Management Information System (MIS). 

1.3.      Results and impact 

Monitoring & Evaluation Reports in 2008 - Lessons Learned 

During the course of 2008 monitoring of CARDS projects continued to take place. In addition 
to  this,  an  evaluation  of  selected  projects/programmes  was  launched  with  the  aim  of 
identifying  strengths  and  weaknesses  in  their  design,  performance  and  management.  These 
projects/programmes were  selected  as  a  representation  of  key  actions  managed  by  the 
European  Commission  (EC)  Delegation  in  various  sectors.  Overall  assessment  is  rated  as 
moderately satisfactory. In terms of "lessons learnt", the following conclusions were reached: 

Lessons learnt in relation to projects’ relevance: 

•  CARDS  assistance  has  been  relevant  in  relation  to  the  EC  strategic  documents,  but 

their strategic planning value has been limited. 

•  The degree of beneficiaries’ participation and ownership in the programming process 

has varied over the period as well as from sector to sector. 

•  Varied  quality  of  project  design,  due  to  lack  of  real  needs  assessment,  has  made 
assistance  less  relevant  at  the  time  of  implementation,  and  some  projects  have 
experienced  large  changes  during  implementation  due  to  inadequate  or  untimely 
project design. 

Lessons learnt regarding effectiveness: 

•  The effectiveness of training is very mixed between horizontal and vertical acquis. On 
the  horizontal  level,  training  projects  have  been  of  limited  effect  in  the  absence  of 
clear civil service reform. 

Lessons learnt regarding efficiency: 

•  Administrative  capacity  has  been 

rather 

limited  and  has  often  hampered 

implementation of projects. 

•  The overall assessment is however that the project outputs were delivered, in general 
in a satisfactory manner taken into consideration the difficult environment with lack of 
staff and delays in Government's adoption of procedures. 

Lessons learnt related to impact: 

13

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Immediate or short-term impacts have been observed in the majority of projects. 

• 
•  The  support  to  acquis-related  areas  may  in  some  cases  have  been  premature  or  not 
adequately prepared and this will create problems for the impact of this assistance. 
•  Reforms are introduced bottom-up and not necessarily met with a top-down approach. 

Lessons learnt in the domain of sustainability: 

•  The sustainability of CARDS assistance primarily depends on administrative resources 
and  capacities  of  individual  institutions  having  the  administrative  capacity  to  sustain 
the results and outputs delivered through the past assistance. 

•  An important step in the right direction in the Government of Albania's (GoA's) effort 
to  improve  strategic  planning  is  the  Integrated  Planning  System  (IPS)  adopted  in 
November 2005. 

•  Overall strategies are in place in the Government's reform agenda and reflected in the 
government  strategies  (National  Development  Strategy  for  Integration  (NDSI))  and 
planning tools (IPS). 

Lessons learnt in the domain of management: 

•  Programme implementation has suffered significant delays and part of the programme 

• 

has still not been implemented. 
It  has  in  some  cases  been  difficult  to  properly  assess  the  effectiveness  of  assistance 
due to consistent non-compliance of project design with the project cycle management 
format  (PCM)  and  in  particular  the  lack  either  of  objectively  verifiable  indicators 
(OVI) or their sources of verification. 

Sectors with positive results 

Justice, Liberty and Security 

Some progress was achieved as regards justice reform, with the approval of the judicial power 
law, the introduction of a probation service, the liberalisation of the enforcement service and 
the opening of new penitentiary institutions. Assistance includes actions aimed to strengthen 
the performance and independence of key judicial institutions by strengthening the capacities 
of  executive  bodies  responsible  for  implementation  of  the  judicial  reform.  Furthermore, 
support  of  the  enhancement  of  the  judicial  system  in  commercial  matters,  which  will 
contribute to overall improvement of the investment climate. 

A  very  positive  assessment  can  be  made  as  to  the  impact  of  the  Twinning  project 
'Strengthening  the  Capacity  of  the  Albanian  State  Police  in  Covert  Evidence  Gathering  and 
the  use  of  Technical  Aids  to  Investigations',  by  which  the  Albanian  State  Police  has  been 
initiated to modern techniques to enhance the efficiency of undercover policing operations in 
accordance with international and European best practices.  

European standards 

Albania has continued to make progress in European standards fields such as customs, market 
surveillance  and  consumer  protection.  Sustained  institution  building  efforts  under  CARDS 
have contributed to this progress. 

14

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Support to the Institute of Statistics of Albania for data collection and adoption of the 
acquis 

Progress  was  made  in  improving  methodologies  and  practices  in  compliance  with  EU 
standards,  and  in  increasing  statistical  co-operation  and  the  quality  of  data  in  the  official 
statistics.  The  project  produced  a  number  of  substantial  results  in  the  areas  of  national 
accounts, agriculture and inter-agency co-operation. In these areas, the project had a positive 
impact on the improvement of the National Statistics System.  

Success story 

Renovation  of  Courts  in  Albania  -  Large  institution  building  impact  of  small  investments 
projects.  
The renovation works of district court of Dibra is not only an architectural success, but 
it  provided  a  great  improvement  in  the  working  conditions  of  judges  and  court 
administrators. 

The  Dibra  District  Court  was  renovated  and  furnished  according  to  European  standards 
through  CARDS  2004  project  of  €320,800.  The  renovation  and  furnishing  of  the  Dibra  and 
Saranda District Court, as well as the previously completed Appeal Courts in Korça and Vlora 
follows  from  the  “Masterplan  for  Judicial  Infrastructure”,  which  identified  these  courts  as 
priority investments.  

Strengthening the independence of Albania’s judiciary and improving its efficiency is one of 
the  key  aims  of  EC’s  cooperation  with  the  Government  of  Albania  in  the  Stabilisation  and 
Association  process.  The  justice  system  should  be  independent,  impartial,  efficient, 
professional,  open  for  the  public  and  transparent.  Development  of  this  sector  toward 
achieving the European standards is necessary linked with the development of a modern court 
infrastructure.  Availability  of  adequate  working  space  is  an  important  pre-condition  for 
judges,  prosecutors,  lawyers  and  judicial  administrators  to  work  effectively  and  allow  the 
court proceedings to take place in an environment that is in favour of protecting the rights of 
all parties in a trial.  

During  the  year  2005  a  careful  assessment  of  the  courts  infrastructure  funded  by  Phare 
Programme  was  undertaken.  This  assessment  resulted  in  a  “Masterplan  for  Judicial 
Infrastructure”. The Masterplan provides a complete overview of the situation of the courts in 
Albania and made recommendations for investments in the sector over the following 15 years. 
The  renovation  of  Dibra  and  Saranda  District  Courts  building  financed  by  the  European 
Commission are consistent with the Masterplan recommendations.   

The main problems of the building which the project has successfully addressed were a lack 
of  isolation  rooms  for  defendants,  a  security  system,  fire  prevention  measures,  computer 
networks as well as humidity, cracked walls etc.  
The  newly  renovated  building  includes  one  penal  court  room,  four  civil  court  rooms,  and 
necessary facilities for the judges, prosecutors, defendants and the public.  
Office  furniture  and  information  and  telecommunication  (IT)  equipment  were  also  an 
important part of this renovation works contract.  

The  renovation  of  the  Court  premises  should  positively  influence  the  execution  of  the 
judiciary, not only the number of cases judged should increase but also the transparency of the 
rule of law. The proper court rooms in, Dibra, Saranda, Korca and Vlora should improve the 

15

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
"reality  of  justice"  which  includes  the  publicity  of  proceedings.  These  projects  should 
ultimately contribute also to strengthening the citizens' trust in judiciary.  

16

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2. Bosnia and Herzegovina 

2.1.      The year in review 

2.1.1 Political developments. 

to  make 

Progress  over  2008  was  exceptionally  slow.  Consequently,  there  was  little  advancement  in 
addressing  the  key  European  Partnership  priority,  requesting  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  to 
establish  more  functional  and  sustainable  institutional  structures.  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina's 
system of governance continued to involve a significant international presence in 2008. Due 
to the concerns over political stability in the country and in the region as a whole, the closure 
of 
the  Office  of  High  Representative  (OHR)  was  further  postponed.  The  Peace 
the  closure  conditional  on  Bosnia  and 
Implementation  Council  decided 
Herzegovina's  progress  on  addressing  five  objectives  and  two  conditions.  One  of  the 
conditions was met in June when the Stabilisation and Association Agreement was signed.  
2008 saw Bosnia and Herzegovina remain in the early phases of public administration reform, 
even if some progress was made. Regarding the judicial system, the adoption of the Strategy 
for  Development  of  the  Justice  Sector  for  2008-2012  was  a  positive  development. 
Nevertheless,  the  disjointed  character  of  the  judicial  system  and  disparities  in  the  legal 
framework constituted barriers to the effective operation of the judiciary. In the fight against 
corruption limited progress was achieved. The National Anti-Corruption Strategy was again 
not properly implemented. 
Little additional progress has been achieved in improving the implementation of international 
human  rights  conventions.  Some  progress  was  made  regarding  the  support  provided  by  the 
authorities to civil society development. Progress in the area of minority rights, cultural rights 
and protection of minorities was limited.  

2.1.2Macroeconomic developments and structural reforms 

In  2008  economic  growth  remained  high  and  the  external  balance  improved.  The  currency 
board  arrangement  continued  to  function  smoothly,  despite  a  relative  acceleration  in  the 
growth of domestic lending, and the annual average inflation of the first eight months of 2008 
stood at 8.0%  in Bosnia  and  Herzegovina, after 1.5% in 2007. The increased fiscal revenue 
from the introduction of VAT in 2006 continued in 2008. In the first six months of 2008 net 
Foreign  Direct  Investment  (FDI)  declined  strongly  compared  to  the  same  period  in  the 
previous year and covered only 24% of the current account deficit. Despite robust economic 
growth,  unemployment  remained  very  high.  Public  spending,  and  in  particular  social 
spending,  rose  further,  weakening  the  quality  of  fiscal  adjustment  and  leading  to  liquidity 
problems in May. Slow expansion of productive capacities and structural rigidities hampered 
labour  market  participation.  Progress  in  the  restructuring  and  liquidation  of  State  owned 
enterprises was slow and uneven across the country. The small and medium-sized enterprises 
(SME)  sector  grew,  and  enjoyed  increased  access  to  financing  from  private,  public  or  EU 
funds. However, the informal sector remained large. 

2.1.3Progress in meeting the acquis communautaire 

Bosnia  and  Herzegovina's  progress  is  approximating  to  the  acquis  was  limited  overall.  As 
regards  free  movement  of  goods,  there  remained  a  lack  of  proper  conformity  assessment 
infrastructure (testing and calibration laboratories, certification and inspection bodies) and the 
country's  market  surveillance  system  continued  to  be  largely  based  on  mandatory  standards 
and  pre-market  control.  Good  progress  was  made  in  the  field  of  customs  and  taxation.  The 

17

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
implementation  of  customs-related  provisions  was  adequate  and  Value  Added  Tax  (VAT) 
collection improved in 2008.  
Progress in the field of anti-trust control continued, whereas no progress was made regarding 
State  aid.  There  were  some  improvements  on  public  procurement  however  not  in  terms  of 
legislative  alignment.  Little  progress  was  made  with  regards  to  intellectual,  industrial  and 
commercial  property  rights.  In  the  area  of  employment  and  social  policies,  the  absence  of 
State level competences remained an obstacle to the development of a countrywide strategy 
for  employment.  No  progress  was  made  with  respect  to  social  policies.  Some  progress  was 
made in the  area  of education. Limited progress was made in  the area of SMEs. The  sector 
enjoyed  increased  access  to  financing,  but  no  countrywide  SME  strategy  was  adopted. 
Important  State-level  Laws  on  wine,  agriculture,  food  and  rural  development  were  adopted, 
but there was no progress on the adoption of a State-level agriculture strategy. Some progress 
was  made  on  food  safety  as  implementing  legislation  was  adopted,  but  in  the  field  of 
veterinary and phytosanitary policies progress was limited. As for environment, no progress 
was  made.  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina's  preparations  in  the  transport  sector  were  positive. 
Energy sector reform stalled in 2008. Bosnia and Herzegovina made some progress in the area 
of  information  society  and  media.  In  the  field  of  statistics,  limited  progress  was  made. 
Cooperation between the country's statistics institutions was still insufficient.  
In the area of justice, freedom and security, the Visa Facilitation Agreement entered into force 
in  January  2008.  Some  progress  was  made  in  the  areas  of  asylum  and  migration.  Further 
efforts  remain  necessary  to  tackle  money  laundering.  Some  progress  was  made  as  regards 
police reform through the adoption of two state-level laws. However, the fragmentation of the 
police was not addressed. Action in fighting against organised crime activities was limited.  

2.2.      Financial assistance in 2008 

Programmes launched 

As of 2007, the CARDS programmes were replaced by the new Instrument for Pre-accession 
Assistance (IPA). No new CARDS programmes were launched after 2006. 

Overview of programmes implemented 

In  2008  contracts  were  awarded  by  the  EC  Delegation  in  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  with  a 
combined  value  of  €28 million,  of  which  €10.8 million  was  delivered  through  CARDS 
regional  and  national  programmes,  €5.8 million  through  the  European  Initiative  for 
Democracy  and  Human  Rights  as  well  as  the  Instrument  for  Stability.  The  largest  share 
(€5.1million)  was  spent  supporting  the  good  governance  and  institution  building  initiative, 
whereas  the  second  largest  share  was  for  the  economic  and  social  development  area 
(€4.4 million).  The  EC  was  involved  in  several  other  sectors  as  well  –  infrastructure,  trade, 
education,  health,  environment,  media,  cross-cutting  sectors,  and  to  a  lesser  extent  in 
agriculture and forestry, and local governance. 

The EC continued to support the civil society sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina by providing 
€1  million  for  a  grant  scheme  targeting  Civil  Society  Organisations  involved  in  the 
reconciliation  process.  This  assistance  contributed  to  the  development  of  local  participation 
mechanisms in municipal administrations, in particular for returnees and constituent peoples' 
minorities. Some sensitive issues that had been treated as taboos before started to be openly 
discussed,  such  as  school  names  and  symbols,  the  issue  of  health  care  and  pensions  for 

18

 
 
 
 
returnees,  job  creation  of  returnees,  and  the  organising  of  returnees  so  that  they  are  able  to 
speak  out  and  identify  their  needs.  9  projects  have  been  funded  and  many  of  them  were 
completed  in  2008.  Furthermore,  new  Non-Governmental  Organisations  (NGOs)  were 
established  as  results  of  CARDS  assistance  projects.  It  should  be  noted  that  interest  from 
NGOs for the CARDS programme was several times higher than the available budget. 

The long-term EC support for legal and judicial reform continued during 2008.  A variety of 
support  was  provided  in  the  form  of  ICT  equipment,  legal  books,  furniture,  and  specialised 
detention  vehicles  for  the  judicial  police.  Furthermore,  a  Twinning  light  in  support  of  the 
High  Judicial  and  Prosecutorial  Council  (HJPC)  and  implemented  by  the  Swedish  National 
Courts Administration was completed during the reporting period. In addition to the various 
foci  of  technical  advice,  analysis  and  recommendations  for  the  improvement  of  judicial 
cooperation  between  executive  and  judiciary  bodies,  a  Memorandum  of  Understanding  was 
signed by both parties.  

The  EC  continued  its  essential  support  to  the  registry  for  war  crimes  and  organised  crime 
through a grant agreement of €2.3 million. The EC is the principal donor to this beneficiary 
and without such support its operational costs, which include criminal investigations, witness 
protection,  interpretation,  translations,  and  the  presence  of  some  international  judges  and 
prosecutors,  would  have  been  at  risk.  Total  support  contracted  in  2008  was€3  million  and 
such assistance has covered a wide variety of actors from within the executives of Bosnia and 
Herzegovina such as the State Ministry of Justice, HJPC, as well as judicial bodies across the 
country such as state, district, cantonal and regular courts and prosecutors' offices. 

The  EC  supported  the  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  police  forces  with  the  implementation  of 
police restructuring. The restructuring aimed at strengthening the capability of the end-users 
in order to make full use of the telecommunications and information systems donated by the 
EC  in  previous  years.  Emphasis  shifted  from  straight  provision  of  equipment  towards 
assisting  the  police  institutions  in  building  up  their  capacity  to  properly  sustain  the  donated 
equipment. 

In  the  Visa,  Asylum  and  Migration  sector  the  EC  continued  to  support  the  development  of 
Visa,  Asylum  and  Migration  management  capacities.  Two  projects  financed  under  CARDS 
were  completed  during  reporting  period,  namely  Support  to  the  Migration  Management 
Capacities, implemented by International Organization for Migration (IOM), and Support to 
the Asylum Management Capacities, implemented by United Nations High Commissioner for 
Refugees (UNHCR). Both projects have focused on institution building by: 1) helping create 
administrative  structures;  2)  providing  assistance  for  the  adoption  of  the  acquis  and  the 
implementation  of  standards  (Visa,  asylum  and  migration);  and  3)  creation  of  a  sound  and 
coordinated migration management policy consistent with EU standards. 

EC support for the trade sector focused on institution building. The Ministry of Foreign Trade 
and Economic Relations (MoFTER) was helped to develop its institutional capacity and in its 
bilateral and multilateral negotiations in the context of the World Trade Organization (WTO), 
the  Stabilisation  and  Association  Agreement  (SAA)  and  Central  European  Free  Trade 
Agreement (CEFTA). MoFTER awareness-raising among economic operators, the public and 
the  media  regarding  the  implications  of  the  various  agreements  being  negotiated  was  also 
supported. Elsewhere, the EC provided technical assistance to help the Intellectual Property 
Institute develop its capacity and strengthen the legal framework in this area. In addition, the 
EC funded projects that develop the Bosnia and Herzegovina governmental system's capacity 
to regulate competition, and projects that facilitate the establishment of a State Aid System. 
Under the regional development and SME portfolio and through the provision of the 5th call 
for the EU Regional Development fund, the EC supported the development of local initiatives 

19

 
that  encourage  private  sector  growth  and  tourism.  Grants  awarded  at  the  end  of  2007  to 
support  SME  development  began  activities  in  2008  with  a  focus  on  providing  business 
infrastructure and business intermediary services. Of the seven grants under implementation, 
four  focus  on  construction  of  business  incubators,  whereas  the  remaining  grants  focus  on 
improving  energy  efficiency  in  the  private  sector,  increasing  skills  of  women  entrepreneurs 
and  the  establishment  of  a  buyer-seller  matchmaking  centre.  The  EC  continued  to  directly 
support  the  five  regional  development  agencies  (RDAs)  in  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  in  the 
form  of  operational  grants.  Finally,  a  smaller  activity  was  implemented  to  support  the  State 
Ministry for Foreign Trade and Economic Relations finalise the draft of the first State SME 
Strategy.  The  strategy  is  pending  adoption.  Capacity  building  support  for  the  Ministry  was 
provided to improve their ability to complete annual reports on the implementation of the EU 
Charter for SMEs. 

Regarding  the  tourism  sector,  under  the  provision  of  the  5th  call  for  EU  Regional 
Development  fund,  19  tourism  development  projects  were  included  (costing  upwards  of€3 
million  in  total),    aiming  at  developing  and  improving  the  sector’s  product  offer, 
competitiveness, human resources, and at creating employment. These projects were largely 
implemented  via  local  civil  society  organisations  and/or  tourism  associations.  Grants  with  a 
combined  value  of  around€2  million  were  awarded  at  the  end  of  2007  to  support  tourism 
development  and  they  began  their  activities  in  2008.  They  are  a  response  to  the  challenge 
faced  by  the  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  tourist  industry  to  attract  international  visitors  whilst 
also developing a significant domestic demand.  

In the agricultural sector, the EC continued its support for institution building at state level 
by  focusing  on  the  development  of  a  framework  for  further  harmonisation  of  agricultural 
strategies and policies coordinated by MoFTER. Also, assistance was provided for the State 
Veterinary Office through the exchange of best practice with Member State administrations in 
the  fields  of  capacity  building,  acquis  approximation,  laboratories  and  reinforced  inspection 
services.  

In the environment sector the EC focused on water management. Under institution building, 
the EC provided additional support for Water Quality Management (WQM II) in Bosnia and 
Herzegovina. The aim was for the institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina managing the water 
sector to reach a "good water status", as defined in the Water Framework Directive, via the 
introduction of a water management principle in accordance with EC practice. Among other 
areas, the EC assisted the government with its national waste water strategy, with improving 
coordination between water authorities, with monitoring strategies and methods, and with data 
and information management.  

In regard to the environment infrastructure development in water and solid waste sector EC 
assistance  focused  on  strengthening  cooperation  with  International  Financing  Institutions 
(IFIs).  EC  support  is  designed  to  complement  the  IFI  financial  assistance  and,  for  example, 
has  taken  the  form  of  a  feasibility  study  for  Waste  Water  Treatment  Plant  (WWTP)  and/or 
rehabilitation and closure of the wild landfills.  

In  the  transport  sector,  the  EC  has  continued  to  support  high-scale  infrastructure  projects 
financed by the European Investment Bank by subsidising the interest rate. Cooperation with 
International  Financial  Institutions  (IFIs)  has  been  further  strengthened  by  providing 
beneficiary  countries  with  studies  and  designs  central  to  their  applications  for  IFI  loan 
assistance.  For  example,  assistance  has  been  focussed  on  the  road  sector  (a  design  for 
approximately  100  km  road  reconstruction),  railway  sector  (designs  for  approximately 
100 km  of  track  overhaul  and  rehabilitation  of  telecommunication  facilities,  structures  and 
electric traction  on approximately 450 km of the  rail  network). The beneficiary  country has 

20

 
been  assisted  with  the  implementation  of  its  Air  Traffic  Management  Strategy.  The  river 
navigation  sector,  railway  sector  and  the  intermodal  transport  sector  have  all  been  assisted 
through the provision of relevant studies. 

In the field of education, the EC has supported the development of a legislative framework 
and the adoption of laws. In 2008 a Framework law on vocational education and training was 
adopted. The draft law was prepared within the EC funded Vocational Education and Training 
project. Coordination between the fourteen Ministries of Education has improved as a result 
of the establishment of the Conference of Ministers chaired by the Minister of Civil Affairs.  
A  strategy  paper  on  the  reform  of  the  education  sector,  entitled  "Directions  for  Education 
Development  in  Bosnia  and Herzegovina 2008-2015",  drafted within the  EC  funded  project 
was  also  adopted.  As  regards  higher  education,  a  set  of  documents  relevant  for  the 
implementation  of  the  Bologna  process  prepared  under  Council  of  Europe/European 
Commission  joint  project  have  been  adopted.  The  EC  also  assisted  the  government  in 
developing the institutions and agencies foreseen in the aforementioned laws.  

In  2008,  decision-making  and  coordination  in  the  public  health  sector  have  improved.  A 
"Conference  of  Health  Ministers  of  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina"  established  within  the  EC 
funded  project  and  meets  regularly.  There  has  been  some  progress  on  statistical  reporting. 
With  the  EC  assistance,  relevant  stakeholders  have  been  trained  and  reports  on  the  national 
health accounts were produced for 2005, 2006 and 2007.  

In the area of employment, the EC began the implementation of an employment and labour 
market  programme  by:  (i)  providing  technical  assistance  through  twinning  light  aimed  at 
strengthening  the  State  Agency  for  Labour;  (ii)  by  executing  the  project  on  employment 
policy reform; and (iii) by establishing a labour information system. The employment policy 
reform  project  delivered  the  provision  of  IT  and  Intelligence  infrastructure  with  the  aim  of 
improving  the  operations  of  the  Entity,  State  and  Brcko  District  employment  institutes, 
recommendations for regulatory improvements in the country and strategies for employment.  

The  EC  continued  to  support  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  authorities  develop  and  execute 
effective  fiscal  policies  and  to  improve  the  management  of  public  finances  at  State,  Entity, 
and  District  levels.  For  that  purpose,  a  supplementary  quarterly  macroeconomic  model  has 
been  developed  and  delivered  and  an  inter-institutional  fiscal  policy  working  group 
established. Recommendations for the improvement of Government Financial Statistics (GFS) 
have  also  been  presented.  The  primary  beneficiaries  of  the  project  have  been  the 
Macroeconomic Analysis Unit of the Governing Board of the Indirect Taxation Authority of 
Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Bosnia and Herzegovina Ministry of Finance and Treasury, and 
the two entity Ministries of Finance. The Directorate for Economic Planning and the Central 
Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina were also involved. 

The project strengthened the ability of the sub-entity government levels to comply with fiscal 
reporting  requirements  and  organised  a  conference  on  “Public  finances  and  Fiscal 
Management”  thereby  providing  a  forum  for  discussion  and  sharing  of  experiences  in  the 
areas  of  statistics,  macroeconomic  and  fiscal  forecasting,  budgetary  coordination  and  fiscal 
rules, taxation and expenditure and assessment of fiscal policy and fiscal sustainability. 

With respect to media and communication, the EC supported the formal adoption of Public 
Broadcasting  Service  (PBS)  reform.  The  EC  also  provided  technical  assistance  (equipment 
and  training)  to  the  value  of  €1  million  for  both  PBS  and  the  Communications  Regulatory 
Agency in order to facilitate the adoption of European standards in the regulatory framework 

Social  inclusion  assistance  focused  primarily  on  the  return  process,  which  included  the 
reconstruction  of  housing,  the  economic  regeneration  of  return  areas,  support  for  de-mining 

21

 
activities  that  enable  return,  and  providing  support  to  mine  victims  through  job  creation 
activities.  A  project  entitled  "kids  festival"  aimed  to  create  better  conditions  for  children  in 
Bosnia and Herzegovina and improve the quality of their life thorough programs interactively 
joining education end entertainment. 

The EC Delegation continued to support cross border cooperation. Implementation of the 31 
local  projects  under  the  Interreg  IIIb  Cadses  programme  and  Adriatic  New  Neighbourhood 
Programme  (ANNP)  continued  successfully  in  2008.  These  projects  aimed  at  increasing 
cooperation  between  the  partners  in  the  Adriatic  region  and  South  East  Europe  in  different 
fields (research, entrepreneurship, environment etc.).  

Support to building operating structures of Bosnia and Herzegovina for IPA component II – 
Cross-Border Cooperation - was provided through grants and technical assistance, in order to 
prepare  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  for  successful  cooperation  in  bilateral  cross-border 
programmes  (with  Serbia,  Croatia  and  Montenegro),  transnational  programmes  (South  East 
Europe  and  Mediterranean),  as  well  as  in  the  multilateral  IPA  Adriatic  Cross-Border 
Cooperation programme. 

Cards management performance 

The  performance  in  managing  CARDS  programmes  was  overall  satisfactory.  2001-2005 
CARDS  national  programmes  can  be  considered  to  be  fully  contracted.  Contracting  and 
payments for CARDS 2006 are on track.  

Table 1: Bosnia and Herzegovina: Status of  financial assistance at the end of December 
2008 (in million €) – CARDS annual national programmes 

Allocated ContractedRAC3 

CARDS 2001 105.2 
CARDS 2002 60.5 
CARDS 2003 50.6 
CARDS 2004 62.1 
CARDS 2005 44.0 
CARDS 2006 43.8 
Total 
366.2 

98.56 
59.30 
49.38 
60.49 
43.21 
38.38 
349.32 

% 
contracted 
6.64 
94% 
1.20 
98% 
1.22 
98% 
1.61 
97% 
0.79 
98% 
88% 
5.42 
16.88  95% 

Paid 

92.50 
56.53 
45.03 
54.62 
39.33 
27.85 
316.862 

RAL4  % paid 

12.70 
3.97 
4.57 
7.48 
4.67 
15.95 
49.34 

88% 
93% 
91% 
88% 
89% 
64% 
 87% 

implementation  of  CARDS 

The 
Neighbourhood Programmes and Evaluation and Audit Programmes proceeded smoothly.  

Information  and  Communication  Programmes, 

Institution Building highlights 

For the preparation of decentralised implementation of IPA in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the 
EC  Delegation  embarked  on  a  coaching  and  training  programme  in  order  to  prepare  the 
country's authorities to take over responsibility for planning, programming and implementing 
financial assistance. Up until recently the EC was covering the project cycle alone, with little 
involvement of the Bosnia and Herzegovina government. To alter this, the EC Delegation has 
employed  a  strategy  aimed  at  transferring  'ownership'  of  the  programmes  to  the  Bosnia  and 

3 Reste à contracter 
4 Reste à liquider 

22

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
                                                 
Herzegovina  authorities.  This  process  prepares  the  decentralisation  of  the  management  of 
assistance, and included:  

-  Coaching  and  training  the  Directorate  of  European  Integration  (DEI)  on  strategic 

planning, project preparation and assessment; 

-  Setting  up  a  structured  network  of  counterparts  for  project  planning,  design  and 
implementation  in  all  line  ministries  and  state  agencies,  the  Senior  Programme 
Officers (SPO's); 

-  Providing  on-the-job  training  to  the  growing  staff  of  the  Central  Finance  and 
Contracting  Unit  (CFCU)  by  including  them  in  tender/call  for  proposals  evaluations 
organised by the Delegation. The training plan for the CFCU and the National Fund 
will continue to be implemented throughout 2009.  

Public Administration Reform (PAR) was one of the sixteen priorities in the feasibility study 
and  is  one  of  the  six  key  European  Partnership  priorities.  The  EC  assists  the  Bosnia  and 
Herzegovina governments in PAR through strengthening the systems of public administration 
and through administrative capacity building of selected key sectors. It is also supporting the 
PAR Coordinator’s Office (PARCO) with the implementation of a national PAR Strategy and 
Action Plan. Even though there was no CARDS PAR project being implemented in 2008, the 
well-established coordination mechanism for the deployment of the PAR Fund continued to 
work,  involving  government  representatives  from  all  administrative  levels  and  several  PAR 
donors. It resulted in the approval of PAR-related projects with combined value of nearly €4 
million.  

The  public  procurement  institutions  (the  public  procurement  agency  and  the  review  body) 
both received assistance in the form of separate twinning light projects that introduced them 
to  EU  practices,  relevant  acquis  and  practical  implementation  issues.  The  projects  also 
recommended directions for further development of the PP system and its institutions.  

Donor coordination has been ensured throughout the entire project management cycle from 
project design to implementation. Recently, the role of the EC Delegation has changed. The 
Delegation is seen more and more as the lead donor in the country in light of the European 
integration process, which is recognised as an utmost priority. At the same time, steps forward 
in the enhancement of local ownership of donor coordination could be observed.  

The  Government  of  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  transferred  the  responsibility  for  aid 
coordination at the state level from MoFTER to the Ministry of Finance and Treasury (MoFT) 
at  the  end  of  2007.  This  development  resulted  in  establishment  of  the  Board  for  the 
Coordination  of  International  Aid  (BCIA)  consisting  of  representatives  of  the  MoFT, 
Directorate  for  European  Integration,  Directorate  for  Economic  Planning,  as  well  as  the 
Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  Federation,  Republika  Srpska  and  Brčko  District  Ministries  of 
Finance.  The  Board  is  an  advisory  body  which  develops  proposals,  offers  opinions  and 
provides guidance for improving efficiency in the allocation of donor aid in line with Bosnia 
and Herzegovina's priorities.  

In September 2008, the Sector  for  Coordination of International  Economic Aid (SCIA) was 
established  in  the  MoFT.  The  Sector’s  scope  of  work  includes  coordination  of  international 
economic  aid  to  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  except  for  EU  aid  which  is  responsibility  of  the 
Directorate for European Integration.  

The  Sector  together  with  other  institutions  at  State  and  Entity  level  (BCIA,  Bosnia  and 
Herzegovina's  Federation  Ministry  of  Finance,  Ministry  of  Finance  and  Ministry  for 
Economic Relations and Coordination of Republika Srpska) will be assisted through the aid 

23

 
coordination  and  effectiveness  project  funded  by  DFID.  The  project  continues  a  process  of 
supporting  the  establishment  of  an  aid  coordination  mechanism  assisted  by  several  donors, 
including  the  EC,  the  United  Kingdom's  Department  for  International  development  (DFID), 
the  Dutch  Government  and  the  United  Nations  Development  Programme  (UNDP).  It  will 
support the development of the capacity to co-ordinate international assistance to the country 
in line with principles of the Paris Declaration. 

2.3.      Results and impact 

Monitoring & Evaluation  Reports in 2008 - Lessons Learned 

The ad-hoc evaluation on CARDS programmes carried out in Bosnia and Herzegovina during 
2008 has shown in particular that:  

•  Political  support  from  all  levels  of  Government  is  essential  for  a  successful  project 

implementation.  

•  During  the  project  design  phase  it  is  highly  important  to  take  into  consideration  the 
absorption  capacity  of  local  institutions.  Beneficiary  institutions  need  to  have  sufficient 
resources and staffing to fully benefit from the project activities. 

•  Sometimes projects have too many components or objectives. Consequently the expected 

results are beyond the local institutions. 

Other  lessons  learnt  deriving  from  monitoring  of  projects  in  2008  can  be  summarised  as 
follows: 

•  The  political  environment  sometimes  does  not  follow  the  same  strategic  direction,  i.e. 

state and entity strategies are often not compatible with each other. 

•  There has sometimes been a lack of cooperation between regional and national projects. 
Information to local beneficiaries should be improved in order to avoid possible overlaps. 
In order to have successful national projects the continued involvement of beneficiaries, as 
soon  as  possible,  from  the  design  phase,  is  essential.  The  higher  the  involvement  of  the 
beneficiaries, the higher the level of 'ownership' in country. 

• 

•  European integration projects are instruments of change aimed at developing the country. 
Political  consensus  is  required  concerning  which  level  of  authority  is  best  placed  to 
implement  the  required  changes.  Entities  should  contribute  more  actively  and  positively 
when there is a comparative advantage to work at State level for coordination purposes. 
•  Preconditions for project implementation are of utmost importance. If they are not met by 
the  time  the  project  should  start,  this  may  jeopardise  the  expected  results.  Bosnia  and 
Herzegovina should take on such issues with more determination. 

•  Most  projects  designed  for  harmonisation  and  approximation  of  the  acquis  face 

difficulties due to different approaches on different levels of authority. 

•  Donor  coordination  does  exist  in  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  and  it  is  more  and  more 
effective,  as  it  is  carried  out  by  the  government  itself.  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina's 
authorities  have  taken  the  lead  in  aid  co-ordination  in  the  last  quarter  2008  and  further 
efforts will continue in this direction. 

•  Twinning  projects  have  done  very  well.  Absorption  capacity  is  increasing,  however, 
twinning light projects or technical assistance may still be a preferred tool when Bosnia 
and  Herzegovina's  counterpart  administration  is  not  yet  fully  equipped  and  up  and 
running. 

24

 
 
 
 
 
 
•  Financial sustainability is very important. Sustainability is better achieved when political 

support is matched with Bosnia and Herzegovina's financial contributions. 

Sectors with positive results 

The  EC  has  provided  and  continues  to  provide  substantial  political  and  financial  support  to 
the  High  Judicial  and  Prosecutorial  Council  whose  central  role  as  a  state  institution  is  to 
strengthen  and  maintain  an  independent,  impartial  and  professional  judiciary.    Under  its 
charge  is  the  Case  Management  System  (CMS)  which  benefited  from  further  EC  support 
during the reporting period. The assistance aimed to widen access to all courts, prosecutor's 
offices  and  cadastre  offices  in  the  country  and  to  establish  a  judicial  portal  for  the  general 
public's easy access to information. EC support has also contributed to the establishment of a 
telecommunications  system  that  connects  different  law  enforcement  agencies,  prosecutors' 
offices,  courts  and  the  state  agency  that  manages  and  issues  various  types  of  identification 
documents.  Furthermore,  nationwide  information  systems  for  police  bodies  have  been 
established and the Forensics Departments are better equipped, more functional and efficient.   

The  EC  continued  to  provide  support  for  the  implementation  of  the  Integrated  Border 
Management (IBM) strategy in Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a result of this support, a revised 
IBM  Strategy  and  Action  Plan  have  been  adopted  by  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina's  Council  of 
Ministers. Two new commissions for dealing with border related issues have been established 
and  a  memorandum  of  understanding  on  the  establishment  of  the  joint  analysis  centre  was 
signed  between  the  institutions  involved  in  the  IBM  process  in  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina. 
Additionally,  the  EC  has  procured  Information  and  telecommunication  (IT)  equipment  for 
operation of the Joint Analysis Centre. 

The regional development agencies have continued to see remarkable results in each of their 
regions in terms of job creation and the creation of new small and medium enterprises.  This 
is  due  to  a  number  of  schemes  being  implemented  by  the  RDAs,  including  loan  guarantee 
funds, consultant voucher schemes and rural development centres among others. 

A variety of tourism products have been created and developed in the form of “baskets” of 
goods  and  services  across  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina.  Some  of  them  tangibles  (travel, 
accommodation, etc) other intangibles (culture, rest,  etc) with different specificities because 
of  the  “basket"  content  (eco  and  adventure  sport  tourism  products,  wine  route  products, 
cultural  tourism  products  etc.)  In  addition,  protection  of  cultural,  historical  and  natural 
heritage linked to tourism development is considered as a major development source for the 
region. 

In  the  sectors  of  health  and  education  the  functioning  of  public  administrations  has  been 
improved  by  the  standing  conferences  of  ministers  from  both  sectors  who  are  meeting  on 
regular  basis  now.  The  process  of  coordination  and  decision  making  has  been  considerably 
improved. In education, a legislative framework for institutional development and the reform 
of  all  levels  of  education  (except  adult  education)  has  been  completed.  Three  agencies 
responsible  for  the  development  of  standards  in  education,  assessment  of  outcomes  of 
learning,  accreditation  and  diploma  recognition  have  been  established.  The  strategic 
directions for the reform of all levels of education until 2015 have been adopted.   

Thanks to EC assistance, major progress was made in the agriculture sector in 2008 through 
the  creation  of  the  state-level  sector  for  coordination  within  MoFTER  and  adoption  of  the 
State Law on Agriculture, Food and Rural Development. In addition, EC assistance supported 
Bosnia and Herzegovina to initiate harmonised farm registration. 

25

 
 
EC approval of fishery exports could largely be taken as a result of increased administrative 
capacities for Bosnia and Herzegovina due to EC assistance.  

Successful implementation of the cross border cooperation grants during 2008 contributed to 
increased cooperation between the partner organisations from Italy and South East Europe, as 
well as increasing the profile, capacities and competitiveness of the local partners in fields of 
research, environment, entrepreneurship, local infrastructure etc.   

Building capacities of the operating structure (Directorate for European Integrations) for the 
IPA component II ensured a successful start-up of the bilateral programmes between Bosnia 
and  Herzegovina  and  neighbouring  countries.  Additionally,  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina 
continued  its  involvement  in  European  Regional  Development  Fund  (ERDF)  transnational 
programmes  (South  East  Europe  (SEE)  and  Mediterranean  (MED))  and  in  IPA  Adriatic 
multilateral programme. 

In  the  area  of  visa,  asylum  and  migration,  the  law  on  Movement  and  Stay  of  Aliens  and 
Asylum  was  adopted  in  April  2008.  Seven  out  of  eight  by-laws  that  define  the  area  of 
immigration  were  also  adopted.    In  2008  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina's  Ministry  of  Security 
adopted  its  strategic  action  plan  for  2009-2012  as  well  as  its  first  Migration  and  Asylum 
Strategy and Action Plan for 2008-2011. The Ministry of Security purchased land in order to 
build  an  Asylum  centre  that  will  be  built  with  EC  assistance  and  in  June  2008  it  opened  a 
Centre for Illegal Migrants.  All of the above positive developments are benchmarks for the 
fulfilment of a visa liberalisation roadmap. 

Success story 

EU Awareness Programme in Bosnia and Herzegovina  

The  objective  of  the  EU  Awareness  Programme  (EUAP)  was  to  support  Bosnia  and 
Herzegovina's  public,  civil  society  and  governmental  actors  to  become  sufficiently  familiar 
with the EU and aware of the reforms required by the Stabilisation and Association process 
(Sap) and that a better informed public/government dialogue and debate will facilitate Bosnia 
and Herzegovina’s progress in the SAp. Also the EUAP was designed to increase the general 
understanding  of  the  EU,  its  policies  and  its  programmes  among  the  general  population.  In 
addition,  the  EUAP  was  designed  to  enable  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina's  Directorate  for 
European Integration (DEI) to strengthen its capacity in the field of public relations and carry 
out its role in the dissemination of information on Sap, EU Membership and other EU related 
issues.  The  project  took  place  over  24  months  (2007  and  2008)  and  its  overall  cost  was 
€1.425,630. 

The EUAP included the organisation and production of:   

•  9  Quiz  shows  "  Kako  u  Evropu/  How  to  Europe",  and  targeted  the  participation  of 
young people (high school students) from all parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina in order 
to increase awareness and interest in the EU and in the EU integration process (it was 
aired on national broadcaster - BHTV);  

•  "Street Ball Challenge" competitions across the country;   
•  Europe Day Celebrations on 9th May at the BH Parliament building with gala concert 

performed by the Youth Symphony Orchestra of South Eastern Europe;  

•  21 Round Tables in 21 cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina where officials from DEI, EU 
Member  States  Ambassadors,  EC  Delegation  officials  and  NGOs  active  in  the 
European  integration  process  presented  issues  relevant  to  the  process  of  EU 
integration;   

26

 
 
•  8 Debates broadcasted on BHTV; 
•  28  programmes  “S  nama  u  Evropi/With  us  in  Europe”  produced  by  the  entity's 

broadcaster - FTV;   

•  13 TV programmes “Evropska unija i mi/ European Union and us” and 20 “I ja BiH u 
Evropu/I would also go to Europe” produced by the entity's broadcaster - RTRS;  
•  69 programmes of "Euroimpuls" were aired weekly on BHTV. The program presented 
different topics relevant to the EU integration process, such as: Intercultural dialogue, 
higher  education,  science  and  research,    intellectual  property,  minorities  protection, 
EU  promotional  projects,  the  fight  against  corruption,    waste  control,  migration  and 
Asylum, Mines, and much more besides; 

•  Over  a  hundred  hours  of  TV  and  radio  programmes  were  produced  and  aired  on 
national  and  entity  broadcasters.  Several  radio  bridges  and  competitions  for  students 
took place. Thousands of pieces of material were printed, such as products developed 
by EUAP together with the DEI.  

Over the period, the growing attendance at the events and activities organised by the EUAP 
suggest an increase in awareness and interest in the EU and related issues. Furthermore, such 
an increase in attendance has helped to stimulate further interest and awareness.  Europe Day 
2008 provides a good example of this trend.  The participation in such activities as the "Kako 
u  Evropu/how  to  Europe"  quiz  show  and  the  competition  “Street  Ball  Challenge”  and  the 
coverage  in  the  media  –  including  free  spots  beforehand  –  meant  that  EU  awareness  and 
visibility was significantly raised in 2008.  This process was then extended and enhanced by 
coverage of the winners “study trip” to Ljubljana, Brussels and Munich, which was filmed by 
the  BHT  crew  that  accompanied  them.  That  resulted  in  a  movie  “Brankina  priča/Branko's 
story” that is going to be screened at regional documentary festivals.  

The Quiz show was evaluated as the best EU related programme that has produced and aired 
by public broadcasters in the region of SEE. Such recognition was delivered at the regional 
meeting  of  public  broadcasters  in  2008.  The  bulletin  "Europuls"  was  commended  by  the 
Directorate of European Integration as being one of the strongest journalistic products about 
EU  integration.  The  programme  in  general  received  highly  positive  evaluations  by  local 
media, governments and NGOs. 

27

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
3. Bulgaria  

3.1.      Summary 

 In 2008, Bulgaria implemented both pre-accession 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 July 2007 implementation is carried out under the entire responsibility of the Bulgarian 
authorities  applying  national  procurement  rules.  Four  implementing  agencies  are  fully 
responsible for daily implementation of projects.  

In  February  2008  the  financing  for  the  Pre-accession  and  Transition  Facility  programmes 
managed by two of the accredited Agencies - the Central Finance and Contracts Unit (CFCU) 
and the Implementing Agencies at the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works 
(MRDPW)  was  suspended  and  subsequently  in  July  the  Commission  withdrew  the  right  of 
those agencies to manage Phare and Transition Facility programme on a decentralized basis.  

The National Aid Coordinator (NAC) continues to exercise the programming function for the 
Transition Facility programme and monitoring of both Pre-accession and Transition Facility 
Programmes. The National Authorizing Officer (NAO) carries out the financial supervision. 

Since the closure of the Phare Transition Team in the Representation in Sofia as of July 2008, 
DG  Enlargement  continues  to  exercise  the  residual  functions  related  to  Commission 
responsibilities (monitoring, payments, closure, etc.) in line with the Financial Regulation. 

3.2. 

Phare/pre-accession, financial and Transition assistance in 2008 

i) Implementation 

-  Phare 2005 – finalisation of payments 

At the end of the period for execution of contracts for the 2005 Phare programme 56.26 % of 
the  funding  has  been  disbursed.  There  are  several  projects  whose  period  of  execution  of 
contracts  has  not  expired  yet  according  to  the  corresponding  Financing  Agreements. 
Furthermore the Bulgarian authorities have requested extensions of the execution period for 
some projects under the 2005 Phare programme that have been approved by the Commission. 

-  Phare 2006 – rate of contracting (EDIS extensions)  

At the end of the contracting period for the 2006 National programme on 30 November 2008, 
17.38%  of  the  programmes  had  been  contracted.  The  low  percentage  of  contracting  is  due 
partly  to  the  suspension  of  funding  as  well  as  to  the  cancellation  of  significant  number  of 
contracts by the Bulgarian authorities for which no time and resources were available. 

-  TF 2007 

The deadline for contracting 2007 Transition Facility will expire on 15 December 2009. Up to 
the cut-off date of this report, 30.06% of the programme had been contracted. However, the 
accreditation of the CFCU has not been restored and only twinning projects are eligible under 
TF.  

28

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
-  Institution Building highlights 

As  of  1  July  2007,  the  responsibility  for  the  implementation  of  the  twinning  projects  was 
taken over by the Administrative Office, while the overall coordination for twinning is carried 
out by the National Contact Point of the Ministry of Finance. 

In 2008, a number of projects continued to be implemented through the twinning instrument. 
The  projects  funded  under  the  Phare  2005  programme  in  the  justice  sector  are  focused  on 
strengthening  the  sustainability  and  the  role  of  the  probation  service,  establishment  and 
strengthening of the national system for support of crime victims, strengthening the uniform 
application of the new procedural legislation in Bulgaria.   

Assistance is also provided to the Ministry of Interior in relation to border control, to the State 
Agency  for  National  Security  for  further  strengthening  of  its  capacity  for  counteracting  the 
organized crime, to the Bulgarian Maritime Administration for tackling the pollution issues, 
to  the  National  Statistical  Institute  (NSI)  for  integration  of  the  work  of  the  NSI  with  the 
requirements of Eurostat and improvement of its regional structure.  

Furthermore,  twinning  contracts  under  Phare  2006  support  the  capacity  building  of  the 
National  Revenue  Agency;  the  institutional  and  administrative  structures  in  charge  of 
management,  monitoring  and  control  of  Structural  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  for  Bulgaria,  twinning  remains  an  important 
instrument  for  implementation.  Altogether  the  Programme  includes  a  total  of  22  standard 
twinning  projects  and  5  twinning  light  projects  in  areas  such  as  Agriculture,  Environment, 
Justice and Home Affairs with the majority of projects in the field of reform of the judiciary, 
police, organised crime, but also in the area of border matters and migration issues, and social 
policy. 

In 2008, Twinning continued to remain a successful instrument in Bulgaria in many areas and 
has helped the Bulgarian administration to further strengthen its capacities to implement and 
enforce EC legislation. 

3.3.  Results and Impact 

i) -   State of play for JMC / SMSC development 

The  Joint  Monitoring  Committee  (JMC)  continues  to  supervise  progress  of  EU-funded 
assistance  in  2008  and  to  provide  recommendations  on  the  management  of  Phare  and 
Transition Facility programmes. In 2008, two JMC meetings took place in February and July 
2008 respectively. At the meetings issues such as further improvement of project management 
and reporting were discussed and proposals for remedial actions were made.  

Each  monitoring  sector  is  covered  by  the  relevant  Sectoral  Monitoring  Sub-Committee 
(SMSC).  Each  SMSC  session  normally  meets  twice  a  year  in  accordance  with  the  annual 
schedule agreed within the JMC. Two rounds of SMSC meetings took place in 2008 and the 
ten  monitoring  sectors  cover:  Public  Sector/Development  of  administrative  capacity,  Public 
Finance,  Justice  and  Home  Affairs,  Economic  Development,  Agriculture,  Environment, 

29

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
Transport,  Social  Development,  Regional  Development/Cross-border  Co-operation  and 
Energy and Telecommunications. 

ii) -  Monitoring & Evaluation Reports in 2008 (lessons learned) 

Overall  responsibility  for  monitoring  the  Phare  and  Transition  Facility  programmes  in 
Bulgaria  lies  with  the  NAC  services  within  the  Ministry  of  Finance.  Activities  in  this  area 
were  carried  out  on  the  basis  of  the  Action  Plan  on  decentralisation  of  monitoring  and 
evaluation, which was endorsed by the EC in May 2007.  

Interim  Evaluation  of  all  the  10  SMSC  monitored  sectors  has  been  launched  during  2008. 
Three final reports have been completed - for Economic  Development, Social Development 
and Public Administration Reform sectors and several draft reports have been circulated for 
discussion. 

In  2008,  one  Country  Summary  Report  was  issued  for  the  JMC  meeting  in  July  2008.  The 
report  provided  very  useful  information,  based  on  the  findings  of  the  sectoral  evaluation 
reports  launched  in  2008.  Some  issues  in  the  sectoral  parts  give  rise  to  concerns,  as  for 
example  the  rating  of  the  anti-corruption  projects  is  “unsatisfactory”  and  the  same  goes  for 
projects in transport, regional and economic development. 

30

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
4. CROATIA 

4.1. The year in review  

4.1.1 Political developments 

EU accession negotiations began with Croatia on 3 October 2005 and continued to progress 
well. By the end of December 2008, 22 out of 35 negotiation chapters had been opened. Out 
of these chapters, seven had been provisionally closed.  

Based  on  the  overall  progress  being  made  by  Croatia  the  Commission  proposed  in  the 
enlargement package adopted on 5 November 2008, an indicative road map for reaching the 
final  stage  of  accession  negotiations  by  the  end  of  2009,  provided  Croatia  fulfils  all  the 
necessary conditions.  

Croatia continued to meet the Copenhagen political criteria. New strategies and action plans 
as  well  as  legislation  for  reforming  the  judiciary,  the  public  administration  and  in  fighting 
corruption  were  adopted.  The  anti-corruption  body  USKOK  continued  to  intensify  its 
activities. Croatia took some steps to address problems of minorities, including refugee return. 
Croatia continued to participate actively in regional cooperation.   

However, considerable challenges remain in key areas, such as reform of the still inefficient 
judicial  system  and  public  administration  and  in  fighting  organised  crime  and  corruption, 
which  remained  widespread.  Sustained  efforts  are  needed  across  the  board,  leading  to 
concrete  results.  Further  attention  needs  to  be  paid  to  minority  rights,  especially  refugee 
return.    The  prosecution  of  war  crimes  requires  continued  attention.  There  have  been 
problems of access by International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to 
certain documents in Croatia.  

Regional cooperation needs to continue, as do efforts to solve outstanding bilateral problems 
with neighbours, especially on border delimitation.   

4.1.2 Macroeconomic developments and structural reforms 

Overall  in  2008  the  economy  of  Croatia  continued  to  show  a  solid  performance,  with 
macroeconomic stability being preserved.    

However, inflation has risen considerably, largely due to higher energy and food prices. The 
current account deficit has been growing. The implementation of structural reforms has been 
slow. Significant subsidies to enterprise have not been used effectively for restructuring.  

Furthermore  in  the  last  months  of  the  year  global  financial  crisis  has  started  to  affect  the 
Croatian  economy.  Growth  slowed  down,  external  imbalances  widened  and  economic 
prospects  have  become  much  bleaker.  This  entails  the  risks  of  an  expansion  of  spending, 
revenue shortfalls and higher budget deficits.   

4.1.3 Progress in meeting the acquis communautaire 

Croatia  improved  its  ability  to  take  on  the  obligations  of  membership.  Preparations  for 
meeting EU requirements moved forward at a steady pace. Significant progress was made in 
economic and monetary policy and information society and media. Good progress was made 
in many chapters, such as public procurement, intellectual property law, customs union, food 

31

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
safety  and  financial  services.    However,  significant  efforts  lie  ahead,  in  particular  in  areas 
such as judiciary and fundamental rights, environment, competition policy and agriculture and 
rural development. 

4.2.      Pre-accession assistance in 2008 

Programmes launched 

As of 2007 the Phare pre-accession programmes were replaced by the new Instrument for Pre-
accession Assistance (IPA). No new Phare programmes were launched after 2006. 

Overview of programmes implemented 

The  Commission  decided  to  confer  the  management  under  decentralised  implementation 
(DIS) of Phare and CARDS programmes to the Croatian institutions under the authority of the 
National  Authorising  Officer  on  7  February  2006  while  maintaining  the  ex-ante  control 
requirement  for  tendering  and  contracting.  This  decision  also  allowed  for  the  further 
decentralisation of elements of CARDS 2003 and 2004. 

Throughout  2008,  further  contracting  of  Phare  2006  (Nuclear  Safety,  National  and  CBC 
programmes), and further disbursement of CARDS 2003 and CARDS 2004, and Phare 2005 
and Phare 2006 (Nuclear Safety, National and CBC programmes) took place.  

The CARDS 2003 programme amounts to a total of €62 million consisting of €3 million of 
centralised funds for the Tempus programme, €29,633,585 of deconcentrated funds managed 
by  the  EC  Delegation  and  €29,366,415  of  funds  under  DIS.  Under  deconcentrated 
management, the contracting rate was 99.2% with a disbursement rate of 93% at the end of 
2008. Under DIS, these rates were respectively 97.7% and 86.7%. 

The CARDS 2004 programme amounts to a total of €81 million consisting of €4 million of 
centralised funds for the Tempus programme, €30,426,370 of deconcentrated funds managed 
by  the  EC  Delegation  and  €46,573,630  of  funds  under  DIS.  Under  deconcentrated 
management, the contracting rate was 99.96% with a disbursement rate of 88.7% at the end of 
2008. Under DIS, these rates were respectively 94.6% and 69.2%. 

The  Phare  2005  national  programme  amounts  to  a  total  of  €71,500,000  and  is  fully 
decentralised  except  for  the  TEMPUS  and  Community  programmes  funds.  Out  of 
€62,882,000 of decentralised funds, 88.3% had been contracted, and 49.3% had been paid by 
the end of 2008. 

In addition to the Phare 2005 national programme, the Phare 2005 Nuclear Safety programme 
amounts to €641,000 and is fully decentralised. By the end of 2008, 66.5% of funds had been 
contracted, and 42.5% disbursed. 

Also  under  Phare  2005,  the  Cross-border  programmes  (CBC)  Croatia-Italy  and  Croatia-
Slovenia-Hungary amount to €3 million each and are implemented under DIS. By the end of 
2008, 60.4% had been contracted and 48.3% paid for CBC Croatia-Italy, and 90.7% had been 
contracted and 69.9% paid for CBC Croatia-Slovenia-Hungary. 

Under Phare 2006, the national programme, the Nuclear Safety programme and the Cross-border 
programme  (CBC)  Croatia-Italy  and  Croatia-Slovenia-Hungary  amount  respectively  to 

32

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
€61,062,000,    €1,649,000,  €3  million  for  each  CBC  programme,  are  implemented  under  DIS 
(except  for  the  TEMPUS  and  Community  programmes  within  the  national  programme 
envelope).  

By the end of 2008, 84.8% had been contracted and 1% paid for the Phare 2006 the national 
programme, 74.9 % contracted with no payments for the Phare 2006 Nuclear Safety programme, 
100 % contracted and 70.7 % paid for the CBC Croatia-Italy, 72.7% contracted and 52.3% paid 
for the CBC Croatia-Slovenia-Hungary. 

CARDS and Phare management performance 

In addition to the preparations for IPA, the theme which dominated 2008 was the temporary 
suspension by the Delegation (as from 21 December 2007) of endorsement of contracts under 
Phare  2006.  This  measure  was  aimed  to  last  until  the  Commission  was  satisfied  with 
performance improvements by Croatia under decentralised implementation.  

During  the  first  semester  2008,  Croatia  demonstrated  such  improvements  through  a  set  of 
measures tackling mainly the reinforcement of the Central Finance and Contracting Agency 
and  the  deeper  supervision  by  key  stakeholders  (Minister  of  Finance,  National  Authorising 
Officer, and Head of the CFCA) on line Ministries.  

These  measures  in  turn  led  the  Commission  to  restore  in  July  2008  its  endorsement  of 
contracts under Phare 2006. However, because much of the Croatian authorities' attention was 
devoted  to  the  reinforcement  of  the  structures  (including  the  preparation  for  IPA 
accreditations),  it  was  only  in  November  2008  that  the  main  bulk  of  Phare  2006  national 
programme  was  contracted.  While  the  contracting rate was at 1.5 % of the allocation at the 
beginning  of  November,  it  ended  up  at  84,8%  by  the  contracting  deadline  of  30  November 
2008 which constitutes a good performance considering the prevailing situation. 

Table 1: Status of financial assistance at the end of December 2008 (in million €) – 
CARDS/Phare  annual programmes 

Allocated  Contracted RAC5  % contracted Paid  RAL6  % paid

CARDS 2001 

CARDS 2002 

CARDS 2003 

CARDS 2004 

Phare 2005* 

Phare 2006* 

54 

56 

59 

77 

69.52 

60.47 

52.06 

53.81 

58.08 

74.48 

60.51 

51.21 

1.94 

2.19 

0.92 

2.52 

9.01 

9.26 

96.4% 

48.69 

5.31 

90.2% 

96.1% 

51.46 

4.54 

91.9% 

98.4% 

53.60 

5.40 

90.8% 

96.7% 

59.20 

17.80  76.9% 

87.0% 

34.82 

34.70  50.1% 

84.7% 

4.26 

56.21 

7.1% 

Total 

375.99 

350.15 

25.84 

93.1% 

252.03  123.96  67.0% 

* National, Cross-Border, and Nuclear Safety programmes. 

5 Reste à contracter 
6 Reste à liquider 

33

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
                                                 
NDPs – State of Play 

The  Croatian  Government  adopted  a  national  development  strategy  entitled  Strategic 
Development  Framework  2006-2013  in  August  2006,  which  identifies  a  series  of  priorities 
that should promote Croatia’s social and economic development. The Strategic Development 
Framework remained valid in 2008. 

In  addition,  the  Croatian  Government  adopted  in  2008  the  National  Programme  for  the 
Accession  of  the  Republic  of  Croatia  into  the  EU  (NPIEU  2008)  which  is  the  sixth  annual 
programme which contains activities to be undertaken on the way towards EU integration, as 
well  as  short  and  mid  term  priorities  in  the  harmonisation  of  Croatian  legislation  with  the 
acquis. 

Institution Building highlights 

One  of  the  main  challenges  facing  the  candidate  countries  is  the  need  to  strengthen  their 
administrative  and  judicial  capacity  to  implement  and  enforce  the  acquis.  The  European 
Commission  mobilises  significant  human  and  financial  resources  to  help  them  with  this 
process,  using  the  mechanism  of  twinning  administrations  and  agencies  with  the  ones  from 
the Member States. 

During  2008,  12  new  twinning  contracts  (of  which  5  twinning  light)  under  Phare  2006 
national programme, for a total amount of approximately €6.4 million were signed. 

In  addition  to  these  newly  started  projects,  there  were,  by  the  end  of  2008,  19  running 
twinning  and  twinning  light  projects,  for  a  total  amount  of  approximately  €20  million:  7 
projects  under  CARDS  2004  programme  and  12  projects  under  Phare  2005  national 
programme. 

Moreover,  12  twinning  and  twinning  light  projects  for  a  total  amount  of  approximately  €4 
million were finished during 2008: 5 under CARDS 2004 and 7 under Phare 2005. 

4.3.      Results and impact 

State of play for JMC/SMSC development 

Two series of six Sectoral Monitoring Sub-Committee (SMSCs) meetings each were held in 
May and October 2008. Each series of meetings considered the state of play for a total of 120 
projects. The six sectors covered by the SMSCs were: Energy & Environment; Economic & 
Social  Cohesion;  Internal  Market,  Competition  &  Agriculture;  Justice  and  Home  Affairs; 
Public  Administration  Reform,  Public  Finance  &  Statistics;  Social  Sector,  Civil  Society  & 
Minority Rights. 

This  process  culminated  in  the  Joint  Monitoring  Committee  (JMC)  which  took  place  on  16 
December  2008.  The  JMC  reviewed  the  financial  status  of  programmes  as  of  1  December 
2008  (contracting,  payments,  end  of  implementation,  closure).  It  discussed  a  JMC  Synopsis 
Report containing conclusions, recommendations and follow-up actions, as well as a Country 
Summary  Evaluation  report  providing  a  general  overview  of  the  key  issues  that  have 
influenced the overall impact and sustainability of the Phare assistance to Croatia. The JMC 
also  discussed  the  findings  of  the  Ministry  of  Finance's  internal  audit  performed  on  the  17 
institutions benefiting form CARDS, Phare and IPA assistance. 

34

 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Monitoring & Evaluation Reports in 2008- Lessons Learned 

An ad-hoc independent Country Summary Evaluation report covering decentralised CARDS 
and Phare 2005 national programmes was released in December 2008. 

This  report  is  based  on  the  eight  sectoral  interim  evaluations  carried  out  during  the  period 
November 2007 to December 2008 covering the six monitoring sectors. 

The report provided the following lessons that can be drawn as regards the deployment of the 
CARDS and Phare assistance in Croatia: 

Conclusion  1:  Overall  Phare  has  been  largely  effective  as  an  instrument  in  supporting  the 
accession  process  in  Croatia  particularly  in  those  sectors  where  the  emphasis  is  on 
harmonisation of legislation or application of European Union Directives.  In others, progress 
has  been  made  through  capacity  building,  know-how  transfer  and  increased  political 
awareness.    Institutional  reform  and  uncertainty  about  future  divisions  of  responsibility 
continue to hamper success in some subsectors, however. 

Conclusion  2:  Further  investment  is  needed  to  continue  the  improvement  of  the  Central 
Finance  and  Contracting  Agency  performance.    Despite  becoming  an  independent  state 
agency  and  being  better  resourced,  the  performance  of  the  Central  Finance  and  Contracting 
Agency continues to struggle.  Contracting processes are still too long and cooperation with 
other  institutions  and  beneficiaries  has  improved  but  is  still  not  close  enough.    Substantial 
training is needed to provide necessary professional know how and co-operation to the new 
inexperienced staff. 

Conclusion  3:  Despite  recent  improvements,  professional  and  effective  permanent  training 
and  education  for  existing  and  incoming  civil  service  staff  dealing  with  European  Union 
interventions  is  still  underdeveloped.    Training  in  Project  Cycle  Management  for  all  parties 
involved  in  project  design  and  implementation  is  still  needed  to  ensure  that  realistic 
programme objectives are set with correspondingly realistic resources and timescales in place 
to ensure their achievement.  Ways must be found to institutionalise such training within the 
relevant Croatian administrative structures. 

Conclusion 4: Monitoring and interim evaluation require further strengthening.   

Sectors with positive results 

Based on the aforementioned evaluation of Phare assistance, positive results were achieved in 
2007, notably in the following sectors:  

-  In  the  "Energy  and  environment"  sector,  in  general,  programme  design  has  been  good  or 
even  very  good  and  reflects  highly  relevant  pre-accession  needs.  Strong  stakeholder 
commitment  provided  positive  prospects  for  efficient  realisation.  Prospects  for  effective 
delivery  throughout  the  sector  are  positive,  planned  impacts  are  expected  to  be  mostly 
achieved.  Interventions appear sustainable.  

-  In  the  "social"  sector,  Phare  interventions  followed  accession-related  objectives  but  future 
Roma  support  should  engage  more  with  the  EU  strategy  of  social  inclusion.    Interventions 
reviewed can be regarded as largely efficient and are likely to have a positive immediate and 

35

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
intermediate impact. However withdrawal of donors’ funding poses a threat to smaller Non-
governmental Organisations.   

-  In the "internal market" sector, as regards the interventions in the field of Competition, Free 
Movement  of  Goods,  and  Telecommunications  and  Broadcasting  sub-sectors  display 
satisfactory design of programmes with adequate objectives.  Good progress towards effective 
delivery  of  outputs  is  being  made  across  the  sector,  but  inter-institutional  co-operation 
particularly in Intellectual Property Rights still needs improvements. 

Success story 

Twinning Project- Implementing the Water Framework Directive (WFD) in the Republic of 
Croatia 

The first Croatian Twinning Project in the environmental sector builds close partnerships and 
provides  technical  and  administrative  knowledge  to  implement  European  water  protection 
policies. 

Official title of the project 

Country 
Total Budget 
Implementation period 

Building and Development of Guidelines for the 
Implementation of the Water Framework Directive 
Croatia 
€ 1.200.000,00   
24 months (from 03/09/2007 to 02/09/2009) 

Beneficiary 

Partners  

Overall Objective 

Ministry of Regional development, Forestry and Water 
management of the Republic of Croatia 
Hrvatske vode (Croatian water authority) 
Ministry of Regional development, Forestry and Water 
management of the Republic of Croatia 
Hrvatske vode 
Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature 
Conservation and Nuclear safety of Germany 
Governmental Service of Land and Water 
Management, The Netherlands  
Improving water quality standards and water 
management in Croatia in line with EU requirements 

36

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
With the accession into the EU, Croatia is obliged to implement the new requirements of the 
EU water acquis. Hereby the Water Framework Directive (WFD) which was adopted in 2000 
plays  a  central  role.  The  WFD  demands  a  good  status  for  all  water  bodies  implying  good 
water  quality  and  good  ecological  functionality.  This  challenging  objective  can  only  be 
achieved by close cooperation between all stakeholders and by adopting the new ideas, set out 
by the Directive.  

Apart  from  training  in  all  aspects  of  the  WFD,  the  Twinning  Project  already  supported 
Croatia’s  water  administration  in  establishing  a  monitoring  working  group  which  is  now 
implementing the first WFD compliant monitoring programme in the country. Furthermore a 
WFD board comprising all relevant governmental bodies was initiated in 2008.  

With  these  multidisciplinary  working  groups  the  implementation  process  will  be  highly 
facilitated  in  Croatia.  In  addition  the  project  team  strongly  promotes  participation  and 
consultation of NGOs and the general public. In October 2008 the project organized together 
with the main beneficiaries and the University of Zagreb a Water Info event in the city centre 
of Zagreb with the central theme: What is water management all about? 

All results, upcoming events and valuable background information can be found on the 
project’s website www.wfd-croatia.eu. 

37

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
5         Cyprus    

5.1.   Summary  

In 2008, Cyprus continued to implement successfully the post-accession assistance to address 
the  remaining  needs  related  to  IB  for  the  implementation  of  the  acquis,  in  line  with  the 
Extended Decentralised Implementation System (EDIS). 

Since  July  2004  implementation  is  carried  out  under  the  entire  responsibility  of  the  Cyprus 
authorities applying national procurement rules. A number of implementing agencies are fully 
responsible for daily implementation of projects. 

The National Aid Coordinator (NAC) continues to exercise the monitoring of both Phare and 
Transition  Facility  Programmes.  The  National  Authorizing  Officer  (NAO)  carries  out  the 
financial supervision. 

5.2. 

Pre-accession, financial and Transition assistance in 2008 

i) Implementation 

-  TF 2005 – finalisation of payments 

At the end of the period for execution of contracts for the 2005 TF programme 92.12 % of the 
funding  had  been  disbursed.  The  Cypriot  authorities  did  not  request  any  extension  for  the 
2005 programme. The payments can still be executed within 6 months after the expiry of the 
contracts execution period. 

-  TF 2006 – rate of contracting  

At  the  end  of  the  contracting  period  for  the  2006  Transition  Facility  programme  on  15 
December 2008, 89.78% of the programme had been contracted. A higher level of contracting 
was  not  reached  due  mainly  to  big  savings  in  the  procurement  process.  As  there  are  only  4 
projects  implemented  under  TF2006,  there  were  no  possibilities  of  re-allocation  of  saved 
funds. 

-  Institution Building highlights 

A  total  of  around  €19  million  of  post-accession  assistance  from  national  allocation  (not 
including  horizontal  and  multi-country  programmes)  has  been  allocated  to  Cyprus  from 
Transition Facility programmes (2004-2006). 

During  the  period,  there  was  substantial  overall  progress  towards  the  achievement  of 
objectives  and  results  of  the  EU  assistance.  The  projects  under  TF  2005  projects  were 
successfully completed and achieved its results, which further contributed to the enhancement 
of Cypriot public administration.  

5.3.  Results and Impact   

i) -   State of play for JMC / SMSC development 

38

 
 
 
  
              
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
In  2008,  one  Joint  Monitoring  Committee  (JMC)  meeting  took  place  in  April  2008,  in  line 
with  the  revised  JMC  Mandate  introduced  in  the  new  Member  States  in  May  2004,  which 
established  an  integrated  monitoring  and  evaluation  system  over  the  programmes  under 
implementation. During this JMC meeting it was agreed that it is the last physical JMC and 
the next ones will be concluded via the written procedure. The ISRs are of good quality and 
there  is  enough  insurance  that  all  remaining  projects  will  be  implemented  according  to  the 
project fiches and the agreed schedule.  

In  the  year  2007,  the  monitoring  system  was  reorganised  in  Cyprus.  It  was  affected  due  to 
simplified  procedures  introduced  by  the  European  Commission  and  due  to  the  rather  small 
number of projects under TF 2005 and 2006 programmes.  

Within this reorganisation, a Programme Monitoring Committee (PMC) was established as a 
main coordinating body that meets twice a year and is chaired by the NAC. The PMC assesses 
progress towards the objectives and targets of the projects by reviewing actual output, the rate 
of  implementation,  financial  flows,  etc.  and  makes  relevant  recommendations.  The  PMC's 
discussion is based on the Quarterly Progress Reports of the projects as well as the Monthly 
Financial Reports.  

ii) -  Monitoring & Evaluation Reports in 2008 (lessons learned) 

Overall responsibility for monitoring and evaluation of the Pre-accession and the Transition 
Facility  programmes  in  Cyprus  lies  with  the  Planning  Bureau,  as  the  executive  body  of  the 
NAC.  

In  2008,  two  interim  evaluation  reports  were  released,  both  prepared  by  the  external 
contractor. The first Interim Evaluation Report was issued in April 2008 and the second one 
in December 2008.  

The overall rating of the last Interim Evaluation Report was satisfactory, with 1 exception of 
project from TF2005 which was rated as barely satisfactory. In general all projects suffered 
from delays in contracting which caused delays in implementation. Some projects are under 
tight implementation schedule and require close monitoring. The sustainability of the projects 
results  continues  to  be  a  problem  as  some  beneficiaries  suffers  from  insufficient  number  of 
staff.  

39

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
6. Czech Republic    

6.1.   Summary  

In  2008,  the  Czech  Republic  continued  to  implement  successfully  the  post-accession 
the 
assistance 
implementation of the acquis, in line with the Extended Decentralised Implementation System 
(EDIS). 

the  remaining  needs  related 

institution  building  for 

to  address 

to 

Since December 2004 implementation is carried out under the entire responsibility of Czech 
authorities  applying  national  procurement  rules.  The  Central  Finance  and  Contract  Unit 
(CFCU), the Civil Society Development Foundation (NROS), CzechInvest (CI), the National 
Training Fund (NTF) and the Centre for Regional Development (CRD) are fully responsible 
for the daily implementation of the projects. 

The National Aid Coordinator (NAC) continues to exercise the monitoring of both Phare and 
Transition  Facility  Programmes.  The  National  Authorizing  Officer  (NAO)  carries  out  the 
financial supervision.  

6.2. 

Pre-accession, financial and Transition assistance in 2008 

i) Implementation 

-  TF 2005 – finalisation of payments 

At the end of the period for execution of contracts for the 2005 Transition Facility programme 
82.06 % of the funding has been disbursed. The Czech authorities requested no extension for 
the TF 2005 programme. The payments can still be executed within 6 months after the expiry 
of the contracts execution period. 

-  TF 2006 – rate of contracting  

At  the  end  of  the  contracting  period  for  the  2006  Transition  Facility  programme  on  15 
December 2008, 100.00% of the programmes had been contracted.  

-  Institution Building highlights 

A  total  of  around  €32  million  of  post-accession  assistance  from  national  allocation  (not 
including horizontal and multi-country programmes) has been allocated to the Czech Republic 
from Transition Facility programmes (2004-2006).  

Implementation  of  Transition  Facility  in  the  Czech  Republic  is  considered  generally 
successful in areas such as nuclear safety, justice & home affairs, social protection & health, 
environment, agriculture and finance & banking & internal market.  

As  regards  twinning,  in  2008  the  Czech  Republic  successfully  contracted  almost  all  the 
Twinning Light projects allocated under the unallocated envelope package. 

40

 
 
 
 
  
              
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
6.3.  Results and Impact   

i) -   State of play for JMC / SMSC development 

In  2008,  one  working  level  group  meeting  and  one  Joint  Monitoring  Committee  (JMC) 
meeting took place in June 2008 in line with the revised JMC Mandate introduced in the new 
Member  States  in  May  2004,  which  established  an  integrated  monitoring  and  evaluation 
system over the programmes under implementation. 

The meetings were fruitful and helped to address the problems concerning implementation of 
the  ongoing  programmes,  to  discuss  horizontal/systemic  issues  and  to  identify  possible 
solutions.  Several  immediate  actions  were  agreed  upon  and  deadlines  set  for  their 
implementation. 

In  the  year  2008,  two  rounds  of  Sector  Monitoring  Sub-Committee  (SMSC)  meetings  took 
place  (in  April  and  October).  There  are  six  sectors  to  be  monitored  in  the  Czech  Republic: 
Social protection and Health, Agriculture/Environment, Civil Society Development, Nuclear 
Safety, Justice and Home Affairs and Internal Market, Finance and Banking. 

ii) -  Monitoring & Evaluation Reports in 2008 (lessons learned) 

Overall responsibility for monitoring and evaluation of the Pre-accession and the Transition 
Facility programmes in Czech Republic lies 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 endorsed by the EC in May 2005.  

In 2008, five Interim Evaluation (IE) reports and one Country Evaluation Summary Report on 
Transition Facility programmes in the Czech Republic were issued. 

The  Country  Evaluation  Summary  report  provides  a  consolidated  country  review  of  the 
findings of the Interim Evaluation Reports that were prepared between April and May 2008 
related  to  Social  Protection  and  Health,  Nuclear  Safety,  Finance  and  Banking  and  Internal 
Market  sectors  and  September  and  October  2008  related  to  Agriculture/Environment  and 
Justice  and  Home  Affairs  sectors.  It  concludes  that  the  efficiency  of  the  use  of  Transition 
Facility  assistance  varies  greatly  from  project  to  project.  In  the  health  area  there  were 
significant improvements over the last year with a higher level of commitment and ownership 
of  the  projects  from  the  side  of  the  beneficiaries.  In  the  area  of  strengthening  on  anti-
corruption  some  projects  also  progressed  well,  based  on  the  high  quality  of  design  and 
commitment  of  all  project  partners.  However,  4  projects  related  to  the  Transition  Facility 
2006 were cancelled mainly due to reasons caused by external factors.  

41

 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
7. 

Estonia 

7.1.   Summary  

In 2008, Estonia 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 Extended Decentralised Implementation System (EDIS). 

Since  November  2004  implementation  is  carried  out  under  the  entire  responsibility  of 
Estonian  authorities  applying  national  procurement  rules.  The  Ministry  of  Finance,  Central 
Financing  and  Contracting  Department  (CFCD) 
the  daily 
implementation of the projects. 

is  fully  responsible  for 

The National Aid Coordinator (NAC) continues to exercise the monitoring of both Phare and 
Transition  Facility  Programmes.  The  National  Authorizing  Officer  (NAO)  carries  out  the 
financial supervision.  

7.2. 

Pre-accession, financial and Transition assistance in 2008 

ii) Implementation 

-  TF 2005 – finalisation of payments 

At the end of the period for execution of contracts for the 2005 Transition Facility programme 
77.35 % of the funding has been disbursed. The Estonian authorities requested no extension 
for the 2005 programme. The payments can still be executed within 6 months after the expiry 
of the contracts execution period. 

-  TF 2006 – rate of contracting 

At  the  end  of  the  contracting  period  for  the  2006  Transition  Facility  programme  on 
15 December 2008, 95.58% of the programmes had been contracted.  

-  Institution Building highlights 

A  total  of  around  €18  million  of  post-accession  assistance  from  national  allocation  (not 
including  horizontal  and  multi-country  programmes)  has  been  allocated  to  Estonia  from 
Transition Facility programmes (2004-2006). 

In 2008, Estonia made very good progress in implementing the Transition Facility 2005 and 
2006 projects. TF 2005 projects were all completed by the execution deadline and the results 
have  been  very  positive.  It  can  be  concluded  that  all  projects  contributed  to  meeting  the 
remaining  needs  of  acquis  and  enhanced  the  Estonian  administrative  system.  The  projects 
under TF 2006 are also progressing well and no major problems have been encountered.  

42

 
 
 
              
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
7.3.  Results and Impact   

i) -   State of play for JMC / SMSC development 

In 2008, one Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) meeting took place in January 2008, in line 
with  the  revised  JMC  Mandate  introduced  in  the  new  Member  States  in  May  2004,  which 
established  an  integrated  monitoring  and  evaluation  system  over  the  programmes  under 
implementation. The second one was carried out by written procedure in June 2008. 

In  2008,  no  Sector  Monitoring  Sub-Committee  (SMSC)  meetings  have  taken  place. 
Monitoring reports have been prepared during the year and approved via written procedure by 
the SMSC members. There are seven sectors to be monitored in Estonia: agriculture/fisheries, 
education, environment, finance, home affairs, internal market/transport and social affairs. 

ii) -  Monitoring & Evaluation  Reports in 2008 (lessons learned) 

Overall responsibility for monitoring and evaluation of the Pre-accession and the Transition 
Facility  programmes  in  Estonia  lies  with  the  Ministry  of  Finance  (MoF).  There  have  been 
structural changes in the MoF during the reporting period. The Monitoring Unit is now in the 
State  Budget  Coordination  and  Monitoring  Department  not  in  the  Foreign  Financing 
Department.  Activities  in  this  area  were  carried  out  on  the  basis  of  the  Action  Plan  on 
decentralisation of monitoring and evaluation, which was endorsed by EC in February 2005. 

The following evaluation reports were prepared and released during 2008:  

1) Transition Facility Interim Evaluation Country Summary Report VII 
2) Interim Evaluation Report of 2005 Transition Facility Programme 
3) Interim Evaluation Report of 2006 Transition Facility Programme  

The outcome of the evaluations is rather positive and despite of some challenges the 
implementation of the projects is going smoothly. The projects' results are expected to be 
achieved as foreseen in the project fiches. 

43

 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
8. THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA 

8.1 The year in review 

Political developments 

The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia made some progress in the course of 2008 but 
does not yet meet the political criteria. The parliamentary elections of 2008 did not meet key 
international  standards  and  the  recommendations  of  the  Organisation  for  Security  and 
Cooperation  in  Europe  (OSCE)  and  of  the  Office  for  Democratic  Institutions  and  Human 
Rights  (ODIHR)  need  to  be  fully  addressed.  The  lack  of  constructive  political  dialogue 
between major political parties and actors adversely affected the functioning of the political 
institutions;  increasing  efforts  to  foster  political  dialogue  are  now  being  made.  Steps  have 
been taken to address key Accession Partnership priorities and further efforts are required. 

The implementation of the Ohrid Framework Agreement is contributing to the consolidation 
of democracy and the rule of law. The adoption of a law on languages marked an important 
step  forward  in  relations  among  the  ethnic  communities  of  the  country.  Further  efforts  in  a 
constructive spirit are needed to fulfil the objectives of the Ohrid Agreement.  
As regards public administration reform there has been some progress with the introduction of 
salary incentives and the adoption of a continuous training system, as required by the law on 
the civil service. However, little progress has been made to ensure that senior recruitments are 
based  on  professional  qualifications.  Priority  needs  to  be  given  to  creating  a  stable, 
professional and merit-based civil service. The role of the Civil Servants Agency needs to be 
strengthened  and  the  capacity  of  the  human  resources  units  in  line  ministries  needs  to  be 
increased.  
Good  progress  has  been  made  on  judicial  reform.  The  new  Court  of  Appeal  and  the  new 
Administrative Court and the Judicial Council are functioning and the new Council of Public 
Prosecutors has started to meet. However, further strengthening of the judiciary is required as 
regards its independence, efficiency, human resources and budgetary framework.  
Further  progress  has  been  made  in  implementing  anti-corruption  policy.  The  government's 
Action Plan has been allocated a specific budget. Special investigation measures may now be 
used in corruption cases. An Action Plan against conflict of interest has been adopted. There 
have  been  convictions  in  some  high-profile  cases.  However,  corruption  remains  widespread 
and  constitutes  a  particularly  serious  problem.  Further  steps  are  necessary,  in  particular  to 
strengthen  operational  coordination  amongst  law  enforcement  agencies  and  to  implement 
provisions on financing of political parties and campaign financing 

Macroeconomic developments and structural reforms 

There  has  been  further  progress  towards  establishing  a  functioning  market  economy.  The 
country should be able to cope with competitive pressures and market forces within the Union 
in  the  medium  term,  provided  that  it  vigorously  implements  its  comprehensive  reform 
programme  in  order  to  reduce  significant  structural  weaknesses.  Despite  the  relative 
insulation of the Country from the international financial markets, Skopje will not be immune 
to the global economic crisis. Following the positive economic trends until 2008, the second 
semester  of  the  year  showed  the  first  negative  signals  and  the  forecast  for  2009  is  negative 
especially concerning growth, unemployment rate as well as fiscal and current account deficit. 
Despite this situation the Government plans a policy of further fiscal expansion, which risks 
worsening the external vulnerabilities.           

Progress in the alignment with the acquis communautaire 

44

 
 
 
 
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has made further efforts to improve its ability to 
assume  the  obligations  of  membership.  There  was  some  progress  in  the  fulfilment  of  the 
priorities of the Accession Partnership. However, the country still faces major shortcomings 
in  implementing  and  effectively  enforcing  legislation.  Adequate  human  and  financial 
resources for the full implementation the acquis are lacking. 

8.2 Financial assistance in 2008 

Programmes launched 

As  of  2007  the  CARDS  programme  has  been  replaced  by  the  new  Instrument  for  Pre-
accession Assistance. No new CARDS programmes were launched after 2006. 

Overview of programmes implemented 

The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia received a total allocation of €231 million under 
CARDS programmes between 2002–2006. These allocations concentrated on several sectoral 
objectives  referring  to  the  priorities  identified  in  the  Progress  Report  and  the  Accession 
Partnership for the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. These priorities translated into 
the following financial allocations by priority in the framework of CARDS programme: 

•  Democracy and the rule of law: €56.6 million 

•  Economic & social development: €59.2 million 

•  Justice and home affairs: €62.6 million 

•  Environment and natural resources: €6.3 million 

•  Other: €35.3 million 

The key programming documents for CARDS 2002-2006 were the CARDS Country Strategy 
Paper 2002-2006, Multi-annual Indicative Programmes of 2002-2004 and of 2005-2006 and 
annual action programmes for each annual programming cycle. The programming documents 
were prepared with reference to the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, annual progress 
reports, European and Accession Partnership, and the National Plan for the Adoption of the 
acquis. 

The CARDS Programme was mainly managed by the European Agency for Reconstruction. 
The  Agency  closed  its  doors  at  the  end  of  2008.  Responsibility  for  the  remaining  CARDS 
projects  was  transferred  to  the  Delegation  of  the  European  Commission  in  Skopje.  The 
Delegation  has  taken  over  159  assistance  contracts  worth  €26  million  under  CARDS 
programme. 

In the year 2008 procurement processes were underway for contracting remaining projects of 
CARDS assistance.  

Strengthening the public administration 
Analysis  and  assessment  has  been  made  on  all  decentralisation-related  aspects  and  on  the 
functioning  of  the  fiscal  decentralisation.  These  activities  were  part  of  the  three  separate 
technical assistance programmes funded by EU providing support to central government and 
municipalities  to  enhance  their  capacities  to  deal  with  policy  developments  on  fiscal 
decentralisation. They provided recommendations on how to improve the transfer systems and 

45

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
formulas  used  by  the  central  government  to  assign  resources  to  municipalities.  Legislative 
assistance is also provided to ZELS – Association of Municipalities in drafting and amending 
decentralisation-related laws and sub-laws. An EU assistance programme aims to improve the 
information,  communication  and  service  delivery  to  the  citizens  through  refurbishment  of 
Municipal Service Centres  in  36  municipalities targeting the regions of Tetovo, Kumanovo, 
Ohrid, Bitola, Strumica, Kochani and Veles.  

Aligning environment rules with EU best practices 
The  EU  helped  the  Ministry  of  Environment  and  Physical  Planning  to  approximate  the 
national  legislation  on  air  quality.  The  EU  funded  twinning  project,  in  cooperation  with 
Finland  and  Austria,  undertook  activities  for  the  development  of  much  needed  legislation 
regarding air quality, including gap analysis, table of concordance, drafting of sub-legislation 
and  of  manual  on  air  quality.  Two  air  quality  models  were  supplied  to  the  Macedonian 
Environmental Information Centre, focusing on traffic and on stationary sources. In the field 
of environment, the EU recently also drafted detailed design and tender dossier for the pilot 
investment in building a wastewater treatment plant in Prilep.   

Supporting police reform 
As  a  tangible  demonstration  of  EU’s  commitment  to  the  police  reform  process,  the  EU 
provided a donation of 34 terrain vehicles to the Ministry of Interior. The vehicles, type Land 
rover Defender 110‘, have been specially modified for use by the Rapid Deployment Unit and 
are suitable for rural operations, public order duties as well as for general policing duties. The 
EU  began  assisting  the  Rapid  Deployment  Unit  in  2002  and  has  been  providing  continuous 
support ever since. This latest EU assistance to the Rapid Deployment Unit has been provided 
in  close  co-operation  with  the  British  RDU  Advisory  Project  that  is  an  example  of  co-
operation between the EU and its Member States to maximise the effectiveness of support to 
the country on its path towards EU membership. 

Towards a more independent judiciary 
The country’s criminal justice system has been in review by the EU funded twinning project, 
in cooperation with Italy’s Ministry of Justice, focusing on the legislative framework review 
and making sure that the criminal justice system of the country is harmonised with the acquis. 
The EU assistance programme supporting the Training Academy for Judges and Prosecutors 
has provided pilot training programme to candidates for judges and prosecutors from ethnic 
communities  and  advanced  training  course  in  case  management  to  court  staff  in  seven  pilot 
courts.  Under  penitentiary  investment  programme,  renovation  works  of  Prilep  prison  have 
been completed with EU funds. The EU has also financed the renovation of two other prisons 
located  in  Stip  and  Idrizovo  (Skopje).  The  assistance  has  encouraged  the  government  to 
provide  budgetary  funds  for  improving  the  conditions  at  the  country’s  penitentiary 
institutions.  

Increasing investment opportunities 
The  EU  has  funded  major  projects  supporting  the  business  environment  in  the  country  by 
providing  capacity  building  to  the  national  agencies  in  charge  of  attracting  foreign  direct 
investment. Assistance in the area has focused on mentoring of the national FDI Agency staff 
in execution of day to day assignments and for improved capacities in terms of knowledge in 
attracting  FDI  practices  and  techniques  and  negotiating  skills.  In  separate  programmes,  the 
EU  funded  activities  in  establishing  a  market  surveillance  system,  in  implementing  the 
national  Strategy  for  improvement  of  competitiveness  through  fostering  development  and 
performance of Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) and training has been provided 

46

 
 
 
 
 
to  companies  attending  the  Turn  Around  Management  and  human  resources  development 
fund programmes.  

Implementation of integrated border and visa management system 
The  EU  funded  project  provided  with  the  National  Visa  Information  System  functionality 
linking the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with diplomatic missions and consular posts allowing 
the embassies to issue visas through the N-VIS system. Through the internet-based National 
Visa  Management  System,  the  Visa  Centre  is  connected  with  the  remaining  34  diplomatic 
missions and consular posts, as well as with 8 border crossing points and the Department for 
Foreigners  of  the  Ministry  of  Interior.  With  this,  N-VIS  significantly  enhances  the  border 
control and contributes towards its aligning with the EU requirements. 

Transport sector management 
The Ministry of Transport and Communication was assisted implementing the restructuring of 
the  management  of  the  road  sector.  The  EU  funded  project  drafted  a  new  law  on  the  roads 
sector and the two key players in the road sector the Fund for National and Regional Roads 
and the public enterprise Makedonija Pat, undergo serial of on-job trainings and workshops. 
Establishing safe, sustainable and efficient civil air traffic in line with European standards was 
the  objective  of  a  separate  an  EU-funded  project.  The  project  team  worked  with  the  newly 
established  Air  Transport  Sector  in  the  Ministry  to  review  and  amend  the  Aviation 
Law,devise  a  National  Strategy  for  Air  Transport  Development,  and  review  the  safety  and 
security  procedures  for  the  airports.  Establishing  the  National  Strategy  for  Air  Transport 
Development for the period of 2007-2012 was a significant achievement of the project team. 
A comprehensive training programme was also provided to the Air Transport Sector staff and 
to the employees of Public Enterprise for Airports Services and of the Civil Aviation Agency.  

Reforming the labour legislation  
The  EU  provided  support  to  the  Ministry  of  Labour  and  Social  Policy  in  revising  and 
enforcing  the  country's  labour  legislation,  in  line  with  EU  legislation  and  with  the  EU  best 
practices.  A  twinning  project  has  been  launched  in  cooperation  with  the  Slovak  Republic 
analysing and planning the transposition of more than 30 EU Directives into the national legal 
system and putting forward specific recommendations for additional changes in the country’s 
legislation  and  assisting  in  setting  up  appropriate  institutional  models.  The  EU  also  has 
supported the life long learning system in the country through a technical assistance project 
aiming to further improve the quality and effectiveness of the education and training system 
through a modern system of adult learning in line with the new labour market.  

CARDS management performance 

Table 1: Status of financial assistance at the end of December 2008 (in million €) – 
CARDS annual national programmes 

Allocated  Contracted  RAC7 

% 

contracted

Paid 

RAL8  % paid

CARDS 2001  56.640 

56.640 

0 

100 % 

56.640 

0 

100 % 

7 Reste à contracter 
8 Reste à liquider 

47

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
                                                 
CARDS 2002  33.033 

33.033 

CARDS 2003  36.005 

36.005 

CARDS 2004  53.175 

53.175 

CARDS 2005  34.044 

33.498 

CARDS 2006  33.399 

27.888 

Total 

246.296 

240.239 

0 

0 

0 

0 

5.511 

5.511 

100 % 

33.033 

100 % 

36.005 

0 

0 

100 % 

100 % 

100 % 

48.083 

5.092  90 % 

98 % 

83 % 

98 % 

30.546 

2.952  90 % 

19.921  13.478  60 % 

224.228  21.522  91 % 

The  financial  assistance  implementation  during  2008  concerned  the  CARDS  programmes 
2002  till  2006.  The  objectives  for  assistance  delivery  for  2008  were  completion  of 
implementation and payments for the CARDS 2002, 2003 and 2004 programmes, completion 
of  the  contracting  for  the  CARDS  2005  programmes,  and  contracting  allocations  for  the 
CARDS 2006. 

The Agency portfolio in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia amounted to some €326 
million.  It  covered  projects  financed  under  CARDS  (2002-2006),  projects  financed  under 
Phare (1997-2000) and the Emergency Response Programme (2001).  
Institution Building highlights 

The  twinning  mechanism  was  extensively  used  during  2008  in  many  priority  areas  and 
helped the country prepare for the implementation of EU policies and laws. In 2008 one new 
twinning project was launched: harmonisation of labour legislation with the Slovak Republic. 
In  2008,  we  completed  twinning  project  conducted  by  Germany  on  statistics.  The  twinning 
project with the Netherlands was also completed during 2008 focusing on police education. In 
addition, the twinning project with Finland and Austria on air quality was completed during 
2008.  The  twinnings  on  money  laundering  with  Spain  and  on  Prosecutor’s  office  with  Italy 
continued  with  their  operations.  To  date,  a  total  of  11  fully-fledged  twinning  projects  for  a 
total amount of €13.2 million have been financed out of the CARDS Programme.  

Grants  awarded  to  eligible  EU  member  state  institutions  have  been  used  as  an  additional 
instrument  for  institution  building  specifically targeting  the  policing  reforms  in  the  country. 
Under CARDS programme, a total of 3 grant projects for a total amount of €10 million have 
been financed.  
Other institutions building instruments have included technical assistance (service contracts), 
direct  award  grants  to  specialised  international  organisations  and  grants  to  civil  society 
organisations. 

8.3 Results and impact 

State of play for JMC/SMSC development 

Seven  Sectoral  Monitoring  Sub-Committees  (SMSCs)  meetings  were  held  from  May  to 
November  2008.  The  sectors  covered  by  the  SMSCs  were:  energy,  environment,  economic 
and social cohesion, internal market, competition, agriculture, justice and home affairs, public 
administration  reform,  public  finance  and  statistics,  social  sector,  civil  society  and  minority 
rights. 

48

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The  process  culminated  in  the  Joint  Monitoring  Committee  (JMC)  that  took  place  on  21 
November  2008.  The  JMC  reviewed  the  financial  status  of  programmes  as  of  1  December 
2008  (contracting,  payments,  end  of  implementation,  closure).  It  discussed  an  Annual 
Implementation Report containing conclusions, recommendations and follow-up actions.  

Monitoring & Evaluation Reports in 2008 - Lessons Learned 

The step-by-step establishment of the administrative structure for decentralised management 
of  EU  funds  and  the  requirements  for  the  management  of  IPA  are  leading  elements  in  the 
evolving  organisational  set-up  for  the  programming  and  subsequent  management  of  EU 
funded  projects.  While  it  remains  a  challenge  to  allocate  both  sufficient  resources  to  the 
management  structures  and  to  develop  and  implement  the  appropriate  regulations, 
improvements  can  be  noted  in  the  involvement  of  different  government  agencies  in  the 
development of the projects. 

Despite  a  general  improvement,  significant  disparities  between  different  government  bodies 
persist.  Where  the  Ministry  of  Interior  for  instance  is  taking  a  more  leading  role  in  both 
project  development  and  project  management,  other  ministries  continue  to  face  serious 
difficulties  in  assuming  their  (contractual)  responsibilities.  Continued  support  to  build 
capacities in project development and management will remain necessary. 

Further  structural  improvements  in  public  administration  remain  a  priority.  Three  core 
functions  stand  out.  Firstly  the  budget  planning  process  needs  to  ensure  that  sufficient 
resources are allocated to the ministries and departments to maintain the investments and – in 
some  cases  –  appropriately  implement  core  work  processes.  Secondly,  human  resource 
management  does  not  only  need  to  guarantee  sufficient  staff  to  implement  the  relevant 
mandate, but also sufficiently qualified staff and a stable staff establishment. And thirdly, the 
activities of an individual ministry or department do not only need to refer to a sector strategy, 
but  also  be  well  coordinated  with  other  stakeholders  in  the  process,  which  include  other 
departments in the same ministry, other governmental bodies as well as the support activities 
of the international community. 

Although  addressing  these  structural  public  administration  issues  through  capacity  building 
projects will remain necessary, highlighting these issues in the sub-committees proves to be 
an excellent tool to focus attention. 

Sectors with positive results 

Justice and home affairs 
The  country's  criminal  justice  system  has  been  reviewed,  examining  some  aspects  of  the 
existing laws in the field of organised crime and corruption (such as Law on interception of 
communications). The review was handed over to the Ministry of Justice to the Department 
for  Prosecuting  Organised  Crime  and  Corruption  at  the  Public  Prosecutor's  Office.  The  EU 
assistance  programme  supporting  the  Training  Academy  for  Judges  and  Prosecutors  has 
provided extensive training programmes to candidates from all ethnic communities. As regard 
Penitentiary Reform, renovation works of the prisons of Prilep, Stip and Idrizovo have been 
completed.  The  assistance  has  encouraged  the  government  to  provide  additional  budgetary 
funds for improving the conditions at the country's penitentiary institutions. The new Law on 
combating  money  laundering  and  terrorism  financing  entered  into  force  in  January  2008.  A 
twinning  initiative  with  Spain  working  to  strengthen  the  country's  administrative  and 

49

 
 
 
 
 
 
technical  capacities  for  Money  Laundering  Prevention,  has  fostered  capacity  building 
activities.  

Public administration reform and public finance 
There  has  been  substantial  progress  in  the  years  2007  and  2008.  A  technical  assistance 
programme  provided  support  to  the  Ministry  of  Finance  in  2008  aiming  to  enhance  its 
capacities to deal with policy developments on fiscal decentralisation. Under the programme, 
all decentralisation-related legislation, sub-laws on methodology for the transfer of grants, and 
indicators used to assess municipalities' fiscal capacity were examined and analysed. A public 
finance management project was completed in 2008 helping to enhance the competencies and 
capacities  of  municipalities  to  effectively  manage  the  fiscal  decentralisation  process.  The 
project assisted municipalities to increase their human resources capacities in the area of tax 
administration, to improve their competence in budget cycle management, and to perform the 
internal audit function efficiently. 

Environment 
Environment remains as one of the priorities for EU assistance in the years to come. However, 
there has been substantial improvement of the environmental situation of the country over the 
last  years.  EU  assistance  helped  to  prepare  a  tender  to  build  an  important  wastewater 
treatment  plain  in Prilep. The project offered assistance in  preparing documents  and reports 
that are currently supporting funding applications in the field of wastewater. Furthermore, an 
EU project finalized in May 2008 helped the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning 
to  adopt  the  national  legislation  on  air  quality.  The  project  provided  support  for  the 
development of regulations in air quality such as gap analysis, and drafting of sub-legislation. 

Success story 

Visa  management  system  gets  a  boost:  EU  committed  €1.2  million  to  establish  a  National 
Visa Management System  

The  EU  funded  a  project  provided  with  the  National  Visa  Information  System  functionality 
linking the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with diplomatic missions and consular posts allowing 
the embassies to issue visas through the N-VIS system. The Training of Trainers programme 
delivered  for  16  staff  from  Ministries  of  Foreign  Affairs  and  of  Interior  offered  valuable 
insight into the testing processes, the validation of N-VIS functionalities and the proposals for 
immediate and future N-VIS improvements and additional functionalities. The future trainers 
will be able to transfer their knowledge to N-VIS end-users. The N-VIS software introduces 
significant  changes  in  visa  issuing  processes  across  the  country  as  it  implements  clearly 
defined  and  standardized  visa  issuing  procedures.  The  N-VIS  was  modelled  upon  the 
Slovenian  experience  and  best  EU  practices,  in  line  with  international  standards  and  the 
National  Integrated  Border  Management  Strategy  and  it  fulfils  conditions  for  complete 
compatibility  with  the  Schengen  Information  System.  Through  the  internet-based  National 
Visa  Management  System,  the  Visa  Centre  is  connected  with  the  remaining  34  diplomatic 
missions and consular posts, as well as with 8 border crossing points and the Department for 
Foreigners  of  the  Ministry  of  Interior.  The  system  offers  easy  and  rapid  verification  of 
applicant data in the relevant databases, simple data acquisition for later analyses and efficient 
monitoring of procedures for issuing visas. In addition, it supports the verification of passport 
data  at  border  crossings.  With  this,  N-VIS  significantly  enhances  the  border  control  and 
contributes towards its aligning with the EU requirements. 

50

 
 
 
 
 
 
9. Hungary   

9.1.   Summary  

In  2008,  Hungary  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  June  2004  implementation  is  carried  out  under  the  entire  responsibility  of  Hungarian 
authorities  applying  national  procurement  rules.  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 for the daily implementation of the projects. 

The National Aid Coordinator (NAC) continues to exercise the monitoring of both Phare and 
Transition  Facility  Programmes.  The  National  Authorizing  Officer  (NAO)  carries  out  the 
financial supervision.  

9.2. 

Pre-accession, financial and Transition assistance in 2008 

i) Implementation 

-  TF 2005 – finalisation of payments 

At the end of the period for execution of contracts for the 2005 Transition Facility programme 
93.19 % of the funding has been disbursed. The Hungarian authorities requested no extension 
for the 2005 programme. The payments can still be executed within 6 months after the expiry 
of the contracts execution period. 

-  TF 2006 – rate of contracting  

At  the  end  of  the  contracting  period  for  the  2006  Transition  Facility  programme  on  15 
December 2008, 81.16% of the programmes had been contracted.  

-  Institution Building highlights 

A  total  of  around  €36  million  of  post-accession  assistance  from  national  allocation  (not 
including  horizontal  and  multi-country  programmes)  has  been  allocated  to  Hungary  from 
Transition Facility programmes (2004-2006).  

Implementation  of  Transition  Facility  in  Hungary  is  considered  successful  in  most  areas, 
where  most  projects  are  reaching  foreseen  objectives  and  the  assistance  provides  real  value 
added to scarce public funds. 

As  regards  twinning,  Hungary  has  taken  advantage  of  the  Twinning  instrument,  since  ten 
Twinning Light projects related to the 2005 Transition Facility Programme were successfully 
contracted  and  completed.  The  Hungarian  authorities  consider  the  Unallocated  IB  Envelope 
as  a  very  useful  programme  which  helped  the  public  institutions  in  strengthening  their 
institutional and operational capacity, developing human resources relevant for the adoption 
and implementation of EU acquis in particular areas.  

51

 
 
 
 
              
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
The  projects  under  TF  2006  are  also  progressing  well  and  no  major  problems  have  been 
encountered.  

9.3.  Results and Impact   

i) -   State of play for JMC / SMSC development 

In 2008, one Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) meeting took place in February 2008, in line 
with  the  revised  JMC  Mandate  introduced  in  the  new  Member  States  in  May  2004,  which 
established  an  integrated  monitoring  and  evaluation  system  over  the  programmes  under 
implementation. The second one was by written procedure in winter 2008. 

In  the  year  2008,  Hungary  continued  to  apply  the  simplified  rules  regarding  the  JMC 
functioning  and  therefore  the  Sector  Monitoring  Sub-Committee  (SMSC)  meetings  and 
reports  were  abandoned.  The  monthly  implementation  review  meetings  (IRM)  were  the 
central tool of the monitoring system. The monitoring sectors were reduced to the following: 
agriculture, social and health, political criteria, environment, internal market/transport, public 
finance and customs, justice and home affairs. 

ii) -  Monitoring & Evaluation Reports in 2008 (lessons learned) 

Overall  responsibility  for  monitoring  of  the  Pre-accession  and  the  Transition  Facility 
programmes  lies  with  the  National  Aid  Coordinator  (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  Evaluation  contracted  by  the  NDA  on  the  ground  of  the 
requirements of the European Commission. 

The independent evaluator prepared Interim Evaluation reports in order to evaluate all sectors 
in  2008.  The  evaluator  prepared  also  the  Country  Summary  Evaluation Review  (CSER)  for 
the JMC of February and October which was carried out by written procedure. 

The conclusions available from the Interim Evaluation reports are that, on the whole,  the EU 
assistance  has  been  well  implemented,  and  this  assistance  has  satisfactory  supported  the 
institution building related to the accession process.   

Depending on the sector, the effectiveness was considered good and management efficiency 
to overcome delays adequate.  

52

 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
10. Kosovo  (under UNSCR 1244/99)9 

10.1.      The year in review 

Political developments 
On  17  February  2008,  the  assembly  of  Kosovo10  declared  Kosovo  an  independent  and 
sovereign state. To date, Kosovo's independence has been recognized 56 countries, including 
22 EU Member States. The Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo entered into force on 15 
June  2008.  On  8  October,  the  United  Nation's  General  Assembly  requested  the  advisory 
opinion  of  the  International  Court  of  Justice  on  the  legality  of  Kosovo’s  declaration  of 
independence. The rule of law mission, known as "EULEX" began on 9 December 2008. It 
supports  Kosovo  by  mentoring,  monitoring  and  advising  police,  customs  and  justice.  Its 
executive  functions  are  related  to  investigation  and  prosecution  of  war  crimes  and  to  fight 
against various forms of serious crime. 

Macroeconomic developments and structural reforms 

Shortcomings  in  statistics  continue  to  hamper  comprehensive  assessment  of  the  economic 
situation in Kosovo. Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by an estimated 5% in 2008. 
Economic  activity  is  increasingly  determined  by  domestic  factors  and  private  sector 
dynamism.    GDP  per  capita  in  2008  stood  at  roughly  €1,80  or  around  5.5%  of  the  EU-27 
average11. The unreliable energy supply, with several and lengthy power cuts a day, remains 
the  single  most  serious  restraint  on  growth.  45%  of  the  population  live  below  the  poverty 
threshold.  Balance  of  payments  remains  heavily  deficitary  with  exports  covering  1/10th  of 
imports,  causing  a  trade  deficit  of  over  40%  of  GDP,  partly  financed  by  financial  inflows 
(remittances,  and  FDI).  Unemployment  is  estimated  above  40%  of  the  active  population, 
hitting in particular women and the young. However, in part due to the significant size of the 
informal economy, changes in registered unemployment may not correctly reflect the actual 
dynamics of the economy.  
Average  yearly  consumer  price  inflation  rose  to  14%  mid  2008  but  became  negative  early 
2009.  

Progress in meeting the acquis communautaire 

In  June  2008,  the  European  Council  recalled  its  willingness  to  assist  the  economic  and 
political  development  of  Kosovo  through  a  clear  European  perspective,  in  line  with  the 
European perspective of the region. Plenary meetings of the SAP Tracking Mechanism (STM) 
were held in May and December 2008, as well as a number of Sectoral STM meetings. The 
EU  sets  out  reform  priorities  for  the  authorities  through  the  European  Partnership,  and  a 
revised  European  Partnership  for  Kosovo  was  adopted  in  February  2008.  The  government 
approved  its  European  Partnership  Action  Plan  (EPAP)  in  July  2008.  Kosovo  continues  to 
benefit  from  the  Instrument  for  Pre-accession  Assistance  (IPA),  macro-financial  assistance 
(MFA), CARDS, the Instrument for Stability and others. The European Commission's Liaison 
Office  (ECLO)  in  Kosovo  took  over  responsibility  for  projects  financed  under  the  CARDS 
programme  from  the  European  Agency  for  Reconstruction  (EAR)  in  July  in  anticipation  of 

9  
10  
11  

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 of 10 June 1999. 
Under UNSCR 1244/99. 
Based on market exchange rates, because data for a PPP-based comparison are not available. 

53

 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
the  phase-out  of  the  EAR  by  the  end  of  2008.  The  ECLO  implements  IPA  programmes  in 
Kosovo under deconcentrated centralised management. Some projects are implemented under 
joint  management  with  international  organisations  (such  as  the  Council  of  Europe).  Kosovo 
still  has  to  establish  a  roadmap  for  the  decentralisation  of  the  management  of  EU  funds 
without  ex  ante  controls  by  the  Commission.    It  also  has  yet  to  appoint  its  National  IPA 
Coordinator  (NIPAC).  On  11  July,  the  European  Commission  organised  a  Donors' 
Conference for Kosovo in Brussels. Participants pledged a total of around € 1.2 billion. The 
combined pledge made by the Commission and the EU Member States amounted to nearly € 
800 million. Following the Donors' Conference, Kosovo merged its European Integration and 
Donor  Co-ordination  structures  and  agendas  into  a  new  ‘Agency  for  the  Coordination  of 
Development and European Integration’ (ACDEI) established in October 2008.  

10.2.      Financial assistance in 2008 

Programmes launched* 

As  of  2007  the  CARDS  programme  was  replaced  by  the  new  Instrument  for  Pre-accession 
Assistance (IPA). No new CARDS programmes were launched after 2006. 

Overview of programmes implemented 

2008 is the first year of the EC Liaison Office being responsible for the management of the 
financial  assistance  programmes.  On  July  2008,  ECLO  took  over  from  the  EAR  the 
management of the entire CARDS programme, amounting to some €57 million and involving 
around 134 contracts. 
The  main  developments  of  the  CARDS  programme  managed  by  the  EC  Liaison  Office  to 
Kosovo in 2008 include the following: 

Enhancing economic and social sustainability of minority communities    
The  CARDS  funds  supported  employment  generation  and  community  development  in 
disadvantaged  minority  communities  through  facilitating  the  implementation  of  some  370 
projects  (86%  individual  projects  and  14%  community  projects)  securing  or  creating  some 
800 jobs. Examples include: cheese and milk production, textile production, carpenter, sweet 
and  pastry  production,  auto  mechanical  workshops,  dry  herbs  and  mushroom  production, 
furniture  production,  cow  farm,  greenhouse,  black  smith,  barber  and  hairdresser  shops  etc. 
Furthermore  through  specific  project  targeting  RAE  communities  specific  activities  and 
trainings were offered to: (i) improve Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian (RAE) kids education and 
reduce school drop-outs, (ii) improve health and family planning by providing: health sessions 
on  hygiene,  reproductive  health,  waste  management,  TBC,  infectious  diseases  and  basic 
knowledge on cardiovascular diseases.  
In addition, CARDS funds supported direct assistance to the returns process in coordination 
with the Kosovo Government. Specific projects facilitated the return and reintegration of 57 
IDP families in Peja/Pec and Klina municipalities. This required a direct involvement at the 
field level, providing direct support for the resettlement and stabilisation of returnees in their 
communities.    At  the  same  time,  it  was  also  necessary  to  provide  assistance  at  the  central 
level,  building  the  institutional  capacity  of  the  Ministry  of  Communities  and  Returns  to 
effectively  coordinate  the  process.  Throughout  2008  the  project,  assisted  the  MCR,  in  a 
number  of  areas  such  as:  upgrading  the  MCR  financial  management  and  systems,  MCR’s 
organisational structure with emphasise to administration and other departments, management 
systems  and  training  to  different  ministry  staff,  external  cooperation  and  communication 

54

 
 
 
between  MCR  and  other  stakeholders.  In  addition  the  project  is  assisted  the  MCR  with  its 
strategy and action plan development. 
A  special  emphasis  was  put  on  assisting  the  reconstruction  of  Kosovo’s  religious  sites 
damaged in March 2004.   

Building democracy through media and civil society 
The  CARDS  Programme  contributed  to  strengthen  skills  and  professional  standards  of 
journalists and media operators in Kosovo through an ad hoc programme aimed at developing 
the  media  sector  to  operate  as  an  independent,  responsible  and  efficient  service  for  all 
Kosovo’s  communities.  The  civil  society  programme  aimed  to  build  the  capacity  of  civil 
society  organisations  (including  local  Non-Governmental  Organisations  (NGOs),  the  social 
partners, and community and professional associations) to play a key role in the development 
of the economic and democratic governance.  

Guiding Kosovo on the path towards Europe 
CARDS  Programme  continued  to  build  the  institutional  capacity  of  the  newly  established 
Kosovo  Government  (ministries,  and  municipalities)  to  more  effectively  perform  their 
governance roles and to strengthen the rule of law, in line with European Partnership priorities 
and EU best practice approaches, while also taking into account the issues which arose from 
the  transfer  of  competencies  from  United  Nations  Mission  in  Kosovo  (UNMIK).  Priority 
interventions  focused  on:  providing  further  support  to  the  Agency  for  Coordination  of 
Development  and  European  Integration;  building  the  professionalism  of  the  civil  service; 
improving  public  finance  management;  providing  sector  support  to  build  up  institutional 
capacity in the justice sector; reforming the juvenile justice system; and further strengthening 
border and boundary management 

Fighting poverty through sustainable industrial and rural development 
The CARDS economic and social development through programmes for job creations which 
included  assistance  to  the  municipalities  and  SOEs  promoted  sustainable  development  as  a 
key step in combating poverty.  Assistance is provided to increase domestic and foreign direct 
investment;  develop  a  quality  standards  infrastructure  to  improve  industrial  competitiveness 
and exports; support enterprise development in disadvantaged areas and among marginalized 
groups;  strengthen  corporate  finance;  proceed  on  the  privatisation  process  and  incorporate 
public  owned  utilities.  The  development  of  rural  economy  is  targeted  through  further 
institution building support to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development, 
and the support to improve natural resource management. Further support is provided to rural 
communities  in  the  establishment  of  Local  Action  Groups  and  development  of  local 
development  strategies,  thus  supporting  them  in  defining  and  articulating  their  rural 
community needs which  involves highly individual projects designed and executed by local 
partnerships  to  address  specific  local  problems.  The  EU's  commitment  towards  economic 
sustainability  is  tackling  two  more  key  sectors:  as  concerns  Kosovo’s  transport  policy, 
CARDS programme supported the preparation of a strategy based on the multimodal transport 
approach; the establishment of a demand-driven system, based on closer ties with the business 
sector,  is  instead  driving  the  EC  assistance  effort  to  assist  the  Vocational  Education  and 
Training sector. 

Shaping Kosovo’s participation in the Energy Community of South East Europe 
The  rehabilitation  of  the  energy  sector  remains  a  key  pre-condition  for  the  economic 
development of Kosovo. The CARDS Programme in this field tackled different aspects at the 
same time: assisted the Ministry of Energy and Mining and the Energy Regulatory Office to 
formulate  and  implement  energy  policies;  strengthened  the  capacities  of  the  independent 
Transmission System and Market Operator (TSMO) to be a reliable partner of the south-east 
Europe  energy  community;  provided  support  to  initiatives  aimed  at  expanding  production 

55

 
capacities  (like  the  World  Bank’s  Power  Lignite  Initiative).  At  the  same  time  the  CARDS 
programme  provided  both  capacities  building  assistance  to  strengthen  the  human  resources’ 
quality  and  skills,  as  much  as  concrete  technical  support  to  complete  the  physical 
rehabilitation of the infrastructural and mechanical resources of the energy company KEK. 

Strengthening local government to support democratic governance 
The CARDS support to local governance follows a cross-sector approach. Projects providing 
assistance  to  local  government  institutions  can  be  found  in  different  operation  sectors, 
reflecting the multi-faceted responsibilities increasingly assumed by local authorities. Support 
to  the  implementation  of  environmental  laws  and  regulations  at  local  level  has  also  been 
targeted in order to strengthen the capacity of municipalities in the enforcement of legislation 
relating  inter  alia  with  land  management  (construction),  nature  protection,  environment 
protection,  water  and  waste  management.  Reconstruction  of  physical  infrastructures  is  the 
main  objective  of  several  municipal  development  projects  under  implementation  in  all 
municipalities. At the central level, the CARDS Programme built the institutional capacity of 
the Ministry of Local Government to effectively perform its mandate and provided hands-on 
advice directly to the municipalities to improve service delivery to citizens. The development 
of  an  integrated  Public  Investment  Programme  also  provided  support  to  local  government 
reforms in order to improve the delivery of public services at the local level.  

Cards management performance 

Table 1: Kosovo: Status of financial assistance at the end of December 2008 (in million €)-
CARDS annual national programme 

Allocated  Contracted RAC12  % contracted

Paid 

RAL13  % paid

CARDS 2001 

143.208 

142.529 

0.679 

CARDS 2002 

162.535 

162.084 

0.451 

CARDS 2003 

CARDS 2004 

CARDS 2005 

CARDS 2006 

62.280 

72.600 

76.500 

46.500 

58.237 

4.043 

72.600 

75.533 

45.444 

0 

0.967 

1.056 

Total 

563.623 

556.427 

7.196 

100% 

100% 

94% 

100% 

99% 

98% 

99% 

142.529 

0.679 

100% 

161.795 

0.740 

100% 

56.107 

6.173 

66.385 

6.215 

90% 

91% 

64.153 

12.347 

84% 

29.179 

17.321 

63% 

520.148 

43.475 

92% 

The assistance provided by the European Union - including the CARDS programme is aimed 
at  facilitating  Kosovo’s  progress  towards  the  creation  of  a  democratic  and  multi-ethnic 
society.    During  2008  the  ECLO  has  managed  to  contribute  to  the  achievement  of  this 
overarching objective through the projects mentioned above.  
With the takeover of the CARDS programme from EAR, the ECLO during the second part of 
2008  has  contracted  an  additional  €  1  million  from  the  RAC  related  to  CARDS  2006,  and 
disbursed €21 million under the CARDS Programme.    

12 Reste à contracter 
13 Reste à liquider 

56

 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
Challenges & other issues:  
The  Agency  for  Coordination  of  Development  and  European  Integration  as  a  co-ordination 
body  for  EU  integration  matters  remains  one  of  the  areas  which  need  special  attention  and 
support, especially to develop its newly established structure and sectoral focuses.  
Efficiency  of  Public  Administration  in  Kosovo  is  gradually  increasing;  however,  the  overall 
performance still remains weak in relation to policy-making, and foregoing strategic planning, 
and legislation implementation and enforcement.  
There are several gaps identified limiting Access to Justice for vulnerable groups.  

Institution Building highlights 
The CARDS programme during 2008 has continued supporting the institutions of Kosovo by 
building their capacity to effectively perform their mandates. Some of the highlights covering 
the reporting period include: 

• 

In close coordination with the EULEX, the CARDS Programme provided support to 
the Justice Institutions in Kosovo, with a view to develop and strengthen the justice 
structure in order to guarantee an area of freedom, security and justice for all Kosovo 
citizens, in accordance with EU standards and best practices;   

•  Supported the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MoIA) to facilitate a smooth transfer of 
powers from UNMIK to the Ministry.  In cooperation with UNICEF the activities of 
the joint project to reform of the juvenile justice system continued very successfully. 
The project is aimed at establishing a juvenile justice system based on children’s rights 
and to promote a juvenile crime prevention programme; 

•  The  Modernisation  of  Kosovo  Courts  which  rolled  out  a  Case  Management 
Information  System  to  all  minor  offence,  district  and  municipal  courts,  the  Supreme 
Court and the Public Prosecutors Offices; 

•  Support to local government institutions can be found in different operation sectors, 
reflecting the multi-faceted responsibilities increasingly assumed by local authorities. 
Complementary  to  this  is  the  €  15  million  programme  to  upgrade  the  social  and 
economic infrastructure of a number of municipalities throughout Kosovo; 

•  Support  to  the  public  finance  management  sector  including  the  second  phase  of  the 

project to support the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) of Kosovo;  

•  Support  to  Kosovo’s  institutions  to  implement  a  coherent  public  investment 
programme  to  further  strengthen  the  capabilities  of  the  Ministry  of  Economy  and 
Finance  and  the  budget  organisations  in  all  ministries  and  municipalities  to  better 
manage and control public spending; 

•  Supporting the Public Internal Financial Control and Internal Audit with a view to 
increase  the  capacity  of  the  internal  audit  function  of  Kosovo  Government  and  to 
improve the effectiveness and efficiency of public spending;  

•  Supporting  Kosovo  on  the  path  towards  Europe  by  building  the  capacities  of  the 
government  to  more  effectively  perform  their  governance  in  line  with  the  EU 
partnership. This included continuation of Young Cell Scheme project which provides 
scholarships for Kosovo graduate students to attend Master’s degrees in European 
Studies at some of Europe’s most prominent universities.  

57

 
 
 
 
 
 
10.3.      Results and impact  

Monitoring & Evaluation Reports in 2008 - Lessons Learned 
Kosovo  is  included  in  the  target  area  of  the  Results-Oriented  Monitoring  (ROM)  project 
managed by DG Enlargement's Regional and horizontal programmes unit, but during 2008 no 
monitoring missions took place. 
Upon  the  closure  of  the  activities  of  the  European  Agency  for  Reconstruction,  the  Agency 
issues a report ''Lessons Learned to Lessons Applied'' for CARDS programmes during 200-
2008. The report's aim was to identify some of the key lessons that have been learned from 
the many evaluations that the Agency had conducted over the past eight years, also to broaden 
the dissemination of those lessons both through the report and through discussion. 
A  key  lesson  drawn  from  the  CARDS  programme  concerns  the  sustainability  of  assistance 
programmes.  The  more  beneficiaries  can  take  ownership  of  this  process,  the  better  the 
prospects  for  project  and/or  programme  sustainability.  Good  governance  rests  on  focusing 
capacity  building  efforts  on  facilitating  the  policy  learning  process,  enhancing  strategy 
formulation  and  providing  technical  implementation  know-how.  Successful  projects  rely  on 
determination of the government ministers and civil servants that change is needed and can be 
effectively implemented.  Another lesson learned is that any project design must incorporate a 
realistic analysis of existing political and economic conditions as well as prevailing cultural 
norms  that  influence  an  effective  implementation  of  project  activities.  Lastly,  donor 
coordination  is  crucial  for  effective  support  to  beneficiary  countries.  The  findings  from  the 
report were taken on board by the ECLO Operations Team. 
 It is worth to emphasise the very good progress done in some of the projects in the treatment 
of  cross-cutting  issues  (CCIs).  Besides  the  CCIs  treatment,  other  issues  which  have  been 
substantially  improved  in  the  past  months  are:  the  quality  of  contractor’s  reporting  and 
visibility.  

Sectors with positive results 

Sectors with positive results can be considered: 

Rural economy – Local Development Strategies Project  
At  present,  there  are  15  Local  Action  Groups  (LAGs)  established  in  15  municipalities  of 
Kosovo.  They  all  have  well  discussed  local  development  strategies  and  structured  LAGs  in 
the form of public-private partnerships (PPP). Currently the project is carrying out activities 
to  establish  additional  12  Local  Action  Groups  thus  having  by  15  May  2009,  27  LAGs  in 
Kosovo. With an average of 30 members per LAG, this represents approximately 800 people 
directly  involved  in  the  promotion  of  the  rural  areas  all  over  Kosovo.    All  LAGs  will  be 
implementing sustainable market linkage activities, encouraging young farmers in identifying 
projects within the local development strategies, implementing multi-sectoral global approach 
based  on  interaction  between  actors  and  projects  of  different  sectors  of  the  local  economy, 
implementing  innovative  approaches  The  main  areas  or  measure  of  the  ARDP  (Agriculture 
Rural Development Plan) where all LAGs have identified project ideas to address their rural 
needs are the following: agricultural production, infrastructure, environment and social issues. 
The project also contributes to the Agriculture Rural Development Plan (ARDP) 2007-2013 
of Kosovo, namely Measure 8 – Support for local community development strategies and the 
introduction of the EU Leader + approach.  

Energy Sector in General  
At  the  end  of  the  1999  conflict,  which  followed  over  a  decade  of  negligence  towards 
infrastructure, the energy situation in Kosovo was close to a state of collapse. The Kosovo A 
and  B  power  stations  were  essentially  out  of  operation.  The  coal  mines  were  seriously 

58

 
 
 
 
neglected and severely overexploited. Transmission and distribution networks were hampered 
by  bottlenecks,  as  installations  had  not  kept  pace  with  industrial  and  population  growth. 
District heating systems, while operating, were in a poor state of repair and working at a low 
capacity.  Therefore  the  major  part  of  EC  CARDS  support  in  Kosovo  was  assigned  to  the 
power sector. 
Starting  in  1999,  the  EC  intervention  was  initially  responding  to  the  urgent  humanitarian 
needs, by funding over €48 million for winter season imports of electricity, emergency repairs 
and consumables to maintain the system operations and for paying employee salaries in the 
short term. In parallel, initial plans were being made for a phased rehabilitation to bring the 
energy system to a more productive and reliable state. From a crisis management the focus of 
EC investments moved to rehabilitation in 2002 and 2003 and to reform implementation and 
regional market integration in 2004 through 2006.  

Power Generation 
In particular, it is worth noting the accomplishments prior to fire damage in Kosovo B. The 
generated output of Kosovo B over the first six months of 2002 was more than double what it 
was for the same period in 2000. Comparing the same periods, Kosovo B power availability 
(running hours) increased from 40% to 90%.The total energy production in Jan 2002 was the 
second highest monthly production since the first commissioning of the units in 1983/1984. 
During  period  January-June  2002  (following  the  completion  of  the  EU  funded  overhaul 
works),  no  electricity  imports  were  required,  while  exports  increased  within  six  months  to 
approx  €10  million.  In  addition  a  considerable  amount  of  energy  was  delivered  to  the 
neighbouring  power  systems  (mainly  to  Serbia)  on  exchange  basis  and  was  ‘returned  ’to 
Kosovo during the implementation of Kosovo B Fire Damage Repair Project when the units 
were shut down. 
Since the completion of the fire damage repair in 2004 both units of Kosovo B thermal Power 
Plant have operated at over 92% time availability with net generation capacity over 550 MW 
in  total.  If  KEK  had  funds  to  implement  regular  maintenance  these  units  could  efficiently 
operate for another approx 15 – 20 years. 

Coal production 
A  unique  challenge  was  presented  by  the  coal  mines,  which  together  with  Kosovo  B  have 
been the principal focus of EU support in the energy sector. On one hand the production level 
of coal needed to be substantially increased, while on the other hand the neglected excess in 
the  overburden  layer  needed  to  be  removed.  This  is  a  long-term  process  and  till  2004 
approximately  €90milion  has  been  invested  to  upgrade  the  large  excavators,  conveyors, 
mobile  equipment  and  associated  electrical  and  control  systems,  and  for  upgrade  of 
maintenance workshop.   
Comparing  the  same  2000  and  2002  periods  (as  for  the  Kosovo  B  works),  the  upgraded 
equipment  at  the  coalmines  had  facilitated  the  achievement  of  major  increases  in  coal 
extraction and supply rates (i.e. before the setback of the November 2002 collapse at the coal 
mines).  EU support had enabled the level of coal production to be more than doubled, from a 
daily rate of 9,000 metric tons (MT) to an average of over 18,000 MT, approaching 22,000 
MT per day when weather conditions were favourable. Furthermore, it was possible to build 
up and maintain a stockpile of 300,000 MT.  

Technical  Assistance  for  Further  modernization  of  Kosovo  Vocational  Education  and 
training system (VET III) 
KOSVET  III  project  was  successful  in  developing  the  legal  framework  for  qualifications  in 
Kosovo - the National Qualification Framework law - and drafting the criteria, guidance and 
procedures  for  quality  assurance  and  certification  for  VET  and  in  developing  a  5  year 

59

 
operational  plan  for  the  Kosovo  Qualifications  Agency.    KOSVET  III  also  was  successful 
developing exemplar post secondary qualifications programmes in business and electronics. 
KOSVET  III  was  successful  in    developing  the  national  curriculum  framework  for  career 
education  and  developing  standards  and  qualifications  to  support  professional  training 
programmes  for  Career  Education  Guidance  practitions  and  training  of  teacher    trainers  in 
schools  and  in  producing  the  VET  framework  for  school  based  VET  and  the  three  year 
implementation plan for VET.  
KOSVET  III  was  successful  in  developing  and  delivering  business  related  modular  courses 
and training programmes to SME managers in Kosovo and through some pilot VET schools. 
KOSVET  III  has  been  successful  in  bring  together  Ministry  of  Labour  Social  Welfare, 
Ministry of Education Science and Technology and Statistical Office of Kosovo to work on a 
systematic  basis  to  produce  regular  biannual  labour  market  information  reports  and  sector 
skills  needs  survey  -  and  also  to  develop  the  related  website  KOSESTIA  -  www.ks-
gov.net/kos-estia/  - this site and the labour market reports will continue to be sustained and 
worked on by the respective Ministries. 

Success story 

Energy (Kosovo B Thermal Power Plant)  
A  success  story  can  be  mentioned  the  Fire  Damage  Repair  project  of  Kosovo  B  Thermal 
Power Plant that costs about € 50 million. The project was completed in October 2004. Since 
that  time  both  units  of  the  plant  have  operated  at  over  92%  time  availability  with  net 
generation capacity over 550 MW in total with the new installed digital control system of the 
plant. 

Cultural Heritage Project 
The European Commission has provided some € 1.5 million for  the repair and refurbishment 
of two sites in Prizren – the Bishops Residence and the Priests Seminary, both in the vicinity 
of St Georges Church. 
The projects consist of three parts: 
−  Site clearance and restoration and refurbishment of the perimeter wall of the complex of 

Prizren Orthodox Seminary; 

−  Refurbishment of Prizren Orthodox Seminary; 
−  Refurbishment of Prizren Episcopal Residence;   
The  objective  of  this  project  was  to  restore  religious  sites  those  were  damaged  in  the  civil 
disturbances of March 2004 and to allow their continued use by the Serbian Orthodox Church. 
All  the  works  foreseen  in  original  contract  are  completed.  The  Provisional  Acceptance 
Certificate  has  been  signed  by  Beneficiary  and  all  other  stakeholders  involved  and  the 
buildings have been handover to the beneficiary. 

Empowerment of RAE Communities in Kosovo 
The "Empowerment of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian (RAE) Communities in Kosovo" project 
is working with 7 RAE NGOs in strengthening their capacities and networking. Training on 
advocacy,  community  rights  and  responsibilities,  conflict  management  and  mediation 
techniques,  leadership  and  governance,  organisational  development  were  organised  for 
selected  NGOs.    Direct  knowledge  and  skills  gained  by  the  project  enabled  three  NGOs  to 
benefit additional funds from other donors. More specifically: 

60

 
 
 
 
 
o  NGO  “Health  for  All”  has  benefited  a  four  months  project  from  the  United 
Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) – the project will conduct an assessment on 
health and education conditions of inhabitants of Fushe Kosove/Kosovo Polje 
municipality 

o  NGO  “Fahri  Vraniqi”  benefited  a  nine  months  project  from  Ministry  of 
Communities and Return for provision of sewing courses for RAE women of 
Sefe, Brekoc and Koloni (three RAE inhabited settlements in municipality of 
Gjakove/Djakovica). 

o  NGO  “QKA”  benefited  a  nine  months  project  from  UNDP  to  provide  three 
scholarships for the members of RAE community from village Dubrave/a. The 
NGO will be supervising the scholarships 

Rule of Law 
ECLO under the CARDS programme supports UNICEF Kosovo as part of a 2 year agreement 
in strengthening Kosovo’s Juvenile Justice System. One success story is the visible change in 
practice around juvenile justice in the Probation Service of Kosovo (PSK) following an ECLO 
and UNICEF supported training.  

The Probation Service of Kosovo (PSK) is mandated under the Kosovo Juvenile Justice Code 
to provide social inquiry reports to the prosecutors. These reports contain information related 
to  the  young  person’s  level  of  education,  psychological  state,  his  or  her  family’s  social 
economic  situation,  and  the  circumstances  of  the  offence.  The  Prosecutor  uses  the  report  to 
determine whether to prosecute or divert the case. 

Before  the  Phase  1  Trainings  of  Trainers  conducted  throughout  2008,  Probation  Officers 
would include in their social inquiry reports, aside from the standard information mentioned, 
their  recommendation  for  the  type  of  measure  or  sentence  required  at  the  request  of  the 
prosecutor  during  the  investigative  stage  when  the  young  person  still  should  be  considered 
innocent. This clearly contravened the principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child 
as well as the Kosovo Juvenile Justice Code. 

During the training, the international consultant who undertook the initial capacity assessment 
identified this inappropriate practice and together with UNICEF brought this to the attention 
of the PSK and the Ministry of Justice. PSK management subsequently issued written notices 
to all regional offices, instructing an end to this practice. During a roundtable discussion for 
judges and prosecutors organised by Kosovo Judicial institute (KJI) under the same project, 
the  Head  of  Public  Prosecutors  also  requested  all  Prosecutors  to  halt  this  practice,  when  he 
learned  that  Prosecutors  were  requesting  Probation  Officers  to  recommend  sentences  and 
measures. 

Since then, the ECLO's partner UNICEF has monitored this aspect, and has found no cases of 
Probations Officers or Prosecutors engaged in the former practice. 
This  shows  the  cumulative  impact  of  several capacity  building  activities  under  Phase  1  that 
not only resulted in the identification of inappropriate application of the Juvenile Justice Code 
but  also  in  a  change  in  practice  fulfilling  the  rights  of  juveniles  in  contact  with  the  law 
according to international and European standards 

61

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
11.  Latvia 

11.1.   Summary  

In 2008, Latvia continued to implement successfully the post-accession assistance to address 
remaining  needs  related  to  institution  building  for  the  implementation  of  the  acquis,  in  line 
with the Extended Decentralised Implementation System (EDIS).   

Since  May  2004  procurement  is  carried  out  under  the  entire  responsibility  of  the  Latvian 
authorities applying national procurement rules. The Ministry of Finance, Central Financing 
and Contracting Agency (CFCA) and the Society Integration Foundation are fully responsible 
for the daily implementation of the projects. 

The National Aid Coordinator (NAC) continues to exercise the monitoring of both Phare and 
Transition  Facility  Programmes.  The  National  Authorizing  Officer  (NAO)  carries  out  the 
financial supervision.  

11.2.  Pre-accession, financial and Transition assistance in 2008 

ii) Implementation 

-  TF 2005 – finalisation of payments  

At the end of the period for execution of contracts for the 2005 Transition Facility programme 
82.70 % of the funding has been disbursed. The Latvian authorities requested no extension for 
the 2005 programme. The payments can still be executed within 6 months after the expiry of 
the contracts execution period. 

-  TF 2006 – rate of contracting   

At  the  end  of  the  contracting  period  for  the  2006  Transition  Facility  programme  on  15 
December 2008, 99.40% of the programmes had been contracted.  

-  Institution Building highlights 

A  total  of  around  €19  million  of  post-accession  assistance  from  national  allocation  (not 
including  horizontal  and  multi-country  programmes)  has  been  allocated  to  Latvia  from 
Transition Facility programmes (2004-2006).  

Transition  Facility  assistance  continue  to  be  successful  in  the  fields  of  civil  society  and 
society integration, with long term impact on cooperation among people of different origins 
and  civil  society  non-government  stakeholders.  Other  institution  building  sectors  with 
satisfactory  results  include  projects  related  to  police  training  and  some  institutional  fine 
tuning in the areas of environment, consumer protection and statistics.  

In  2008,  Twinning  continued  to  be  the  main  implementing  instrument  in  many  areas  of  the 
acquis in Latvia and has helped the Latvian administration to further strengthen its capacities 
to implement and enforce EC legislation. 

62

 
 
 
 
 
  
              
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
11.3.  Results and Impact   

i) -   State of play for JMC / SMSC development 

In 2008, one Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) meeting took place in February 2008, in line 
with  the  revised  JMC  Mandate  introduced  in  the  new  Member  States  in  May  2004,  which 
established  an  integrated  monitoring  and  evaluation  system  over  the  programmes  under 
implementation. The second JMC meeting was by written procedure in September 2008. 

Each  monitoring  sector  is  covered  by  the  relevant  Sectoral  Monitoring  Sub-Committee 
(SMSCs). Each SMSC normally meets twice a year in accordance with the annual schedule 
agreed within the JMC.  Two rounds of SMSC meetings took place in 2008, the first round 
took place in June 2008, the second round was organised in October 2008. The 9 remaining 
monitoring  sectors  cover:  agriculture,  energy  and  market  &  antitrust  surveillance, 
environment  and  nuclear  safety,  health,  home  affairs,  justice,  public  finance,  Social  and 
Society  Integration  and  Statistics.  However,  though  sectors  as  such  have  been  kept  for 
organisational reasons, the emphasis is now increasingly put on project based monitoring.  For 
each sector a monitoring report is produced. 

ii) -  Monitoring & Evaluation  Reports in 2008 (lessons learned) 

Overall responsibility for monitoring and evaluation of the Pre-accession and the Transition 
Facility programmes in Latvia lies with the Ministry of Finance (MoF). The contract with the 
independent evaluator was completed in August 2008. 

In  2008,  the  second  phase  of  evaluation,  two  consolidated  evaluation  reports  were  issued  – 
one for the JMC meeting in February and one for the JMC by written procedure in September. 
The reports provide a consolidated country review of the findings of the Interim Evaluations 
finalised in 2007 and 2008. The two consolidated reports concluded that Transition Facility 
assistance  has  supported  successfully  Latvia's  administrative  capacity  and  institutions  in  the 
post-accession period. Transition Facility assistance is in Latvia highly relevant, the projects 
are  well  adapted  to  beneficiaries'  needs.  The  efficiency  of  projects'  implementation  has 
improved  considerably  and  ranges  now  from  excellent  to  good,  in  some  sectors  such  as 
agriculture  and  environment  communication  needs  to  be  improved;  the  impact  of  the 
evaluated projects is significant.  

63

 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
12. Lithuania    

12.1.   Summary  

In  2008,  Lithuania  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 Extended Decentralised Implementation System (EDIS). 

Since May 2004 procurement is carried out under the entire responsibility of the Lithuanian 
authorities applying national procurement rules. The Ministry of Finance, Central Programme 
Management  Authority  (CPMA)  is  now  responsible  for  ex-ante  control  and  twinning.  The 
CPMA is fully responsible for the daily implementation of the projects. 

The National Aid Coordinator (NAC) continues to exercise the monitoring of both Phare and 
Transition  Facility  Programmes.  The  National  Authorizing  Officer  (NAO)  carries  out  the 
financial supervision.  

12.2.  Pre-accession, financial and Transition assistance in 2008 

i) Implementation 

-  TF 2005 – finalisation of payments 

At the end of the period for execution of contracts for the 2005 Transition Facility 84.97 % of 
the  funding  has  been  disbursed.  The  Lithuanian  authorities  requested  no  extension  for  the 
2005 programme. The payments can still be executed within 6 months after the expiry of the 
contracts execution period. 

-  TF 2006 – rate of contracting  

At  the  end  of  the  contracting  period  for  the  2006  Transition  Facility  programme  on  15 
December 2008, 97.09% of the programmes had been contracted.  

-  Institution Building highlights 

A  total  of  around  €36  million  of  post-accession  assistance  from  national  allocation  (not 
including  horizontal  and  multi-country  programmes)  has  been  allocated  to  Lithuania  from 
Transition Facility programmes (2004-2006).  

During  the  period,  there  was  substantial  overall  progress  towards  the  achievement  of 
objectives  and  results  of  the  EU  assistance.  Two  TF  2004  projects  for  which  the  execution 
deadline  were  extended  were  finalised.  TF  2005  projects  were  successfully  completed  and 
mostly  achieved  its  results.    The  Unallocated  Envelope  under  the  TF  2006  programme  was 
successfully contracted, 10 projects were approved.  

12.3.  Results and Impact   

i) -   State of play for JMC / SMSC development 

64

 
 
 
  
              
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
In  2008,  the  first  Joint  Monitoring  Committee  (JMC)  meeting  was  conducted  by  written 
procedure  during  April  2008  and  the  second  one  took  place  in  October  2008.    The  JMC 
meeting in October was the last physical meeting. The following JMC will be concluded via 
the  written  procedure.  During  the  meeting,  the  outstanding  issues  like  eligibility  of  Value-
added Tax (VAT) expenses under TF programme, old Phare projects, irregularity cases and 
phasing out of the programmes were discussed. 

In  the  year  2008,  two  rounds  of  Sector  Monitoring  Sub-Committee  (SMSC)  meetings  have 
taken place. The first round of SMSC meetings took place in March and the second round in 
August. The following sectors are monitored in Lithuania: environment, economic and social 
cohesion; internal market and statistics; nuclear safety, energy and transport; justice and home 
affairs; public administration, public finance and customs; agriculture and fisheries 

ii) -  Monitoring & Evaluation Reports in 2008 (lessons learned) 

Overall responsibility for monitoring and evaluation of the Pre-accession and the Transition 
Facility  programmes  in  Lithuania  lies  with  the  NAC  Office  which  is  in  the  Ministry  of 
Finance.  

The  thematic  evaluation  of  administrative  capacities  has  been  carried  out  by  external 
evaluator under TF2006 project. The objectives of this evaluation were as follows: 
• 

to evaluate the contribution of EU assistance programmes Phare and Transition Facility to 
administrative capacities of Lithuanian beneficiaries; 
to identify examples of good practice in the Lithuanian beneficiaries; 
to  suggest  practical  recommendations  how  to  absorb  more  effectively  the  financial 
assistance  of  European  Social  Fund  (ESF)  for  administrative  capacities  in  the  period  of 
2007-2013. 

• 
• 

65

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
13.  Malta  

13.1.   Summary  

In 2008, Malta 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 Extended Decentralised Implementation System (EDIS). 

Since  June  2004  implementation  is  carried  out  under  the  entire  responsibility  of  Maltese 
authorities  applying  national  procurement  rules.  The  Department  of  Contracts  (DoC)  within 
the Ministry of Finance is fully responsible for the daily implementation of the projects. 

The  National  Aid  Coordinator  (NAC)  continues  to  exercise  monitoring  of  both  Phare  and 
Transition  Facility  Programmes.  The  National  Authorizing  Officer  (NAO)  carries  out  the 
financial supervision.  

13.2.  Pre-accession, financial and Transition assistance in 2008 

i) Implementation 

-  TF 2005 – finalisation of payments 

At the end of the period for execution of contracts for the 2005 Transition Facility programme 
75.17  %  of  the  funding  has  been  disbursed.  The  Maltese  authorities  requested  no  extension 
for the 2005 programme. The payments can still be executed within 6 months after the expiry 
of the contracts execution period. 

-  TF 2006 – rate of contracting  

At  the  end  of  the  contracting  period  for  the  2006  Transition  Facility  programme  on 
15 December 2008, 82.86 % of the programmes had been contracted.  

-  Institution Building highlights 

A  total  of  around  €21  million  of  post-accession  assistance  from  national  allocation  (not 
including  horizontal  and  multi-country  programmes)  has  been  allocated  to  Malta  from 
Transition Facility programmes (2004-2006).  

In 2008, Malta continued the implementation of projects under the 2005 Transition Facility. 
Overall, the implementation proceeded successfully and smoothly. In fact, the implementation 
of  a  number  of  the  projects  has  been  concluded,  while  the  ones  still  ongoing  were  steadily 
drawing  to  a  close.  The  TF  support  involved  projects  in  the  areas  of  social  policies  and 
employment,  justice  freedom  and  security,  agriculture,  environment  and  administrative 
capacity. 

Regarding  Unallocated  Institution  Building  Facility,  Malta  has  fully  absorbed  the  funds 
available  under  TF  2006.  The  small-scale  projects,  implemented  under  this  facility  have 
proved to be very efficient and have generated good and sustainable results.  

66

 
 
 
  
              
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
13.3.  Results and Impact   

i) -   State of play for JMC / SMSC development 

In 2008, the two rounds of Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) meetings were concluded in 
writing  in  May  and  November  2008  respectively.  In  connection  with  the  monitoring 
simplification  procedure,  a  new  JMC  mandate  was  introduced  in  Malta  in  2007,  which 
established  an  enhanced  monitoring  and  evaluation  system  over  the  programmes  under 
implementation. 

For the year 2008, one round of Sectoral Monitoring Sub-Committee (SMSC) meetings took 
place in March. Due to small number of programmes, the Maltese authorities have abolished 
the sector-approach and review each project separately.  

ii) -  Monitoring & Evaluation Reports in 2008 (lessons learned) 

Overall  responsibility  for  monitoring  and  interim  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 evaluation, which was endorsed by EC in February 
2005.  

In  2008,  three  evaluation  reports  were  released:  Country  Summary  Evaluation  Report  and 
First Interim Evaluation report on 19 May 2008 and Second Interim Evaluation report of on-
going projects under 2005 and 2006 TF programmes on 31 October 2008. Due to the small 
size of the Malta programmes, the interim evaluation is carried out on the overall programmes 
and not on a sector basis.  

According to the reports the overall rating for 2005 and 2006 TF programmes is evaluated as 
satisfactory. In terms of relevance, the projects were assessed to be satisfactory. Overall, the 
projects  were  acquis-related,  built  on  previous  support,  and  addressed  the  needs  of  the 
beneficiary in terms of reinforcing technical and administrative capacities. Project efficiency 
has  been  assessed  as  satisfactory,  although  performance  was  mixed.  Delays  in  convening 
evaluation  committees  to  assess  offers  have  still  affected  the  efficiency.  Effectiveness  was 
rated as satisfactory as the majority of the projects had achieved or would achieve its overall 
objective  as  to  contribute  to  the  development  of  capacity  within  the  Maltese  Authorities  in 
terms of implementation of the acquis. It should be mentioned that four of the implemented 
projects  were  rated  as  highly  satisfactory.  Impact  and  sustainability  have  been  rated  as 
satisfactory.  Good  sustainability  is  expected  in  relation  to  most  projects  with  training 
resources,  manuals  and  systems  developed  in  the  framework  of  TF  projects  all  likely  to  be 
used  and  serve  as  valuable  resources  to  the  beneficiary  institutions  after  the  life  of  the 
projects.  The  maintenance  of  procured  equipment  and  the  updating  of  software  will  also 
ensure  their  ongoing  use  to  the  Maltese  Authorities  in  terms  of  fulfilling  their  acquis 
obligations. 

67

 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
14. Montenegro  

14.1.      The year in review 

Political developments 

The  process  of  European  integration  of  Montenegro  continued  in  2008.  Following  the 
signature  of  the  Stabilisation  and  Association  Agreement  with  the  EU  in  October  2007,  an 
Interim Agreement on trade and trade-related matters entered into force in January 2008 and 
is being smoothly implemented.  

The  reform  process  in  Montenegro  continued  to  be  monitored  through  the  enhanced 
permanent  dialogue  and  through  the  newly  set-up  institutional  framework  of  the  Interim 
Agreement. 

In 2008 the country enjoyed political stability and continued to play a constructive role in the 
region.  

A political dialogue meeting between the EU (troika) and Montenegro took place in February 
2008. The visa facilitation and readmission agreements are overall smoothly implemented. A 
visa liberalisation dialogue between the EU and Montenegro was launched in February 2008 
and  a  Roadmap,  with  concrete  benchmarks,  was  submitted  by  the  European  Commission  to 
Montenegro. The implementation of the "Roadmap" will open the way to visa free travel for 
Montenegrin citizens. 

In December 2008 Montenegro submitted an application for EU membership. The application 
is  under  consideration  by  the  Council.  Once  the  Council  requests  it,  the  Commission  will 
prepare an Opinion on Montenegro's application.  

Macroeconomic developments and structural reforms 

During  2007  and  2008  Montenegro  enjoyed  a  rapid  growth  of  over  7%  p.a.,  supported  by 
inflow  of  foreign  direct  investment  (FDI),  tourism,  financial  intermediation,  real  estate  and 
improved performance of the manufacturing industry. 

A  prudent  fiscal  policy  and  higher  than  expected  tax  revenues  have  led  to  budget  surpluses 
exceeding 3% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and declining public debt to 32% of GDP by 
end-2007.  However,  the  very  strong  expansion  of  lending,  rapid  growth  of  asset  prices  and 
rapidly  growing  wages  have  generated  strong  demand  pressures  boosting  consumption  and 
investments  and  inducing  strong  imports  resulting  in  massive  current  account  deficits  over 
40% of GDP in 2007.  
According  to  estimates  of  the  IMF,  the  rapid  expansion  of  the  Montenegrin  economy  will 
slow  down  significantly  in  2009  and  2010  due  to  the  global  credit  crunch,  the  expected 
slowdown of FDI and a significant decrease of real estate sales. An adverse effect on tourism 
revenues is also expected; whereas the fall in aluminium prices have negatively affected the 
already critical situation of the aluminium company KAP (whose sales represent over 40% of 
Montenegro's industrial exports).  

The  authorities  reacted  promptly  on  financial  system  by  fully  guaranteeing  deposits  up  to 
(currently  some  €  2 billion),  as  well  as  inter-bank  credits,  and  offering  the  possibility  of 
providing  liquidity  loans  or  recapitalisation  of  domestic  banks.  To  alleviate  the  negative 

68

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
impact of the crisis over the real economy, the adopted budged 2009 foresees a significant rise 
of  the  capital  expenditure,  earlier  repayment  of  domestic  debt,  and  the  reduction  of  social 
contribution  tax  rate.  In  addition,  electricity  price  subsidies  for  Small  and  Medium  sized 
Enterprises  (SMEs)  and  households  were  announced.  Authorities  are  discussing  credit 
agreements  with  European  Bank  for  Reconstruction  and  Development  (ERBD),  European 
Investment  Bank  (EIB)  and  the  World  Bank  to  support  infrastructural  projects  but,  despite 
availability  in  case  of  a  drastic  deterioration,  the  government  did  not  yet  express  interest  to 
close a stand-by arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). 

Progress in meeting the acquis communautaire 

In 2008 Montenegro has made further progress in alignment with European standards. On the 
whole, the implementation of obligations under the Interim Agreement since 1 January 2008 
is  proceeding  smoothly.  Interim  Agreement  bodies  were  set  up.  Policy-reform  dialogue  in 
other areas is taking place in the context of the Enhanced Permanent Dialogue.  
The 2008 progress report highlighted areas where progress is expected, and where further 
efforts are needed. IPA programming takes fully into account the outcomes of the report in 
order to address the shortcomings 

14.2.      Financial assistance in 2008 

Programmes launched 

As  of  2007,  the  CARDS  programme  was  replaced  by  the  Instrument  for  Pre-accession 
Assistance  (IPA).  In  2008  projects  under  the  CARDS  annual  action  programmes  for  2004, 
2005 and 2006 were under implementation. No new CARDS programmes were launched after 
2006. 

Overview of programmes implemented 

Democratic stabilisation 

Internally Displaced Persons (Refugees) integration  
The programme supported the creation of favourable conditions for the local integration of the 
most vulnerable displaced persons by facilitating their access to durable housing solutions and 
income-generation support. 

Civil society  
Technical  assistance  was  provided  to  the  Trade  Union  of  Civil  Servants  and  Judiciary  to 
enhance  its  capacity  to  play  a  constructive  role  in  the  reform  of  public  administration.  The 
capacity of the Confederation of Trade Unions and the local Economic and Social Councils 
was equally reinforced in order to make their participation in social dialogue more significant. 
In  addition,  EU  funding  supported  partnership  projects  to  address  the  priorities  of  the 
Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy Action Plan, including the needs of the elderly; 
raising  awareness  about  women's  reproductive 
the  employment 
opportunities of the disabled and fostering Roma integration in schools. 

increasing 

issues; 

Good governance and institution-building 

Judiciary and Internal Affairs 

69

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Following  the  governmental  adoption  of  the  judicial  reform  strategy,  prepared  with  EU 
support, the EU and the Council of Europe further assisted the Government in preparing the 
legal  environment  for  the  establishment  of  the  Probation  Service  within  the  Ministry  of 
Justice;  the  Police  Forensic  Centre  was  constructed  and  training  capacity  of  the  Police 
Academy widened; finally, the Ministry of Interior received assistance for the elaboration of a 
Data  Protection  Strategy  and  Action  Plan.  Following  the  text  review  carried  out  by  experts 
hired  under  CARDS  assistance,  a  draft  Law  on  Data  Protection  was  elaborated  by  the 
Ministry of Interior and subsequently adopted by the Parliament. 

In  line  with  the  Action  Plan  for  the  implementation  of  the  aforementioned  strategy,  a 
Twinning  Light  Project  was  implemented  as  advisory  support  to  training  of  prosecutors. 
Special  emphasis  was  put  on  the  legal  instruments  included  in  the  new  draft  Criminal 
Procedure Code involving increased responsibilities for the prosecutors in the pre-trial phase. 

Border crossings 
Further  upgrade  to  the  Information  and  Telecommunication  (IT)  system  of  the  Ministry  of 
Interior and the Border Police Directorate has been possible thanks to the establishment of a 
wireless  link  and  passport  readers  in  three  border  crossing  points  (the  Port  of  Bar  and  the 
airports in Podgorica and Tivat). 

The  refurbishment  and  upgrading  of  the  Božaj  border  crossing  (Albania-Montenegro)  was 
completed. 

Public Administration 
Several  actions  were  implemented  in  order  to  assist  the  Human  Resource  Management 
Authority  to  discharge  its  statutory  duties  as  far  as  horizontal  skills  of  civil  servants  are 
concerned. Other actions fostered local government decentralisation and reinforced the role of 
the  Secretariat  for  European  Integration  in  coordinating  tasks  for  annual  IPA  programming 
and monitoring purposes. 

Assistance  to  the  Montenegrin  Statistical  Office  (MONSTAT)  on  National  Accounts  and 
GDP compilation came to an end in 2008. Technical assistance to the Ministry of Finance, the 
Ministry  of  Interior  and  Public  Administration,  and  the  Human  Resources  Management 
Authority on budgetary and salary system reforms for civil servants was concluded in 2008. It 
included the procurement of IT equipment and software to upgrade the Financial Management 
system.  

Decentralised Implementation System (DIS) 
In September 2008 the first project ever to address Montenegro's preparation for the DIS was 
launched.  Its  purpose  is  to  strengthen  the  administrative  and  managerial  capacities  of  key 
stakeholders  and  to  establish  the  required  operating  structures,  in  order  to  achieve  in  due 
course  conferral  of  management  for  IPA  Components  1  and  2.  The  inception  phase  was 
completed  by  the  end  of  2008.  A  Steering  Committee,  composed  of  representatives  of  all 
stakeholders  (CAO,  NAO/NF,  PAO/CFCU,  NIPAC,  Internal  Audit  Unit  of  the  Ministry  of 
Finance, the SPOs and the Audit Authority) was established. The project will seek to meet the 
requirements  of  the  DIS  roadmap,  dealing  with  the  preparation  of  the  legal  framework,  the 
development  of  manuals  of  procedure  with  standard  templates,  checklists  and  audit  trails, 
training and assistance to address major weaknesses an EC compliance audit may highlight.  

70

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Economic and social development 

Energy 
A  programme  providing  assistance  in  the  implementation  of  the  electricity  market  opening 
and  privatization  strategy  development,  as  well  as  the  preparation  of  draft  commercial 
contracts for new electricity market players were finalized.  

Economy 
In cooperation with the EBRD, through the Turn Around Management (TAM) and Business 
Advisory  Services  (BAS)  programmes,  assistance  has  been  provided  to  small  and  medium 
enterprises located in rural areas and enterprises managed by other special target groups such 
as ethnic minorities, women and disabled. 

Assistance  has  been  provided  to  the  Montenegrin  Investment  Promotion  Agency  (MIPA), 
comprising  training  and  capacity  building  as  a  second  phase  in  setting  up  the  operations  of 
this Agency. 

Assistance  has  been  provided  to  further  support  the  implementation  of  the  privatisation 
strategy,  with  a  specific  focus  on  the  amendments  of  the  Law  on  the  Port  of  Bar  and  its 
associated restructuring. 

Enhancement  of  the  private  sector  development  and  facilitation  of  the  access  to  finance  for 
SMEs, notably for those in rural areas, was major priority in assistance over 2008.  

Internal market  
Support for the establishment of a sustainable public procurement system in Montenegro was 
provided. Activities included the completion of the public procurement legal framework, the 
development  of  operational  procedures,  guidelines  and  manuals  to  implement  the  new  legal 
provisions,  and  strengthening  of  the  institutions  in  charge  of  the  regulatory  and  review 
functions.  

Further development of quality infrastructure was supported, focusing on legal harmonisation 
in metrology, standards, testing and quality with the acquis and the World Trade Organisation 
(WTO) requirements, as well  as accreditation.  In the course  of  2008, approx. 800 standards 
have been adopted of which 85% are harmonised with international standards. 

The key intervention in this area was a project conceived to accelerate reforms and strengthen 
the capacity of relevant government bodies in the area of trade and internal market as well as 
compliance with WTO and SAA requirements. The project has been implemented through 3 
components (trade, competition and state aid, and consumer protection). The trade component 
focused  on  capacity  building  on  trade  policy  and  trade-related  areas  (intellectual  property 
rights  -IPR-  and  quality  infrastructure).  The  competition  component  targeted  legislative 
reforms and supported the establishment of two new institutions (the Authority for Protection 
of Competition and the Commission for the Control of State Aid). The consumer protection 
component covered capacity building. Special focus has been given to the role of the market 
surveillance inspection. Basic ICT equipment for all relevant institutions was also provided.  

Environment  
The rehabilitation of the coastal region sewerage system was completed. Capacity building 
was provided to the Environmental Protection Agency. 

71

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Social infrastructure 
The construction of a haemodialysis unit in Pljevlja was completed. 

Agriculture, rural development and Fisheries 
The preparation of a draft law on agriculture and rural development, as well as a national 
programme for food production and rural development over the period 2009-2013 were 
supported. 

In September 2008,  support  to  the  fisheries in Serbia and Montenegro came  to an  end after 
having  assisted  in  Montenegro  the  public  and  private  sectors  to  implement  the  National 
Fisheries  Strategy  (legal,  institutional,  managerial,  policy  aspects  of  fish  resources). 
Equipment for fishery inspections and food safety laboratories was also provided. 

Labour market and education 
The  first  EU  funded  programme  in  support  of  labour  market  reform  and  workforce 
development came to an end in September.  

Cross-border cooperation (CBC) 
All  projects,  with  the  exception  of  one,  funded  under  the  Cross-Border  Cooperation 
allocations of CARDS 2004, 2005 & 2006 concluded along 2008. These include a direct grant 
award to the Secretariat for European Integration, as the Operating Structure, for the IPA CB 
programmes for both intra-Western Balkans Borders and programmes where the EU Member 
States participate.  

CARDS management performance 

By year-end 2008, all CARDS related procurement was complete and all 53 CARDS ongoing 
projects  were  successfully  transferred  from  the  European  Agency  for  Reconstruction  to  the 
Delegation in Podgorica.  

CARDS 
(1) 

Allocation 
(2) 

Contracted 
(3)  

RAC in 
Value 

% 
contract
ed 

Paid (3) 

RAL in 
Value 

% 
paid 

CARDS 
2001 (4) 
CARDS 
2002(4) 
CARDS 
2003 (4) 
CARDS 
2004  
CARDS 
2005 
CARDS 
2006 

16,100,00
0.00
12,000,00
0.00
12,000,00
0.00
16,756,27
0.02 
23,120,61
0.00 
20,709,00
0.00 

16,035,105
.21
11,951,696
.52
11,897,511
.91
16,703,382
.92 
22,980,263
.39 
20,084,124
.96 

64,894.79

99.6% 

48,303.48

99.6% 

102,488.0
9

99.1% 

52,887.10 

99.7% 

140,346.6
1 
624,875.0
4 

99.4% 

97.0% 

16,035,105
.21 
11,951,696
.52 
11,897,511
.91 
16,400,990
.70 
21,907,861
.52 
17,392,595
.71 

64,894.79 

48,303.48 

102,488.0
9 
355,279.3
2 
1,212,748.
48 
3,316,404.
29 

99.6
% 
99.6
% 
99.1
% 
97.9
% 
94.8
% 

84% 

72

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Total 

100,685,8
80.02 

99,652,084
.91 

1,033,795.
11 

99.0% 

95,585,761
.57 

5,100,118.
45 

95% 

*CBC 2004 had a cancellation of appropriation of 52,887.10 
(1) including CARDS CBC and State Union MNE 
(2) initially allocated to the EAR 
(3) by EAR and between 15.09 and 31.12.08 by the ECD 
(4) The CARDS 2001, 2002 and 2003 programmes were closed at the time of the 
transfer 

Institution Building highlights 

Support  to  the  Human  Resources  Management  Authority  featured  high  in  the  reporting 
period,  chiefly  through  civil  service  training.  Likewise,  the  assistance  provided  to  the 
Secretariat  for  European  Integration  and  line  ministries  for  IPA  programming  purposes  is 
already producing positive results in terms of ownership and project concept.  

The  Twinning  Light  Project  on  training  of  prosecutors  has  contributed  to  the  crucial 
preparation  of  the  prosecutors  for  implementing  the  forthcoming  new  Criminal  Procedure 
Code, according to which, a major reform of the investigation phase will take place with the 
prosecutors  taking  up  the  lead  and  the  full  responsibility  for  the  investigative  proceedings. 
The  Judicial  Training  Centre's  capacity  to  provide  training  to  prosecutors  was  also 
strengthened.  

With  EU  assistance,  the  Environmental  Protection  Agency  was  launched,  as  well  as  the 
establishment  of  a  project  implementation  unit  to  deal  with  the  implementation  of 
environmental infrastructure projects.  

Financial support granted in March 2008 to the Secretariat for European Integration (SEI) has 
importantly  contributed  to  improving  Montenegro’s  preparedness  to  deal  with  the  EU 
financial  assistance  for  the  development  of  border  regions.  By  the  end  of  2008,  the  SEI 
established the administrative and monitoring structures for the IPA CBC programmes.   

14.3.      Results and impact  

Monitoring & Evaluation Reports in 2008 - Lessons Learned 

Lessons  were  learned  from  two  major  evaluations,  carried  out  by  the  European  Agency  for 
Reconstruction in 2008, for EU funded projects in Montenegro. In a comparative analysis of 
Serbia's,  Montenegro's  and  Kosovo's  participation  in  the  regional  energy  market,  the 
Montenegrin  Government's  lack  of  decision  on  unbundling  and  privatisation  impeded  an 
otherwise dynamic development.  

The  evaluation  of  the  EU  funded  Turn  Around  management  (TAM)/  Business  Advisory 
Services (BAS) programmes provided a comprehensive set of recommendations. At the time 
of  the  evaluation,  33%  of  the  predominantly  successful  and  very  successful  rated  projects 
were closed, as the companies were bankrupted, liquidated or non existent. This showed that 
there  would  be  a  need  for  (a)  allocating  much  larger  input  resources  in  certain  challenging 
projects  within  a  more  flexible  framework  allowing  for  follow-ups;  and  (b)  investing  larger 
resources in terms of time, tools, methodology and man/days for the screening phase.  

73

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
One  recurrent  lesson  learned  and  recommendation  from  the  continuous  monitoring  of  EU 
funded projects over 2008 comprised a stronger involvement of NGOs and the need to stress 
awareness  raising  initiatives  by  the  government  with  regard  to  social  inclusion  and  cross-
cutting issues.  

Sectors with positive results 

Helping refugees and Internally Displaced Persons 
A housing and economic livelihood assistance programme worth €2.4 million addressed the 
housing needs for close to 200 families of displaced persons. However, the issue of the legal 
status of most displaced persons remains unresolved.  

Supporting Civil society 
EU assistance significantly contributed to the development of a legislative framework dealing 
with  employment,  vocational  education  and  training  of  the  disabled.  It  also  supported  the 
literacy,  vocational  education  and  employability  of  illiterate  and  adult  Roma  displaced 
persons. 

Energy 
The  revision  of  the  market  rules  submitted  to  the  Regulatory  Agency  by  the  Electricity 
Market Operator was performed and approved in December. It was concluded that the Market 
Rules were at a satisfactory phase of development regarding market opening. Outputs of the 
projects in this domain, such as drafts of commercial contracts between new market players, 
market rules and the development of the required IT systems for initial market operation were 
crucial  in  the  opening  of  the  electricity  market,  which  has  been  officially  opened  since  1 
January 2009. 

Economy  
Support to enhance the private sector development and improve its access to credit schemes 
resulted in reforming the legislative framework, creating the condition for the establishment 
of the first Credit Guarantee Fund in Montenegro. 

include,  among  others, 

Internal market 
Substantive progress has been achieved in harmonising legislation related to internal market. 
New  laws,  secondary  legislation  and  legislative  amendments  were  introduced  in  relation  to 
IPR,  public  procurement,  consumer  protection,  competition  and  state  aid.  The  capacity  of  a 
number  of  newly  established  bodies  related  to  internal  market  areas  was  strengthened. 
Examples 
the  Public  Procurement  Commission  and  Public 
Procurement  Agency,  the  Authority  for  Protection  of  Competition,  the  Commission  for  the 
Control of State Aid, and the Arbitration Council for out-of-court dispute settlement related to 
consumers  protection  and  the  Market  inspectorate.  Strategic  guidelines  were  adopted  in  a 
number of sectors including consumer protection, quality infrastructure, competition, etc. The 
first National Consumer Programme was prepared and adopted and the modernisation of the 
Market  Inspectorate,  the  Consumer  Arbitration  Council  and  the  Office  for  Intellectual 
Property  Rights  was  achieved  though  the  procurement  of  information  and  communication 
technology. 

Environmental infrastructure  

74

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The wastewater pumping stations in the coastal area (municipalities of Herceg Novi, Budva, 
Bar  and  Ulcinj)  have  been  fully  repaired  and  upgraded.  This  is  meant  to  have  a  positive 
impact on the quality of sea water and tourism.  

Agriculture and rural development 
Good progress can be reported on agriculture and rural development policy. The Government 
continued to adapt agricultural policy to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the EU. 
The  support  provided  to  align  the  regulatory  framework,  in  view  of  the  preparation  to  EU 
accession,  and  to  prepare  the  national  strategy  for  food  production  and  rural  development 
(2009-2013)  resulted  in  the  endorsement  by  the  government  of  the  draft  law  on  agriculture 
and rural development and the adoption of the strategy. 

Some preparatory steps towards the creation of structures needed for pre-accession assistance 
in agriculture have been taken. 

Cross border cooperation 
Montenegro's  participation  in  projects  under  the  INTERREG  III  A  (Adriatic)  and  B 
(CADSES) helped to prepare the country for an active involvement in future CBC schemes.  

Success story 

EU helps Montenegro protect its natural beauty 

Montenegro’s rich natural beauty is ideal for the development of tourism and agriculture, and 
is considered a main potential for economic growth. For these reasons, and to bring the 
country closer to the EU, the Montenegrin government is striving to strengthen its 
environment sector in the areas of policy, legislation and institutions. The establishment of an 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a major priority in the government’s Economic 
Reform Agenda. Under the EU-funded project, a model for the new EPA was developed. 
Moreover, the project is helping develop a model for a Project Implementation Unit (PIU) that 
will support the influx of funding for the development of adequate environmental 
infrastructure, including wastewater treatment plants and waste-disposal sites. 

Furthermore, the project will provide assistance in getting the EPA up and running. This 
includes training the managers and staff and the development of the organization and its 
working methods. In order to guarantee future availability of qualified staff, assistance is 
provided to develop environmental training as part of the Montenegrin education system. 

In addition to assistance in the preparation of the formal decision on EPA and PIU, the project 
is helping develop secondary environmental legislation. 

The proposal for establishment of the EPA follows EU best practice on implementation of 
environmental legislation and standards. Principles of good governance, as well as the EU 
Minimum Criteria for Environmental Inspections, are being taken into account. The EPA’s 
establishment will form a first (and considerable) increase of staff in the environment sector, 
facilitating implementation of the government’s legislative work on the environmental EU 
acquis. The EPA will implement hundreds of EU legal requirements in the area of monitoring 
and reporting, permitting, inspection and communication. 

75

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
15. Poland   

15.1.   Summary  

In 2008, 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 Extended Decentralised Implementation System (EDIS). 

Since  February  2005  implementation  is  carried  out  under  the  entire  responsibility  of  Polish 
authorities  applying  national  procurement  rules.  The  Central  Finance  and  Contracts  Unit 
(CFCU),  the  Polish  Agency  for  Enterprise  Development  (PAED)  and  the  Implementing 
Authority  for  European  Programmes  (formerly  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) continues to exercise the monitoring of both Phare and 
Transition  Facility  Programmes.  The  National  Authorizing  Officer  (NAO)  carries  out  the 
financial supervision.  

15.2.  Pre-accession, financial and Transition assistance in 2008 

i) Implementation 

-  TF 2005– finalisation of payments 

At the end of the period for execution of contracts for the 2005 Transition Facility programme 
84.42 % of the funding has been disbursed, while two projects have been extended and were 
on-going (extension of the execution deadline until 15/02/2009 and 15/06/2009 respectively). 
The payments can still be executed within 6 months after the expiry of the contracts execution 
period. 

-  TF 2006 – rate of contracting  

At  the  end  of  the  contracting  period  for  the  2006  Transition  Facility  programme  on 
15 December 2008, 81.15 % of the programme had been contracted.  

-  Institution Building highlights 

A  total  of  around  €115  million  of  post-accession  assistance  from  national  allocation  (not 
including  horizontal  and  multi-country  programmes)  has  been  allocated  to  Poland  from 
Transition Facility programmes (2004-2006).  

Implementation  of  Transition  Facility  in  Poland  is  considered  generally  successful  and 
projects  provide  notable  value  added.  During  the  period,  there  was  substantial  overall 
progress towards the achievement of objectives and results of the EU assistance. 11 contracts 
were signed within the TF2006 Unallocated Envelope. 

76

 
 
 
 
 
  
              
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
15.3.  Results and Impact   

i) -   State of play for JMC / SMSC development 

In 2008, there were 2 Joint Monitoring Committees (JMCs). First one concluded via written 
procedure  in  June  2008  and  the  second  one  took  place  in  December  2008,  in  line  with  the 
revised JMC Mandate introduced in the new Member States in May 2004, which establish an 
integrated monitoring and evaluation system over the programmes under implementation. 

The  JMC  meeting  in  December  was  the  last  physical  meeting.  The  following  JMC  will  be 
concluded  via  the  written  procedure.  During  the  meeting,  the  outstanding  issues  like 
eligibility  of  Value  Added  Tax  (VAT)  expenses  under  TF  programme,  old  Phare  projects, 
irregularity cases and phasing out of the programmes were discussed. 

In  the  year  2008,  two  rounds  of  Sector  Monitoring  Sub-Committee  (SMSC)  meetings  have 
taken place. The first round of SMSC meetings took place in end of March-April and second 
round  in  November.  There  are  five  sectors  to  be  monitored  in  Poland:  environment  and 
transport; agriculture; internal market; justice and home affairs; public administration. 

ii) -  Monitoring & Evaluation  Reports in 2008 (lessons learned) 

Overall  responsibility  for  monitoring  of  the  Pre-accession  and  the  Transition  Facility 
programmes in Poland lies with the NAC department within the Office of the Committee for 
European  Integration  (UKIE).  The  NAC  department  assures  the  proper  monitoring  of  the 
projects and information about the monitoring results are delivered to the EC on the regular 
bases 

As  far  as  the  NAC  Evaluation  Unit  activities  are  concerned,  the  launch  of  the  tender 
procedure for selecting a new evaluator took place on 9 September 2008.  

The  NAC  Evaluation  Unit  up-dated  the  evaluation  priorities  of  the  interim  evaluation 
Transition Facility programme and combined the evaluation priorities for the year 2008 with 
the  priorities  for  2009  after  consultation  with  the  EU  services  and  the  Steering  Group.  All 
other projects originally planned to be evaluated in 2008 were already subject to evaluation in 
2007. 

The NAC Evaluation Unit decided to launch an ad hoc evaluation of selected Justice and 
Home Affairs (JHA) projects as a corrective measure. The kick-off meeting of this evaluation 
took place on 19 September 2008. The JHA evaluation covered 3 projects. 

77

 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
16. Romania  

16.1.      The year in review 

Summary 

In  2008,  Romania  implemented  both  pre-accession  and  post-accession  assistance  to  address 
the  remaining  needs  related  to  IB  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 procurement rules. Three implementing agencies are 
fully  responsible  for  daily  implementation  of  projects  (two  of  them  accredited  in  December 
2006 and one in April 2007). 

The National Aid Coordinator (NAC) continues 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) carries out the financial supervision. 

Since the closure of the Phare Transition Team in the Representation in Bucharest as of July 
2008,  DG  Enlargement  continues  to  exercise  the  residual  functions  related  to  Commission 
responsibilities (monitoring, payments, closure, etc.) in line with the Financial Regulation. 

16.2  Phare/pre-accession, financial and Transition assistance in 2008 

i) Implementation 

-  Phare 2005 – finalisation of payments 

At  the  end  of  the  period  for  execution  of  contracts  for  the  2005  pre-accession  programme 
55.60 % of the funding has been disbursed. The Romanian authorities have requested in 2008 
extensions  of  the  execution  period  for  some  project  under  the  2005  Phare  programme  that 
have been approved by the Commission. 

-  Phare 2006 – rate of contracting (EDIS extensions)  

At the end of the contracting period for the 2006 National programme on 30 November 2008, 
78.01% of the programmes had been contracted.  

-  TF 2007 

The deadline for contracting 2007 Transition Facility will expire on 15 December 2009. Up to 
the  cut-off  date  of  this  report,  19.91%  of  the  programme  had  been  contracted.  One  project 
proposal under the unallocated envelope has been approved by the Commission, all remaining 
ones being under various stages of revision. 

-  Institution Building highlights 

The  responsibilities  and  the  tasks  related  to  twinning  are  dealt  with  by  Central  Finance  and 
Contracts Unit (CFCU) as Administrative Office whereas DG Enlargement is responsible for 
issuing the Steering Committee Opinion on twinning contracts. Nine such opinions have been 

78

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
issued  during  2008  for  Phare  2006  and  seven  under  Transition  Facility  twinning  contracts 
which  continue  to  be  useful  in  many  priority  areas  and  helped  Romania  to  prepare  for  the 
implementation of EU policies and laws. 

In  order  to  address  unforeseen  needs,  additional  assistance  from  the  Institutional  Building 
unallocated  envelopes  2006  continues  to  be  provided  for  projects  mainly  in  Public 
Administration,  Finance  and  Audit  sectors.  The  unallocated  envelope  under  the  Transition 
Facility refers mainly to the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism.  

16.3.  Results and Impact   

i) -   State of play for JMC / SMSC development 

In  2008,  one  Joint  Monitoring  Committee  (JMC)  meeting  took  place  in  June  2008,  in  line 
with  the  revised  JMC  Mandate  introduced  in  the  new  Member  States  in  May  2004,  which 
establishes  an  integrated  monitoring  and  evaluation  system  over  the  programmes  under 
implementation. 

Two rounds of Sector Monitoring Sub-Committee (SMSC) meetings took place in spring and 
autumn  2008.  The  number  of  sub-committees  has  been  reduced  to  nine  by  unifying  the 
Economic  and  Social  Cohesion  (ESC)  and  Cross  Border  Cooperation  (CBC)  sector  with 
Environment:  SMSC 1 – ESC & Environment and CBC, SMSC 2 – Justice, SMSC 3 – Home 
Affairs, SMSC 4 – Finance, SMSC 5 – Public Administration, SMSC 6 – Agriculture SMSC 
7 – Internal Market SMSC 8 – Social (including minorities) SMSC 9 – Transport. 

ii) -  Monitoring & Evaluation  Reports in 2008 (lessons learned) 

The overall responsibility for monitoring of the Phare and Transition Facility programmes in 
Romania  lies  with  the  Central  Evaluation  Unit within  the  Authority  for  the  Coordination  of 
Structural Instruments in the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Activities in this area were 
carried  out  with  the  support  of  an  Interim  Evaluation  Phare  external  contractor  which 
continued the implementation of the contract over the entire 2008. Eight sectoral evaluation 
reports were issued in 2008 and two thematic evaluations were completed, one on the revision 
of indicators and the other on Phare lessons learnt on Structural Funds.  

During  2008,  two  consolidated  Country  Summary  Evaluation  Report  were  issued,  for  the 
Joint Monitoring Committee in June and for the one that was held in January 2009 to support 
decision  making.  The  reports  provide  a  consolidated  country  review  of  the  findings  of  the 
Interim Evaluations finalized until December 2008. 

The most recent Country Summary Report reflected 408 programme components covering 
open Phare allocations for 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 and concluded that the overall 
performance is barely satisfactory. Phare supported programmes are successfully 
implemented, generally deliver the expected results and contribute to the impacts that are 
sought. However, the delays in reaching the implementation stage are undermining the 
efficiency and have a degrading effect on relevance, effectiveness and impact. Up to 22.5% of 
the Phare 2006 allocation was lost, including some projects of significant priority for the 
country, mainly due to an unfruitful contracting. This loss of Phare support across number of 
sectors might undermine the strategic coherence of the remaining programmes in those 

79

 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
sectors as the achievement of the programme objectives now depends on alternative national 
or external funding sources.   

80

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
17. Serbia  

17.1.      The year in review 

17.1.1. Political developments 

Serbia signed the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) and an Interim Agreement 
covering trade-related matters in April 2008. On 29 April 2008, the Council decided that the 
implementation of the Interim Agreement and the ratification of the SAA are subject to Serbia 
fully cooperating with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).  

Serbia made significant progress on cooperation with ICTY, including the arrests of Radovan 
Karadzic and Stojan Zupljanin. Parliament ratified the SAA in September 2008 and began to 
work on a package of laws. Government and parliament were affected by divisions between 
political parties on key policy issues. Issues relating to Kosovo and EU integration dominated 
political discussions. Following the Presidential and legislative elections in February and May 
2008  there  was  increased  stability  in  government  and  greater  consensus  on  European 
integration. Serbia had good capacity in its public administration.  

Further efforts needed to be taken to ensure the independence, accountability and efficiency 
of  the  judicial  system.  Corruption  remained  widespread  and  constituted  a  serious  problem. 
Civil  and  political  rights  in  Serbia  were  generally  protected  and  the  overall  framework  for 
respect of human rights and the protection of minorities in Serbia was in place. Concerning 
economic and social rights, the legal provisions for their protection were also largely in place 
but the legal framework needed to be further developed. 

Relations  between  the  EU  and  Serbia  were  affected  by  the  declaration  of  independence  of 
Kosovo.  Serbia  vowed  to  use  only  peaceful,  legal  and  diplomatic  means  and  exercised 
restraint in its response to the declaration. Following a Serbian initiative, a Resolution of the 
UN General Assembly requested to the International Court of Justice an advisory opinion on 
the legality of Kosovo's declaration of independence.  

17.1.2Macroeconomic developments and structural reforms 

The  economy  of  Serbia  continued  to  grow  strongly.  However,  progress  in  macroeconomic 
to 
stabilisation  was  mixed.  The  continuing  reversal  of  fiscal  consolidation  added 
macroeconomic risks. Structural reforms slowed down and the high level of unemployment, 
as well as rising inflationary pressures, remained major challenges. 

As  regards  the  economic  criteria,  Serbia  made  some  progress  towards  establishing  a 
functioning  market  economy.  Financial  intermediation  continued  to  grow  from  a  still 
relatively low level. Significant progress was made with the development of the non-banking 
financial sector. However, external imbalances widened, the quality of financing deteriorated, 
foreign  debt  rose,  and  the  degree  of  macro-vulnerability  increased  also  in  the  light  of  the 
global  financial  crisis.  Despite  high  economic  growth  rates  in  recent  years,  unemployment 
remained a major challenge. There was some progress with regard to the privatisation of state-
owned companies and banks.  

81

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
17.1.3Progress in meeting the acquis communautaire 

In the area of European Standards, Serbia remained well placed to implement the SAA and 
the Interim Agreement, thanks to  its  good administrative capacity. However there were few 
developments in terms of legislative alignment.  

As regards sectoral policies, in the areas of industry and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises 
(SMEs)  Serbia  remained  committed  to  the  European  Charter  for  SMEs.  In  the  area  of 
agriculture,  there  were  some  improvements  in  administrative  capacity.  In  the  area  of 
environment, Serbia's preparations remained at a moderately advanced level. Some progress 
was made in the area of transport with Serbia continuing to actively participate in the South 
East  Europe  Transport  Observatory.  There  was  also  some  progress  in  the  area  of  energy. 
Little  progress  was  made  in  the  areas  of  information  society  and  media.  However,  the  new 
Minister  in  charge  of  telecommunication  and  information  society  started  with  positives 
initiatives to push forward development and alignment in her field of competence. Serbia was 
moderately advanced in fulfilling the requirements of the SAA and the European Partnership 
in the area of statistics.  

There  was  moderate  progress  in  the  area  of  justice,  freedom  and  security.  The  visa 
facilitation  and  readmission  agreements  between  the  EU  and  Serbia  entered  into  force  in 
January  2008  and  a  visa  liberalisation  dialogue  started.  Following  the  adoption  of  the  new 
legislation  on  asylum,  Serbia  took  over  responsibility  for  handling  asylum  cases  from  the 
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Money laundering continued to 
be  a  serious  problem  and  relevant  legislation  still  had  to  be  adopted.  Drug  trafficking  also 
remained a serious concern. The professional capacities of the police improved as a result of 
additional training activities. The fight against organised crime remained a matter of serious 
concern for Serbia.  

17.2.      Financial assistance in 2008 

Programmes launched 

As of 2007, the CARDS programmes were replaced by the new Instrument for Pre-accession 
Assistance (IPA). No new CARDS programmes were launched after 2006. 

Overview of programmes implemented 

Democratic stabilisation 

Refugees and IDPs 

A  programme  to  support  minorities,  anti-discrimination  legislation  and  mediation  is  under 
implementation. 

The  institution-building  support  to  the  Commissariat  for  Refugees  and  Internally  Displaced 
persons (IDPs) is implemented in the areas of policy, communication and development of the 
strategy plans. 

25 apartments in Kragujevac, 19 apartments  in Uzice and 48 apartments   in  Kraljevo were 
handed over to refugees and IDPs families.  

82

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
€1 million contract with the OSCE to provide targeted assistance to the Roma community in 
Serbia both on policy and operational levels is under implementation. 

Legal assistance to the institutions of Government of Serbia dealing with refugees and IDPs 
was  launched.  The  project  includes  provision  of  legal  aid  and  information  to  IDPs  and 
vulnerable groups from Kosovo to protect their property rights. 

Civil Society 

Under the Media Fund, 18 contracts with media outlets were implemented for a total of €1.8 
million. The objective is to support quality production and investigative reporting.  

Technical assistance programme to Radio Television Serbia, which includes a comprehensive 
training and study tours for journalists, manager and technical staff is under implementation.  
In  the  framework  of  the  European  Integration  Fund,  16  contracts  with  Non-Governmental 
Organizations (NGOs) were launched for a total amount of €1.6 million The objective of the 
programme is to support workshops, seminars and other activities related to EU integration, as 
well  as  for  the  support  of  the  publication  of  supplements,  brochures  and  other  forms  of 
information dissemination.  

Under Social Innovation Fund, 31 projects in 29 municipalities were launched for a total of 
€0.5  million.    The  objective  of  the  programme  is  the  establishment  of  new  local  social 
services, such as home and day care service for elderly, disabled people, children and youth 
with behavioural disorders and in conflict with law. 

Good governance and institution building 

Judicial System 

Project  “Support  to  High  Judicial  Council”  started  on  the  15th  September  2008  (€2  million 
TA).  The  project  will  establish  the  High  Court  Council  and  High  Prosecutorial  Council,  in 
line with the National Judicial Reform Strategy and basic principles of judicial independency.  

Police 

A  twinning  project  with  the  Organised  Crime  Directorate  of  the  Ministry  of  the  Interior 
helped to modernise investigative techniques. 

The  installation  and  testing  of  communication  and  IT  equipment  for  the  Organised  Crime 
Directorate  (€2.5  million)  and  Juvenile  Detention  Centres  (€1  million)  was  completed.  The 
delivery of equipment for prisons (€2.5 million) was going on in 2008.  

Border Crossings 

The implementation of a €1.6 million supply project for the procurement of equipment for the 
Border Police and Customs Administration started in September.  

A project for the refurbishment of the Customs Training Centre was launched in March and 
completed in September. 

Public Administration  

83

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The “Financial Management Information System” entered into function on the first quarter of 
2008. The system allows on-line connection to the Treasury for all budget beneficiaries.  

The  project  TA  for  State  Budget  preparation  process  delivered  a  Programmatic  Budget 
methodology which was implemented in the 2008 Budget Preparation for five pilot ministries. 

A Contribution Agreement was signed in September with European central Bank to identify 
the needs of the National Bank of Serbia in terms of rules, procedures and staff training for 
future accession to the European System of Central Banks (ESCB).  

Strengthening  the  capacity  of  the  Serbian  administration  to  draft,  adopt,  implement  and 
enforce  legislation  in  line  with  the  acquis  in  the  field  of  consumer  protection  is  the  main 
objective of a €1.5 million project assisting the Ministry of Trade and Services.  

A  €2  million  project  to  enhance  the  protection  of  competition  in  the  Serbian  economy  was 
launched  in  March.  The  project  will  last  three  years,  and  aims  to  strengthen  Serbia’s 
Competition Protection Commission. 

A€1.5  million  twinning  project  with  the  aim  to  strengthen  the  capacity  of  the  Ministry  of 
Economy and Regional Development to create, negotiate and implement trade policy and to 
negotiate  international  trade  agreements,  helped  in  drafting  the  Foreign  Trade  law  and 
relevant bylaws and assisted in the process of Serbia’s WTO accession. 

Phase III of the Policy and Legal Advice Centre project will continue to provide legal advice 
to  the  Serbian  administration  on  such  issues  as  public  procurement,  state  aid  and  financial 
services after 2008. 
An assistance project to the Serbian Statistical Office was completed by the Italian Statistical 
Office. 

€1.5  million  assistance  to  the  Translation  Coordination  Unit  of  the  Serbian  European 
Integration  Office  was  launched,  aiming  at  development  of  its  capacity  to  manage  and 
coordinate  the  process  of  translation  of  aquis  and  provision  of  16,000  pages  of  acquis 
translation.   

Trade 

A €1.2 million technical assistance to Quality Infrastructure sector was contracted aiming to 
further  advance  standardisation,  accreditation,  conformity  assessment    and  metrology  in 
Serbia 

The  Directorate  of  Measures  and  Precious  Metals  was  supported  with  additional  metrology 
equipment in the value of €1.4 million.   

Health 

A first contract was signed of the amount of €8 million for the design and supervision of the 
four University clinical centres in Serbia.  

The project “Capacity Building of the Health Insurance Fund of Serbia” closed successfully in 
December. 

84

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The project “Development of Health Information System for Basic Health and Pharmaceutical 
Services” implemented from November 2004 to July 2008 in two phases, for the total amount 
of  €3.3  million,  and  produced  a  result  that  ensured  Serbia  the  prestigious  DISKOBOLOS 
2008 International Award for Modern Application of ICT for health in December of 2008.  

The  €2.5  million  technical  assistance  project  “Support  to  the  implementation  of  Capitation 
Payment  in  Primary  Health  Care  in  Serbia”  helped  in  the  procurement  and  the  delivery  of 
another €2 million worth of IT equipment distributed to 28 primary health centres throughout 
the country facilitating the introduction of the new method of payment for services in a joint 
effort with the National Health Insurance Fund. 

The  €4  million  service  contract  for  “Training  in  Health  Service  Management”  started  in 
January,  preparing  the  curriculum  of  a  Master’s  Course  and  submitting  for  its  accreditation 
through appropriate national bodies.  

Local Government 

Eastern  Serbia  Regional  roads  reconstruction  project  of  €4.7  million  was  successfully 
implemented. 
Municipal  Infrastructure  Support  Programme,  €3  million  technical  assistance,  started  in 
January 2008. Up to the end of 2008 the programme resulted in two solid waste infrastructure 
projects worth €7 million under implementation, identification and preparation of 4 municipal 
infrastructure projects totaling to close to €90 million investment and a green paper for Public 
Utility Companies transformation. 

EXCHANGE 2 programme of €5 million consisting of technical assistance and an operating 
grant  to  the  Standing  Conference  of  Towns  and  Municipalities  (SCTM)  started  at  the 
beginning  of  2008.  Until  the  end  of  2008  it  has  produced  a  local  government  law 
implementation gap draft analysis, selected 20 municipalities to be supported in full fledged 
strategic planning and launched expression for interest for ten municipal service packages.  

First  phase  of  the  project  "Strengthening  Local  Self  Government"  (LSG)  implemented  in 
partnership  with  the  Council  of  Europe  ended  in  December  while  the  second  phase  project 
proposal was prepared for implementation under IPA 2007. 

Technical assistance to the Ministry of Public Administration and LSG for preparation of the 
Framework strategy for LSG training started. 

Three  municipal  infrastructure  contracts  (close  to  €10  million)  under  Municipal  Support 
Programme to North East Serbia contracted and under implementation. 

Economic and social development 

Enterprise Development 

The  second  phase  of  the  Turn-Around  Management  programme,  implemented  by  the 
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), was completed in May 2008. 
The  programme  supported  43  enterprises  and  provided  management  training  to  80  other 
companies. 

A  €1.5  million  project  providing  technical  support  to  Enterprise  Policy  and  Innovation  was 
launched at the beginning of September 2008. The project will facilitate the implementation 

85

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
of  the  European  Charter  for  Small  Enterprises  and  the  development  of  an  internationally 
competitive and innovative private sector. 

Social development 

Transforming  Residential  Institutions  and  Sustainable  Alternatives  project  (€1.3  million) 
dealing with the deinstitutionalisation of disabled children and children without parental care 
is ongoing. 

Education 

Strengthening  Higher  Education  System  in  Serbia  (€300.000)  enhancing  the  harmonisation 
with the Bologna process, was going on in 2008. 

Vocational education and training  

Additional support to the Vocational Education and Training Reform project of €800.000will 
be completed in July 2009.  

Two twinning projects on Modernisation of the National Employment Service (€1.5 million) 
and  Support  to  Development  of  National  Employment  Policy  (€1.5  million)  started  in  2007 
and were still ongoing in 2008.  

Agriculture 

24 four wheel drive vehicles were handed over to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry  and 
Water Management. 

A Water Information Management System has been successfully established within the Water 
Directorate (€2 million). 
A new law on wine has been proposed for adoption by the Parliament thanks to a Twinning 
contract with our partner from the Rioja Region in Spain (€1.4 million). 

Infrastructure and energy 

A  €1.5  million  project  providing  technical  assistance  to  the  Serbian  Energy  Regulatory 
Agency was completed. 

The project Blueprint for Mining Agency was successfully completed. 

To enhance the security of transport and the freedom of movement around the most important 
bridges across the Danube and the Sava Rivers, activities were started in May 2008 to help the 
Serbian Government in locating unexploded ordnance (UXO).  

The €1.5 million twinning project First Alignment with the Transport acquis was completed 
during the first quarter of 2008.  

A  €1.5  million  project  providing  technical  assistance  to  Serbian  Transmission  System  and 
Market Operator (Elektromreza Srbije) was completed. 

The works on the modernisation of District Heating in five Serbian cities (in total €22 million 
+  €2  million  for  the  supervising  engineer)  was  completed.  TA  for  the  District  Heating 
modernisation has been delivered to the same cities (€0,5 million). 

86

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A Capacity Allocation System for the electricity transmission system operator was delivered 
to the beneficiary EMS – Elektromreža Srbije – and implemented. 

Works  for  the  second  major  environmental  project  -  ash  disposal  in  Nikola  Tesla  B  power 
plant, with a budget of €30 million – were going on in 2008. 

The contract Renewable energy feasibility studies for the preparation of secondary legislation 
and  preparation  of  15  pre-feasibility  studies  for  small  scale  hydro  projects  in  Serbia  was 
awarded. 

Two  works  contracts  for  construction  of  400kV  line  Nis-Leskovac  (€7million,  40  km)  and 
Leskovac-FYRoM border (€20 million, 100 km) were signed and the works were going on in 
2008 with some delays on both sections. 

Environment 

250 printers, 915 computers and 21 servers were delivered to the Regional Cadastre Offices 
(€0.7 million). 

A Sewerage & Wastewater Strategic Master Plan for southern Morava Region was elaborated 
(€2.8 million). 

A  €7.1  million  programme  was  upgrading  the  capacities of hospitals and clinics throughout 
Serbia to improve their capacity to manage and treat hazardous waste. 

Regional Cooperation 

the 

transfer  of  Contracting  Authority  from 

Following 
the  European  Agency  for 
Reconstruction,  the  EC  Delegation  managed  a  total  of  134  contracts  selected  within  the 
different Neighbourhood Programmes (NP) with Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, as well as 
under the CADSES and the Italy Adriatic Programme. Out of these, 85 contracts completed 
their activities by the end of 2008, although final balance payments had yet to be executed. 

Six  applicants  were  selected  from  the  unilateral  Call  for  Proposals  launched  and  finalised 
within  the  NP  Hungary-Serbia.  One  of  these  was  contracted  in  November  out  of  funds 
allocated  to  CARDS  2005,  while  contracting  of  additional  5  selected  applicants  (to  receive 
funds from CARDS 2006) had yet to be completed. 

The  Evaluation  procedure  for  Proposals  submitted  under  the  5th  Call  of  NP  Bulgaria  was 
completed  in  November,  however  missing  some  required  documents  the  Delegation 
suspended the approval and related contracting. 

CARDS management performance 

The cumulative portfolio of CARDS programmes in Serbia is €1.288 billion. By the end of 
the year 2008, 98% of this total had been contracted and 87% had been paid. 

87

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Table 1: Status of financial assistance at the end of December 2008 (in million €) – CARDS 

annual national programmes 

Allocated  Contracted RAC14] %contracted Paid  RAL15]  %paid

CARDS 2001 

193.8 

CARDS 2002 

165.7 

CARDS 2003 

211.7 

193.6 

165.7 

211.7 

CARDS 2004 

200.6 

200.6  

CARDS 2005 

155.8 

CARDS 2006 

153.9  

155.6 

131.1 

Total 

1,081.5 

1,058.3 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0.2 

22.8 

30.0 

100% 

100% 

100% 

100% 

100% 

85% 

98% 

193.6 

165.1 

210.2 

0 

0.6 

1.5 

100% 

100% 

99% 

159.3 

41.3 

79% 

129.1 

26.7 

83% 

56.6 

97.3 

37% 

763.9 

167.4 

71% 

Institution Building highlights 

In  2008  the  emphasis  was  gradually  shifted  away  from  reconstruction  and  was  more 
concentrated  on  institution-building,  economic  development  and  reform  in  line  with  the 
European  Partnership  recommendations,  including  promoting  good  governance  and  the 
strengthening of rule of law. Under CARDS cross border support activities, Serbia developed 
strong institutional capacities via participation in these programs, contributing to the recovery 
of border regions, regional reconciliation and stability.   
The  CARDS  programme  was  managed  by  the  European  Agency  for  Reconstruction  (EAR) 
with  the  exception  of  Tempus  programme  and  Customs  and  Taxation  projects  managed 
directly by the Commission). The EAR was closed at the end of 2008 and the Delegation took 
over the management of CARDS programmes. 

Preparation for Decentralised Implementation (DIS) was continued with the adoption by the 
Government of the DIS Road map and the relevant Action plan and with the appointment of 
key  figures  as  the  Competent  Authorising  Officer  (CAO),  National  Authorising  Officer 
(NAO) and the National IPA Co-ordinator (NIPAC). 

17.3.      Results and impact  

Monitoring & Evaluation Reports in 2008 - Lessons Learned 

In October and November 2008, 3 CARDS contracts in the health sector were monitored by 
the ROM-Team, the external monitors contracted by DG Enlargement.D3: 

- "05SER01/15/001 Capacity building of the Health Insurance Fund in Serbia" (CRIS contract 
number 164808) 

14 Reste à Contracter 
15 Reste à Liquider 

88

 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
-  "06SER01/10/002  Training  in  Health  Service  Management  in  Serbia"  (CRIS  contract 
number 166353) 
-  "04SER01/08/001  Technical  Assistance  for  Medical  Waste  Management"  (CRIS  contract 
number 162832)  
All recommendations contained in the respective monitoring reports have been accepted and 
are being/ have been implemented. 

To start engaging the national authorities in monitoring prior to the introduction of DIS, a first 
1st IPA Monitoring Committee was held with the Ministry of Finance and the Deputy Prime 
Minister’s Office on 10 December 2008. 

Institutional  Capacity  Building  -  Further  strengthen  the  capacity  of  Ministries  and  related 
Government Institutions in strategy formulation and policy development. Project support must 
be based on strategic papers and/or policy documents, drafted with the involvement of project 
beneficiaries.  Administrative  staff,  which  benefits  from  skills  development  programmes, 
should  sign  an  agreement  that  keeps  them  within  the  administration  for  a  certain  period  of 
time.  

Refugees  and  IDPs  -  In  the  medium-  to  long-term  the  EU  assistance  to  Serbia’s  National 
Refugee Strategy needs to be more mainstreamed. Needs for continue implementing projects 
addressing unresolved rights of displaced people - i.e. property rights, past employment rights 
- in their place of origin, active political support from the EU and all involved Governments is 
needed for these projects to achieve effective and sustainable results for the people affected. 
It is recommended that other Sectors under the IPA Programme identify displaced people as 
target  groups;  in  particular,  programmes  related  to  employment  and  Serbia’s  Poverty 
Reduction Strategy. There are high levels of poverty and unemployment, which are unlikely 
to be reduced by acquiring formal citizenship rights. 
The  long-term  housing needs of refugees  can  only be addressed through the introduction of 
social  housing  legislation  by  the  Serbian  Government  with  a  combination  of  Serbian  and 
international funding for the programme. The Agency has taken the first step in setting up a 
mechanism that can assist the implementation of such legislation. 

Economic and Social Development/Energy - Future support for the electricity market should 
not be limited in the electricity sector to institution building per se but should also be directed 
as well to strengthening support for competitors, eligible customers and their associations, and 
consumers  generally  within  the  national  market,  with  a  view  to  provide  information  about 
market opportunities and encourage them to be aware of the reform process and its benefits. 

SME  Sector  Development-  Continue  with  focusing  on  enterprises  in  less  developed  regions  – 
rural,  mountainous,  with  higher  levels  of  unemployment.  Allow  for  programme  or 
components of the programme to cover or focus over a specific region/district within 
a  country,  less  developed  sectors,  clusters  of  companies,  in  line  with  the  national  policies. 
Give priority to sectors, which have received less assistance. Continue and extend the scope 
of  cross-cutting  issues  to  environment,  energy  efficiency,  gender,  minority,  youth,  other 
disadvantaged  groups.  Allow  a  possibility  for  assisting  newly  established  and  starting 
companies. 

89

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sectors with positive results – Success stories 

EC support for local government, environment, transport, health, energy, trade and support to 
minorities was successful. (See some examples below). 

€25M, under CARDS 2006, contracted in  2008 under local government sector 
Under  the  auspices  of  the  MISP  (Municipal  Infrastructure  Support  Programme)  high  level 
Municipal  Infrastructure  co-ordination  forum,  meeting  regularly  each  four  months,  was 
established.  The  forum  gathers  the  relevant  national  government  representatives  as  well  as 
donors and international financing institution.  In addition, the developed database of existing 
municipal infrastructure projects pipeline, the SLAP, with the scoring criteria that apart from 
assessing their compatibility with national and EU relevant strategies provides grading based 
on  projects  maturity  for  implementation  is  more  and  more  used  as  a  transparent  selection 
criteria for government’s financing of local infrastructure. 

Securing electricity supply not just for Serbia, but for the entire region 
The  programmes  undertaken  in  this  sector  contributed  to  the  integration  of  Serbia  in  the 
Regional  Energy  Market  and  the  development  of  an  electricity  market.  This  was  one  of  the 
main  objectives  of  the  widest  initiative  in  the  course  of  the  year:  the  construction  of  an 
overhead  high-voltage  line  between  the  southern  Serbian  city  of  Niš  and  the  border  with 
fYRoM. Special emphasis was also put on enhancing the capacities of the Energy Regulatory 
Authority  and  the  Transmission  System  Operator,  creating  the  conditions  for  Serbia’s 
participation  in  the  regional  energy  market,  as  well  as  on  strengthening  the  transmission 
capacity  to  allow  for  cross  border  trade.  Important  resources  were  also  devoted  to  improve 
energy efficiency through investments in district heating. 

Helping to move towards high and sustainable growth  
EC  assistance  to  the  economic  sector  supported  the  reformulation  of  policies  on  economic 
development  and  the  approximation  of  laws,  policies  and  regulatory  institutions  with  the 
Community acquis. Activities focused on the adoption of EC standards. To balance the initial 
impact  of  transition,  the  negative  impact  of  restructuring  and  privatisation  on  employment 
was  tackled  by  programmes  aimed  at  creating  an  institutional  and  regulatory  environment 
able  to  enhance  enterprise  competitiveness.  Such  programmes,  implemented  in  cooperation 
with  the  EBRD,  have  put  a  special  emphasis  on  small  and  medium  enterprises,  which 
presently absorb the largest part of the workforce in Serbia.  

90

 
 
 
 
 
18.  Slovakia  

18.1.   Summary  

In  2008,  Slovakia  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 Extended Decentralised Implementation System (EDIS). 

Since  October  2004  implementation  is  carried  out  under  the  entire  responsibility  of  Slovak 
authorities  applying  national  procurement  rules.  The  Central  Finance  and  Contracting  Unit 
(CFCU),  the  Regional  Development  Support  Agency  (RDSA)  and  the  National  Agency  for 
Development  of  Small  and  Medium  Enterprises  (NADSME)  are  fully  responsible  for  the 
daily implementation of the projects. 

The National Aid Coordinator (NAC) continues the monitoring of both Phare and Transition 
Facility  Programmes.  The  National  Authorizing  Officer  (NAO)  carries  out  the  financial 
supervision.  

18.2.  Pre-accession, financial and Transition assistance in 2008 

i) Implementation 

-  TF 2005 – finalisation of payments 

At the end of the period for execution of contracts for the 2005 Transition Facility programme 
82.92  %  of  the  funding  had  been  disbursed.  The  Slovak  authorities  did  not  request  any 
extension for the 2005 programme. The payments can still be executed within 6 months after 
the expiry of the contracts execution period. 

-  TF 2006 – rate of contracting  

At  the  end  of  the  contracting  period  for  the  2006  Transition  Facility  programme  on  15 
December 2008, 91.74% of the programmes had been contracted.  

-  Institution Building highlights 

A  total  of  around  €29  million  of  post-accession  assistance  from  national  allocation  (not 
including  horizontal  and  multi-country  programmes)  has  been  allocated  to  Slovakia  from 
Transition Facility programmes (2004-2006).  

During  the  period,  there  was  substantial  overall  progress  towards  the  achievement  of 
objectives and results of the EU assistance. TF 2005 projects were successfully completed and 
mostly  achieved  its  results.    The  Unallocated  Envelope  under  the  TF  2006  programme  was 
successfully contracted, 10 projects were approved.  

91

 
 
 
 
  
              
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
18.3.  Results and Impact   

i) -   State of play for JMC / SMSC development 

In 2008, one Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) was concluded via the written procedure in 
June  2008.    Main  issues  which  were  discussed  in  the  follow-up  correspondence  were  the 
phasing out of Phare/TF programmes, closure of outstanding issues, irregularities follow up. 

Further  to  the  simplification  of  the  monitoring  system  in  Slovakia,  the  Sectoral  Monitoring 
Sub-Committees  (SMSCs)  were  not  abandoned,  since  they  were  considered  as  an  effective 
tool  with  higher  level  of  members’  decision-making  power.  The  decreased  amount  of  ESC 
projects  effected  the  merging  of  two  sectors,  which  resulted  in  the  following  monitoring 
sectors: justice, home and social affairs and cross-border cooperation. 

ii) -  Monitoring & Evaluation  Reports in 2008 (lessons learned) 

Overall responsibility for monitoring and evaluation of the Pre-accession and the Transition 
Facility programmes in Slovakia lies with the Aid Co-ordination Unit, as the executive body 
of  the  National  Aid  Coordinator  (NAC),  at  the  Office  of  the  Government.  Due  to  the  staff 
shortfalls,  the  monitoring  of  the  Transition  Facility  projects  was  done  mainly  via  the 
participation of the ACU representatives during the SMSCs. The situation slightly improved 
in the last year where some on-the-spot monitoring visits were executed, mainly focused on 
training components of implemented projects. 

The procurement for the interim evaluation of Transition Facility projects was split into two 
contracts due to problems which occurred during the contracting.  

Two  Interim  Evaluation  Reports  (IER)  were  prepared  in  2008  which  covered  the  following 
components/sectors:  Justice  and  Home  Affairs,  Human  Resources  Development  and  Health 
Care, Agriculture and Statistics, Environment and Energy, Internal Market. The most recent 
report from November 2008 rated 3 projects as highly satisfactory and all remaining ones as 
satisfactory.    

92

 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
19. Slovenia  

19.1.   Summary  

In  2008,  Slovenia  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 Extended Decentralised Implementation System (EDIS). 

Since 17 September 2004 implementation has been carried out under the entire responsibility 
of  Slovenian  authorities  applying  national  procurement  rules.  The  Ministry  of  Finance, 
Central  Financing  and  Contracting  Department  is  responsible  for  ex-ante  control  and 
twinning. The Ministry of Finance, Central Financing and Contracting Department (CFCD) is 
fully responsible for the daily implementation of the projects. 

The National Aid Coordinator (NAC) continues to exercise the monitoring of both Phare and 
Transition  Facility  Programmes.  The  National  Authorizing  Officer  (NAO)  carries  out  the 
financial supervision.  

19.2.  Pre-accession, financial and Transition assistance in 2008 

i) Implementation 

-  TF 2005 – finalisation of payments 

At the end of the period for execution of contracts for the 2005 Transition Facility programme 
67.51 % of the funding had been disbursed. The Slovene authorities requested no extension 
for the 2005 programme. The payments can still be executed within 6 months after the expiry 
of the contracts execution period. 

-  TF 2006 – rate of contracting (EDIS extensions)  

At  the  end  of  the  contracting  period  for  the  2006  Transition  Facility  programme  on  15 
December 2008, 70.20% of the programmes had been contracted.  

-  Institution Building highlights 

A  total  of  around  €17  million  of  post-accession  assistance  from  national  allocation  (not 
including  horizontal  and  multi-country  programmes)  has  been  allocated  to  Slovenia  from 
Transition Facility programmes (2004-2006).  

In  2008  the  implementation  of  the  Transition  Facility  projects  in  Slovenia  proceeded  well. 
There were no major problems with the implementation of the Transition Facility projects and 
in  many  cases,  when  problematic  issues  arose,  decisions  were  taken,  thus  assuring  project 
implementation  in  a  timely  manner.  Implementation  of  Transition  Facility  is  considered 
successful  in  the  following  areas:  agriculture,  justice  and  home  affairs,  agriculture,  internal 
market. 

93

 
 
 
 
  
              
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
19.3.  Results and Impact   

i) -   State of play for JMC / SMSC development 

In  2008,  the  first  Joint  Monitoring  Committee  (JMC)  meeting  was  implemented  via  written 
procedure  in  June  2008  and  the  second  one  took  place  in  November  2008,  in  line  with  the 
revised JMC Mandate introduced in the new Member States in May 2004, which established 
an integrated monitoring and evaluation system over the programmes under implementation. 

In  the  year  2008,  two  rounds  of  Sector  Monitoring  Sub-Committee  (SMSC)  meetings  took 
place.  The  first  round  of  SMSC  meetings  took  place  in  March-April  and  second  round 
between September and October. In Slovenia, the following sectors were monitored in 2008: 
Agriculture, Economic and Financial Issues, Internal Market, Environment and Energy. 

ii) -  Monitoring & Evaluation Reports in 2008 (lessons learned) 

Overall  responsibility  for  monitoring  of  the  Pre-accession  and  the  Transition  Facility 
programmes in Slovenia lies with the National Aid Coordinator (NAC) with the Government 
Office for European Affairs (GOEA).  

Only the projects related to Economic and financial issues, Internal Market and Environment 
sectors were subject to interim evaluation in 2008. The independent evaluator also prepared 
one Country Evaluation Summary Report (CSER) in October 2008.  

The conclusions available from the Interim Evaluation reports are that, overall the 
implementation of the evaluated 2006 Transition Facility assistance was not so satisfactory as 
not all the allocated funds were contracted. Low absorption of funds from the Institution 
Building Envelopes for 2005 and 2006 TF programmes indicated that there are no real or 
acquis-related issues that still need to be addressed. However, there are some projects where 
concrete outputs, results and impacts were successfully achieved. 

94

 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
20. Turkey  

20.1.      The year in review 

Political developments  

Turkey  continued  to  sufficiently  fulfil  the  Copenhagen  political  criteria.  After  averting  a 
constitutional and political crisis in 2008, the Turkish government renewed attention towards 
EU-related  reforms  and  accession  negotiations.  As  concerns  the  political  criteria,  some 
progress  was  achieved  in  the  areas  of  freedom  of  expression,  the  rights  of  non-Muslim 
religious  communities,  and  in  promoting  the  economic  development  of  the  South-East. 
Significant further efforts are still needed on most areas related to the political criteria. 

Macroeconomic developments and structural reforms  

With  regard  to  the  economic  criteria,  Turkey  is  a  functioning  market  economy  and  will 
remain  so  as  long  as  it  firmly  maintains  its  recent  stabilisation  and  reform  achievements. 
Turkey should be able to cope with competitive pressures and market forces within the Union 
in  the  medium  term,  provided  that  it  continues  to  implement  a  comprehensive  reform 
programme to address structural weaknesses. In the framework of the EU-Turkey relations the 
Commission  is  in  constant  discussion  with  the  Turkish  authorities  and  is  assessing  the 
performance of Turkey in the economic and financial area. This is of paramount importance, 
given the fact that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stand-by agreement expired in May 
2008 and a new one is still pending. Turkey has been affected by the global economic crisis, 
as many EU economies have. The Turkish government has taken some measures to alleviate 
the impact of the crisis. The Commission estimates Turkey's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) 
growth to have been 1.5% in 2008 as a result of a sharp contraction in the fourth quarter of 
2008.  It  is  expected  that  weaker  economic  growth  and  reduced  demand  as  well  as  lower 
international commodity prices will reduce the current-account deficit and ease the needs for 
external financing. However, Turkey's heavy reliance on short-term capital inflows makes the 
country  vulnerable  to  global  de-leveraging,  increased  risk  aversion  and  external  shocks. 
Under  the  current  circumstances,  the  main  challenge  for  Turkey  is  the  faltering  external 
demand on the Turkish economy and the need to mitigate the impact of the deepening global 
financial and economic crisis.  

Progress in meeting the acquis communautaire  

Turkey improved its ability to take on the obligations of membership. Progress was made in 
most areas. Alignment was advanced in certain areas, such as free movement of goods, , anti-
trust  policy,  energy,  enterprise  and  industrial  policy,  consumer  and  health  protection, 
statistics, Trans-European Networks, and science and research. However, alignment needs to 
be  pursued,  in  particular  in  areas  such  as  environment,  state  aid,  public  procurement,  social 
policy and employment, company law, food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary policies and 
free movement of services. A number of important obligations taken on by Turkey as part of 
its Customs Union with the EU remained unfulfilled. The disproportionate use of safeguard 
measures and longstanding trade irritants were having an impact on proper functioning of the 
Customs  Union.  Turkey's  administrative  capacity  to  cope  with  the  acquis  needs  further 
improvement. 

95

 
 
20.2.      Pre-accession in 2008 

Programmes launched 

As  of  2007  the  Turkey  pre-accession  programmes  were  replaced  by  the  new  Instrument  for 
Pre-accession Assistance. No new programmes were launched after 2006. 

Overview of programmes implemented  

Three programmes under the Turkey pre-accession instrument were under implementation in 
2008, the National Programmes 2004, 2005 and 2006. 

Table 1: Status of financial assistance at the end of December 2008 (in million €) – TPA 
annual national programmes 

 € million  

TPA 2002 

TPA 2003 

TPA 2004 

TPA 2005 

TPA 2006* 

Total 

Allocated Contracted RAC16 % contracted Paid  RAL17  % paid

126 

144 

235 

277 

450 

112 

122 

194 

237 

366 

14** 

22** 

41*** 

40 

84 

1232 

1031 

201 

89 

85 

83 

84 

81 

84 

104 

116 

187 

185 

135 

727 

8 

6 

7 

52 

231 

404 

83 

81 

80 

66 

30 

59 

*  
** 
***  

The contracting deadline of one project was extended until 13/06/2009. 
Decommitted in 2007.  
Decommitted in 2008. 

The  deadlines  established  by  the  Joint  Monitoring  Committee  for  the  submission  of  tender 
documents  for  the  EC  ex-ante  control  under  the  National  Programme  2006  led  to  some 
acceleration  of  the  procurement  process  compared  with  the  previous  programmes.  The 
contracting  rate  for  NP2006  landed  at  78.38%  while  excluding  participation  in  Community 
Programmes, and 81.4% including PCP. This did not yet include the contracting of the Foot 
and Mouth Disease project in part I of NP 2006, for which the contracting deadline is June 
2009.  

Pre-accession management performance 

Turkey's Decentralised Implementation System (DIS) institutions devoted much attention in 
2008 to accreditation and preparations for implementation under the different IPA 
components. This led to some improvements also in relation to the Turkey pre-accession 
instrument 
Nevertheless, some capacity and system weaknesses remained. The staffing levels of all key 
DIS  institutions  needed  to  be  further  increased  to  improve  management  performance  and 
organisational changes are required to improve monitoring and system supervision. 

16 Reste à contracter 
17 Reste à liquider 

96

 
 
 
 
                                                 
The quality of monitoring reports continued to be variable, and the functioning of the Sector 
Monitoring  Sub-Committee  (SMSC)  system  remained  unsatisfactory.  Shortcomings  of  the 
monitoring  system  have  been  identified  (i.e.  weak  ownership  of  SPOs  and  National  IPA 
Coordinator  (NIPAC);  lack  of  human  resources;  continued  existence  of  parallel  monitoring 
structures under IPA and pre-IPA assistance) but actions taken have so far proven insufficient 
to  significantly  increase  the  quality  of  monitoring  reporting  and  related  sector  meetings. 
Despite  of  existing  weaknesses  in  the  monitoring  system,  monthly  project  management 
meetings which are at the core of the monitoring system function in a satisfactory manner. 

The main priority for the improvement of the functioning of the decentralised implementation 
system  remains  the  reinforcement  of  system  supervision  through  the  National  Authorising 
Officer  (NAO)  Office/National  Fund.  The  Central  Finance  and  Contracts  Unit  (CFCU)  had 
difficulties  to  handle  the  triple  challenge  of  preparation  for  accreditation  under  IPA, 
contracting under NP 2007, and management of on-going projects. The result was a repetition 
of late contracting under the National Programme 2006 and insufficient monitoring of running 
projects,  in  particular  grants  and  works.  Staffing  levels  of  both  the  NAO  office  and  CFCU 
need to be increased. 

The EUSG continued to show some weaknesses in handling programming, monitoring as well 
as  project  management  functions  (EUSG  acting  as  Senior  Programming  Officer).  Therefore 
an  organisational  separation  of  EUSG  functions  (programming,  monitoring,  project 
implementation) as well as a reinforcement of staffing levels appeared critical.  

A system of self-assessment and testing of the capacity of Senior Programming Officers in the 
line Ministries was established in 2008, but still needed to be rendered fully operational and 
translated into concrete measures to strengthen staffing levels and organisational structures of 
the weaker line Ministries. 

Institution Building example 

The project "Towards Good Governance, Protection and Justice for Children in Turkey" 
with a total budget of €6 million and the Gendarmerie General Command as key beneficiary 
(UNICEF  took  part  as  a  grant  beneficiary)  had  the  purpose  to  upgrade  the  capacity  of  the 
related institutions to provide a more protective environment for children in contact with the 
law.  This  included  establishment  of  baseline  data  and  empirical  evidence,  development  of 
common  strategies  and  collaborative  implementation  practices  for  the  protection  and 
reintegration of these children.  

As a result capacity building on how to implement the child protection law was initiated 
among 1500 personnel working for the Social Services and Child Protection Agency, child 
judges, prosecutors, prison guards and social workers within 16 provinces where the number 
of children in contact with the law is the highest and where child courts are existing. A catch-
up education curriculum was drafted with the objective to target children at risk (street 
children) to be made available in the same 16 provinces. Two parenting education 
programmes targeting parents with children at risk were developed and 100 000 families with 
children under 6 years were informed on child raising methods without abuse, beating or 
neglecting. 
As  a  pilot  project,  5000  parents  with  children  between  7  and  19  years  followed  a  parenting 
course, with a view to give them skills and knowledge on how to communicate with and raise 
their children to prevent violent behaviour in school and at home.   

97

 
 
20.3.      Results and impact 

State of play for JMC/SMSC development 

In 2008, one Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) meeting (12 June; the second one was 
postponed to January 2009) as well as nineteen SMSC meetings were held to monitor the 
implementation of pre-accession assistance programmes in the following sectors: Political 
Criteria; Civil Society Dialogue; Internal Market, Customs Union, Energy and 
Telecommunications; Public Finance, Statistics and Accession Process Support; Environment, 
Transport, Regional Competitiveness; Human Resources Development; Rural Development.  
Monitoring & Evaluation Reports in 2008 - Lessons Learned 

One  country  summary  report  bringing  together  findings  over  the  year  2007  and  2008  was 
prepared at the end of 2008. Overall findings of this report were as follows: 

Lessons learnt in relation to relevance: 

•  Assistance has overall been reasonably satisfactory, but relevance sometimes suffered 
from poor project design as regards unrealistic timing, poor budgeting or insufficient 
capacity  to  turn  project  outputs  into  results.  Intervention  logic  at  project  level  is 
mostly adequate.     

•  The overall design of the Turkey programme is however assessed as properly based on 

needs and in line with EU accession related priorities.  

Lessons learnt in relation to efficiency: 

•  Project  preparation  is  characterised  by  delays,  but  once  projects  have  started, 

efficiency improves.  

•  Procurement  suffers  from  low  quality  documentation  due  to  a  lack  of  adequate 
beneficiary capacity which causes lengthy revision and approval processes. Planning 
of  the  use  of  the  'Support  Activities  to  Strengthen  the  European  Integration  Process' 
facility (SEI) has not been satisfactory based on where the needs are largest.  

Lessons learnt in relation to effectiveness: 

• 

Implementation  has  on  average  been  effective,  but  transfer  of  outputs  into  results 
could be improved. 

•  The effectiveness of the pre-accession assistance to Turkey in supporting the accession 
process is satisfactory taking account of the limitation of resources in comparison to 
prevailing needs. However it should be noted that EU accession priorities are also to 
be met through national instruments, other donor assistance and through non-financial 
means (i.e. policy instruments). 

Lessons learnt in relation to impact: 

•  There is positive immediate impact for nearly all works and supply interventions, but 
the impact of technical assistance or twinning could be improved through strengthened 
beneficiary capacity. 

98

 
•  Necessary  facilities  for  operation  of  newly  established  or  upgraded  facilities  have 
usually been established, and the immediate and wider impact of increased capacity of 
people and institutions to work with EU-funded programmes is visible in virtually all 
interventions across all sectors.  

Lessons learnt in relation to sustainability: 

•  Overall,  sustainability  depends  on  the  extent  to  which  the  appropriate  legal, 
administrative and strategic framework is in place to support the continued utilisation 
of project results. 

• 

In  particular  grant  schemes  in  all  sectors  generally  showed  positive  prospects  for 
sustainability. 

Lessons learnt in relation to management: 

•  The functionality of the SMSC system has not been satisfactory. There has been a lack 
of effective sectoral monitoring and supporting Monitoring Reports are of inadequate 
quality. 

Sectors with positive results 

According  to  the  interim  evaluation  reports  in  2008,  moderately  positive  results  were 
achieved in the Internal Market, Transport and Public Finance sectors, whereas performance 
in  the  other  sectors  was  generally  lower.  Measures  in  these  sectors  have  generally  been 
relevant, effectiveness overall adequate and a wider impact is measurable in a number of sub-
sectors. 

Success stories 

Restoration of Ekmekçizade Caravanserai, Edirne  

Under  the  2004-2006  cross  border  cooperation  programme  with  Bulgaria  the  ruined 
Ekmekcizade  caravanserai  was  restored  to  its  former  glory.  The  project  promoted  the 
recovery  of  a  monument  of  great  historical,  cultural  and  architectural  value  for  the  whole 
border region and accordingly its destination as a space for events with a cross-border impact. 
Restoration  was  carried  out  respecting  the  architectural  integrity  of  the  building  and  the 
building  materials  employed.  The  broader  purpose  of  the  project  was  to  encourage  the 
intensification of cross-border cultural and economic exchanges and relations by providing a 
venue for joint Turkish and Bulgarian cultural events, business forums, congresses, seminars, 
and  visits  by  commercial  delegations,  trade  fairs  and  other  bi-lateral  events.  EU  funded  the 
restoration  with  €2.7  million  and  the  works  were  carried  out  between  April  2006  and 
September  2007.  In  line  with  the  objectives,  the  restored  historical  site  is  now  a  venue  for 
events  fostering  closer  cultural  and  economic  ties  between  the  border  regions  Edirne  and 
Kırklareli on the Turkish side and Yambol, Bourgas and Haskovo on the Bulgarian side.  

99

 
 
 
 
 
 
Eradicating the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Turkey 

With  a  budget  of  €5.3  million  from  the  National  Programme  2004  this  project  aimed  to 
increase  capacity  at  local  and  central  level  to  tackle  the  problems  of  child  labour  in  the 
provinces of Sinop, Ordu, Kastamonu, Çankırı, Van, Erzurum and Elazığ. Vocational courses 
were  offered  to  families  to  assist  adult  family  member  in  finding  employment  and  school 
based  monitoring  systems  were  established  and  directed  through  provincial  action 
committees.  

A  total  of  99.356  households  have  been  surveyed  in  the  seven  provinces  with  their  94 
districts,  103  towns  and  330  villages.  Consequently,  3083  children  have  been  reached. 
Currently  2704  children  are  provided  with  a  variety  of  services  including  education, 
rehabilitation  and  support  to  assist  their  re-insertion  into  mainstream  schooling  institutions.  
2153  children  registered  to  schools  had  a  part  of  their  educational  costs  covered  from  the 
project  budget.  Moreover,  children’s  participation  in  activities  aiming  to  contribute  to  their 
social  and  cultural  development  was  also  facilitated  as  part  of  the  project.  Special  attention 
was  paid  to  ensure  that  not  only  the  working  children,  but  also  the  children  identified  as 
belonging to a risk group were benefiting from the project.  

In order to prevent previously working children integrated into education through the project 
from going back to work, mechanisms to effectively monitor child labour were established as 
part of the activities. For instance in Çankırı “The School Based Monitoring System” aims to 
follow the attendance and absence situation of the children on a regular basis and “The Street 
Based Monitoring System” aims to identify children who start working again. Project 
implementation was ongoing for two years before successfully being finalised by the end of 
2007. 

100

 
 
 
 
PART II:  ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON IMPLEMENTATION 

AND PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT ISSUES 

21. TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE 

21.1.  Twinning  

Twinning  has  been  designed  and  developed  by  the  Commission  as  the  main  instrument  for 
institution  building.  It  aims  at  helping  candidate  and  potential  candidate  countries  in  their 
development  of  modern  and  efficient  administrations,  with  the  structures,  human  resources 
and  management  skills  needed  to  implement  the  acquis  so  as  to  reach  the  same  standards 
throughout the Union but also to benefit fully from European Union membership.  

In  2008,  6  Twinning  fiches  for  Romania  (5)  and  Bulgaria  (1)  under  the  Transition  Facility 
were circulated to the Member States, out of which 5 had been circulated a first time in 2007 
without having received adequate proposals from the Member States. Furthermore, a total of 
59 contracts for Phare (38), Transition Facility (16) and CARDS (5) Twinning projects have 
been approved by the Commission Steering Committee and notified in 2008. The distribution 
of launched and contracted Twinning projects under Phare, CARDS and Transition Facility in 
the beneficiary countries for 2008 is as follows:  

Number  of  Transition  Facility  and 
Phare 
fiches 
  Twinning  project 
circulated in 2008 
Romania 

5

Bulgaria  

Croatia 

Total  

Phare 2006 

1

5

11

5

38

Number  of  Phare,  Transition  Facility  and 
CARDS  Twinning  Contracts  approved  and 
notified in 2008 
Phare 
Turkey 8 
Romania 15 
Bulgaria 8 
Croatia 7 
Transition Facility 
Poland 1 
Estonia 1 
Latvia 1 
Romania 5 
Bulgaria 7 
Malta  

16

CARDS 
Serbia 2 
Former Yugoslav Republic of 
Macedonia 1 
Albania 2 

5

101

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Please note that most Twinning projects launched in 2008 were under the IPA programme. 

The 11 Twinning fiches under the Transition Facility circulated in 2008 concern projects in 
the  following  sectors:  Standardisation  and  certification  (1).  Justice  and  home  affairs  (3) 
Internal market and economic criteria (5), Environment (1) and Transport (1). 

Furthermore, the new Member States, Candidate Countries and Potential Candidate Countries 
are being offered the possibility of drawing on twinning expertise through “Twinning Light”, 
in order to address well-circumscribed projects of limited scope. In 2008 this instrument has 
been used extensively by the beneficiary administrations, notably in Bulgaria and Romania.  

21.2.   TAIEX 

TAIEX18 started operations in 1996 as a follow-up to the Commission’s White Paper on the 
preparation of the associated countries for integration into the internal market.  
Since then, TAIEX has evolved into an instrument providing short-term technical assistance 
to facilitate the approximation, implementation and enforcement of EU legislation. 

The TAIEX instrument remained available for the 10 Member States which acceded in 2004 
(until May 2008), to Bulgaria and Romania, to candidate and pre-candidate countries, to the 
Turkish  Cypriot  community,  as  well  as  to  the  countries  covered  by  the  European 
Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI). 

During the year 2008 a total of 1,543 events were organised, representing an increase of some 
20% compared with 2007. Funds from the budget lines CARDS, Transition Facility and Pre-
Accession  were  used  to  finance  the  organisation  of  more  than  900  events,  attended  by  over 
20,000 participants from the beneficiary countries for a total cost of some €10 million. 

The  positive  results  and  the  increasing  demand  for  assistance  clearly  demonstrate  the 
usefulness of TAIEX as an instrument of know-how transfer and exchange of best practice.  

21.3.  SIGMA  

Since  1992  this  institution-building  instrument  has  been  providing  assistance  in  horizontal 
areas of public management including public service, legal administrative framework, public 
integrity system, policy-making and co-ordination, regulatory framework, public expenditure 
management,  public  internal  financial  control,  external  audit  and  public  procurement.  It  is 
principally  financed  by  the  EU  and  implemented  by  the  Organisation  for  Economic  Co-
operation and Development (OECD) through contribution agreements between the European 
Commission and the OECD. 

In 2008 SIGMA worked with the two new EU Member States and the three EU candidates as 
well  as  with  potential  candidates  in  the  Western  Balkans.   Under  the  two  contribution 

18 Technical Assistance Information Exchange Instrument 

102

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
agreements, work was carried out on a total of 61 projects in 2008: 34 in Bulgaria, Croatia, 
Romania and Turkey and 27 in the Western Balkans.  

In the framework of the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA), SIGMA work with all 
EU candidates and potential candidates 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 €10.7 million.  

In the second half of 2008 the scope of SIGMA expanded to include countries benefiting from 
the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI).  

22. 

Information on multi-country, regional and horizontal programmes  

22.1  Political Criteria 

Participation in Community Agencies 

The purpose of this assistance is to ensure that beneficiaries can participate effectively in the 
Community Agencies either if permitted prior to accession or following accession to the EU.  

Under the CARDS Regional Action Programme (RAP) 2005, Contribution Agreements were 
concluded  with  the  European  Environment  Agency  (EEA),  the  European  Aviation  Safety 
Agency  (EASA),  the  European  Maritime  Safety  Agency  (EMSA),  and  the  European 
Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). These agreements continued 
to be implemented during 2008. 

Return of refugees  

The  actions  aim  to  facilitate  voluntary  repatriation  and  reintegration  including  local 
integration for the remaining persons in displacement.  

Under  the  CARDS  Regional  Action  Programme  2002,  three  projects  were  implemented 
which  ended  in  early  2008:  “Supporting  the  national  strategy  for  resolving  the  issue  of 
refugees  and  Internally  Displaced  Persons  in  Montenegro”  which  provided  30  income-
generating  grants  and  organised  basic  business  training;  constructed  8  apartments  and 
implemented  a  community  project;  “Facilitation  of  durable  solutions  for  refugees  and 
returnees  in  Serbia,  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  and  Croatia”  which  provided  information  on 
status  issue,  access  to  social  rights,  regulation  of  property  issue  to  1000  refugees,  legal 
assistance to 400 refugees, personal documents (birth, citizenship and marriage certificates) to 
400 refugees. This project was particularly successful. The achieved results went well beyond 
the expected for all the activities and the quality of the reporting was excellent; “Support to 
the return process of refugees in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia” which provided legal 
assistance to 730 beneficiary families out of which 226 cases received a positive decision on 
the return of their property and were able to repossess their apartment and organised a training 
on start-up of private enterprises for 400 beneficiaries, out of which 200 have obtained credit 
funding through government implemented projects via commercial banks. 

Under the CARDS Regional Action Programme 2006 the project “Regional Refugee Return 
in  the  Western  Balkans”  was  implemented  and  came  to  an  end  on  30  June  2008.  Of  the 
overall  target  group  in  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  Croatia,  Montenegro,  Serbia  and  Kosovo 
1,800  persons  (586  assisted  by  the  United  Nations'  Refugee  agency  (UNHCR))  have 
repatriated within the region during the period from 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2008.   

103

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Social inclusion 

Under  the  CARDS  Regional  Action  Programme  2006  the  project  "Social  inclusion  of  and 
access to human rights for Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in the Western Balkans" 
was under implementation. The overall purpose is to contribute to increased legal and social 
inclusion of marginalised communities and facilitate their full enjoyment of citizenship rights 
in the Western Balkans. The project has been established in all the areas targeted: networks 
have been set up; information material has been produced and in some cases disseminated as 
well;  information  meetings  have  been  held  and  direct  assistance  has  been  provided  to  an 
increasing number of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian populations.  

Social security coordination 

Under the CARDS Regional Action Programme 2003 the project “Social Institution Support 
Programme”  was  implemented  until  February  2008  when  it  came  to  an  end.  The  overall 
purpose  of  the  project  was  to  tackle  discrimination  and  the  difficulties  faced  by  vulnerable 
groups  following  the  inclusive  labour  market  and  the  economic  integration  occurring  in  the 
Beneficiaries.  The  main  results  achieved  were  that  150  people  were  trained  in  summer 
schools and more than 1000 persons in total were trained in areas concerning social security 
coordination; a report on the state of play of the national security system was prepared in each 
beneficiary  country  and  two  Ministerial  Conferences  took  place  and  were  followed  by 
ministerial  declarations  expressing  the  political  intention  to  increase  cooperation  and  to 
improve  coordination  regarding  health  insurance  and  social  security  matters  as  well  as  to 
actively pursue legislative and administrative reforms of the social security systems. 

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  building  activities:  regional 
and national thematic meetings, seminars and conferences, round tables, study visits, training 
activities, including exchange programmes; gaps and needs-analysis sessions, specific studies, 
assessment  missions;  actions  to  pool  information,  enhance  co-operation  and  facilitate  co-
ordinated  activities;  advice  on  legislation,  regulations,  operational  procedures,  exchange  of 
experience, lessons learned, best practices and other relevant information. 

The following projects were under implementation:  

-"Development  of  a  prison  system  in  the  Western  Balkans",  under  the  CARDS  Regional 
Action Programme 2002. The project was implemented by the Council of Europe and came to 
an end on 31 March 2008. Overall, the project results were not satisfactory. The design of the 
project  was  too  ambitious  bearing  in  mind  the  geographical  scope,  the  substantive  specific 
objectives  to  be  achieved,  the  timeframe  available,  the  regional  component,  and  the  human 
resources at the Council of Europe’s disposal for the implementation. The effectiveness of the 
project has been only partial in both its regional and national aspirations. The necessary drop 
of several objectives left a number of pertinent issues unaddressed.  

Under  the  CARDS  Regional  Action  Programme  2005  the  EC  supported  the  organisation  of 
several meetings on the new SECI Convention.  The project "International Law Enforcement 
Co-ordination  Units  ILECUS"  was  launched  in  August  2008  and  it  will  run  for  30  months. 
The objective of this project is to further strengthen national platforms for international police 
co-operation,  through  the  establishment  of  International  Law  Enforcement  Co-ordination 

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Units, with a view to support the exchange of information in international investigations, and 
facilitate contacts on an operational level. 

Under the CARDS Regional Action Programme 2006 the project "Support to the Prosecutors' 
Network"  was  launched  in  April  2008  and  it  will  run  for  24  months.  The  project  should 
strengthen  the  established  prosecutor's  network  and  provide  support  for  the  identified  gap 
areas. The contribution agreement with UNDOC for the project "Development of monitoring 
instruments for judicial and law enforcement institutions in the Western Balkans" was signed 
in  December  2008  and  the  project  was  launched  in  February  2009  for  a  duration  of  24 
months.  The  objective  is  to  develop  a  corpus  of  regionally  harmonised  and  coherent 
indicators, in compliance with EU best practices, and standards 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. 

Public administration 

The overall objective is to support the establishment and operation of The Regional School of 
Public Administration (ReSPA). ReSPA aims to improve regional cooperation in the field of 
public  administration,  to  strengthen  administrative  capacity  as  required  by  the  European 
integration  process  and  to  develop  human  resources  in  line  with  the  principles  of  the 
European Administrative Space.  

Under  the  Regional  Action  Programme  CARDS  2005  and  2006  the  European  Commission 
signed a Contribution Agreement with the OECD to implement the development of ReSPA. It 
has been decided that the seat of ReSPA will be in Danilovgrad in Montenegro. Substantial 
legal preparatory work was undertaken for the establishment of the International Agreement 
of ReSPA which was signed on 21 November 2008 by the governments of Albania, Croatia, 
the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. The agreement needs 
to be ratified by at least by 5 beneficiaries out of 7 to enable ReSPA to get a legal personality. 
During 2008 several training modules were delivered: 

-a  training  module  for  Policy-Advisors  was  organised  with  NISPAcee  and  the  Croatian 
School of Public Administration in Zagreb in February 2008.  

-a training module on the professional profile of the Senior European Civil servant took place 
in  February  -  March  2008.  This  module  had  a  first  part  of  distance  learning  (50%,  in  the 
course of February) and a second part of in-class learning (50%, in March, Caserta, Italy). 

-a module for training managers was organised in cooperation with EKKDA in June 2008.  

-a  3  weeks  intensive  course  on  European  integration  was  organised  in  June-July  in 
cooperation with the College of Europe, Bruges.  

The works on ReSPA site progressed well and the provision of equipment / refurbishment of 
the school are ensured by the Commission.  

OECD will hand over the development of ReSPA to EIPA in 2009. 

Cross-border cooperation (CBC) 

The  main  purpose  of  the  activities  financed  through  CARDS  under  this  area  is  to  provide 
assistance to the beneficiary countries for the implementation of the IPA CBC programmes at 
the internal Western Balkans borders.  

Under  the  CARDS  Regional  Action  Programmes  2003  and  2005  the  project  "Cross  Border 
Institution  Building  (CBIB)"  was  under  implementation.  The  CBIB  I  project  supported  the 

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beneficiaries  for  the  IPA  programming  process,  the  establishment  of  the  Joint  Management 
Structures  and  the  preparation  of  guidelines  for  Applicants  and  the  application  package,  in 
addition to the preliminary support for the first Calls for Proposals. On 26-27 June 2008, the 
Second Forum and Fourth Steering Committee of the CBIB project took place in Skopje. The 
Forum  brought  together  beneficiaries,  EC  representatives  and  NGOs,  which  gave  them  the 
opportunity  to  strengthen  networking,  exchange  ideas  and  best  practices,  as  well  as  to 
establish  direct  links  with  the  Commission  representatives  who  clarified  main  CBC  issues. 
The CBIB Experts provided support to beneficiaries in the preparation of CfPs and training to 
potential applicants. The final phase of CBIB I continued up to 24 October 2008. The contract 
for the continuation of CBIB through the CBIB Phase II was signed in October 2008. 

Civil Society Dialogue and Development 

The actions aim to increase capacity and actions of Civil Society Organisations and improve 
democratic role of Civil Society Organisations. 

The main general activities under these projects were: Awareness raising campaigns; Training 
of  NGOs;  Training  of  staff,  trainers,  beneficiaries,  representatives  of  the  target  group,  etc.; 
Advisory  services;  Internships;  Management  courses  (including  on  fundraising,  PR  and 
lobbying);  Transfer  of  specific  technical  know-how;  Study  visits  and  work  placements; 
Thematic seminars, workshops, conferences (to present 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 authorities; Publications of manuals, leaflets, on 
best  practices;  Establishment  or  development  of  new  services;  Network  building; 
Establishment  of  best  practice  and  procedures;  Other  human  and  institutional  capacity 
building measures; Activities assuring institutional support (e.g. steering committees); TV co-
productions documentaries. 

The following programmes were under implementation in 2008:  

-  Multi-beneficiary  Phare  Business  Support  Programme  (BSP)  for  Bulgaria,  Romania, 
Croatia  and  Turkey.  The  programme  addressed  the  needs  of  Business  Representative 
Organisations (BROs) in the industrial sector by strengthening their corporate 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 was launched with a kick-off meeting involving all BSP projects. All activities 
will end in June 2009. 

-  Democratic  Stabilisation  Civil  Society  Development,  Network  to  Network  and  Media 
Projects  under  the  CARDS  Regional  Action  Programme  2003:  27  projects  have  been 
implemented  allowing  for  the  further  development  of  NGOs  leading  to  strengthened  NGOs 
working  in  the  agricultural  sector;  engagement  of  civil  society  in  decision-making  for  arms 
control;  women’s  contribution  to  local  and  democratic  development;  the  involvement  of 
citizens  in  the  local  democratisation;  improved  organisation  of  disabled  people;  new 
partnership  in  action  and  network  that  have  reinforced  Disabled  People's  Umbrella 
Organisations,  Diocese  Caritas  Structures,  rights  of  minority  and  vulnerable  groups.  All 
projects were to be closed by the end of 2008. 

-  Civil  Society  Dialogue  and  People  to  People  Project  under  the  CARDS  Regional  Action 
Programme  2006:    The  Call  for  Proposals  was  initially  launched  in  December  2007.  The 
evaluation  of  the  full  applications  took  place  on  18  September  2008:  seven  proposals  were 

106

 
 
pre-selected  and  seven  put  on  a  reserve  list.  The  eligibility  check  ended  in  December  2008 
with the recommendation of eight applications for the award of a grant contract. The contracts 
are to be signed during 2009. 

22.2  Economic Criteria 

International Financial Institutions (IFIs) 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  Small  and  Medium-sized  Enterprises 
(SMEs); 2) financially assist the promotion of investments in energy efficiency and renewable 
energy; and 3) support the development and upgrading of transport, environment, and energy 
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 beneficiaries in strengthening their 
financial sectors in order to cope with the competitive pressure and market forces within the 
Union and to strengthening the capacity of financial intermediaries to expand and maintain in 
the  long  term  their  financing  operations  with  SMEs.  During  2008,  there  were  fifteen 
programmes  under  implementation.  The  Equity  Window:  the  programme  launched  in  1999 
was not been successful and equity investments have been below expectations. Following the 
Steering Committee of 5 March 2008, all the programmes from 1999 to 2005 were reshaped 
by  including  an  energy  efficiency  component  and  by  extending  the  disbursement  dates  in 
order to give more room to fully use the Community resources. Activities have been disturbed 
by the financial crisis However, some new projects and several amendments to files related to 
the  Phare  countries  were  approved.  Several  transfers  of  funds  to  the  IFIs  have  taken  place 
during 2008.  

-European  Fund  for  Southeast  Europe  (EFSE):  The  aim  is  to  foster  economic  development 
and prosperity in Southeast Europe through sustainable provision of additional development 
finance, notably to the small and micro enterprise sector, and to private households via local 
financial  institutions.  There  were  two  programmes  under  implementation:  2006  EC 
Contribution to the European Fund for South East Europe and 2007 EC Contribution to the 
European Fund for South East Europe.  

The  EFSE  Annual  Shareholder  Meeting  took  place  between  6  and  8  May  2008  in  Sibiu 
Romania.  Next  to  EFSE  shareholders,  the  meeting  gathered  high  level  representatives  from 
the central banks in South East Europe, local financial intermediaries and international experts 
on  the  topic  of  responsible  finance.  Through  BN&P  Growth  Fund  socially  minded  non 
institutional  private  investors  have  gained  access  to  EFSE  for  the  first  time.  According  to  a 
study  carried  out  by  EFSE,  88%  of  micro-enterprises  reported  that  they  have  sustained  or 
created paid full time employment since a loan was taken up. As at 30 September 2008 the 
overall participation of the EC, via EIF, in EFSE stands at €65 million.  

Existing micro-credit schemes worth approximately €10 million funded under the Bosnia and 
Herzegovina National Programmes 1997 and 1999 are intended to be transferred into EFSE 
by the end of February 2009. This will ensure that funds generated from the above schemes 
will be re-invested and contribute to an increased access to finance for micro enterprises in the 
future  in  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina.  In  relation  to  the  commitment  and  ownership  of  the 
beneficiary  countries  and  territories,  during  the  first  quarter  2008  the  Albanian  government 
has  expressed  its  wish  to  subscribe  C  shares  (first  loss)  to  EFSE  worth  approximately  €15 

107

 
 
 
million by June 2008. Albania will, therefore, be the first Beneficiary who will take directly 
co-finance and take ownership in EFSE. This is a welcome development. In November 2008 
the 
to  
of 
€553.1 million. EFSE is currently serving 90624 sub-loans. Since its inception 129566 sub-
loans  have  been  provided  to  micro  enterprises  and  households  resulting  from  EFSE  re-
financing with an average amount of € 4 152.  

investments 

amounted 

EFSE 

total 

Following  the  financial  crisis  EFSE  increase  the  monitoring  of  financial  intermediaries 
sharply.  No  financial  intermediaries  benefiting  from  EFSE  have  so  far  defaulted  on  their 
commitments. 

 -  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  Balkans  that  will  attract  Foreign  Direct  Investment  (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”  –  €1  million  -  funded  under  the  Regional  Action  Programme 
CARDS 2005. From the supply side: The OECD Investment Compact for South East Europe's 
project  is  dealing  with  the  identification  and  prioritisation  of  key  sectors  with  high  growth 
potential followed by the definition of an investment promotion strategy for the region and the 
elaboration  of  action  plans  concerning  policy  reforms  implementing  this  strategy  in  each 
country. The OECD Investment Compact presented the findings of phase 1 of the project – a 
regional  investment  strategy  –  to  representatives  from  Investment  Promotion  Agencies  and 
government  representatives  at  two  occasions:  the  meeting  of  the  South  East  European 
Investment  Committee,  at  OECD  in  Paris  on  23  May  2008  and  at  a  regional  meeting  in 
Sarajevo on 3 and 4 July 2008. Representatives of the World Bank were also present at the 
meeting in July. Phase 2 will end in November 2009 and will address some of the key policy 
barriers identified in phase 1.  

-“European  Investor  Outreach  Programme  -Phase  2”  –  renamed  into  Invest  in  the 
Western Balkans Programme funded under the CARDS Regional Action Programme 2005 - 
€1  million.  From  the  demand  side:  FIAS/IFC19  (World  Bank  Group)'  Investment  in  the 
Western Balkans Programme is a marketing and investment facilitation programme focusing 
on automotive components, food and beverages, information and communications technology 
(ICT), business services, textiles and pharmaceuticals; it consists of targeted dissemination of 
business  and  factor  cost 
investors; 
information  of  most  relevance 
implementation  of  regional  image  building  activities;  establishment  of  country  desk  officer 
functions and traineeships at the Invest in the Western Balkans Programme office in Vienna 
for staff members of the beneficiary organisations, capacity building and institutional support 
for  the  beneficiary  Investment  Promotion  Agencies.  The  project  Steering  Committee  took 
place  in  Vienna  in  October  2008  with  the  representatives  of  the  investment  promotion 
agencies participating in the meeting. 

to  prospective 

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 

19  

FIAS: Multi-Donor Investment Climate Advisory Service; IFC: International Finance Corporation 

108

 
                                                 
generation of innovation. These findings have been taken into consideration for the regional 
programming 2009. 

(ii) Promotion of energy efficiency investments 

- Energy Efficiency Finance Facility (EEFF): The aim is to financially assist the beneficiary 
countries  to  promote  investments  in  energy  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 implementation of the EEFF has proven 
to be challenging. It was decided at the Steering Committee of the IFI Facilities to introduce a 
more  flexible  approach  to  make  the  programme  easier  to  implement  in  the  beneficiaries  of 
IPA where awareness of energy efficiency is still weak and technical expertise necessary to 
implement  the  programme  not  always  available  locally.  The  approval  of  new  projects 
followed a steady pace. Several transfers of funds to the IFIs have taken place during 2008.  

(iii) Support to infrastructure investments, including Municipalities.  

- Municipal Finance Facility (MFF): The aim is to assist the beneficiaries in contributing to 
the reform and the strengthening of the financial sector. There were eleven Phare programmes 
under  implementation.  The  approval  of  new  projects  and  amendments  to  existing  projects 
followed  a  steady  pace.  The  rate  of  disbursement  to  the  local  financial  intermediaries 
improved  and  the  Commission  transferred  a  new  tranche  of€4  million  to  the  EIB  under  the 
programme of the MFF in 2002. Several transfers of funds to the IFIs have taken place during 
2008.  

-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. We are now in the disbursement phase since the expiration of the contracting period 
with  local  financial  intermediaries.  Several  transfers  of  funds  to  the  EIB  have  taken  place 
during 2008.  

-Infrastructure  Projects  Facility  (IPF)  -  set  up€15.122  million  allocated  under  the  Regional 
Action Programme CARDS 2005 and 2006. Additional resources continue under IPA 2008. 
The  aim  is  to  support  the  development  and  upgrading  of  infrastructures  in  transport, 
environment, and energy and in the social field, so as to contribute to creating the conditions 
for  sustainable  development  in  the  region  and  beneficiary  countries.  The  implementation 
continued swiftly during 2008. 

The governance structures of the IPF – an operational Secretariat and a Steering Committee - 
were set up and started their operation. First identification of projects to be supported by IPF 
(transport, energy, environment and social infrastructure) indicated very good potential of the 
instrument  also  in  complementarity  with  IPA  national  programmes.  In  June  2008,  the 
technical  assistance  contract  was  signed  and  the  contractor  was  mobilised  in  early  July.  In 
September 2008, the contractor was mobilised to finalise the definition of the first 18 projects, 
draft the Terms of References (ToRs) for each individual assistance and identify the expertise 
to carry out each assignment. The governance structures of the IPF kept meeting on a regular 
basis. A second round of technical assistance requests were presented by the beneficiaries to 
the  December  monthly  Secretariat  meeting  for  short-listing  by  the  Steering  Committee  (bi-
annual meetings).  

The  support  to  the  IPF  in  the  social  sectors  is  a  parallel  framework  contract  €0.2  million 
aimed  at  facilitating  the  mapping  and  identification  of  social  policies  and  strategies  in  the 
region. The main consultant was replaced in December 2008.  

109

 
- Environment Projects Preparatory Facility (EPPF) - €1 793 600. A major Progress Review 
Meeting took place in February 2008 to assess progress achieved under the facility and focus 
remaining  assistance  on  a  feasible  number  of  projects.  A  second  Progress  Review  Meeting 
took place in July 2008 to assess progress achieved under the facility and to focus remaining 
assistance  on  a  feasible  number  of  projects.  At  the  meeting,  it  was  agreed  that  that  the 
contract would be extended until end 2008, to allow the contractor to complete properly the 
remaining  feasibility  studies.  Implementation  of  the  Environment  Projects  Preparatory 
Facility (€1.8 million) has continued as planned and was completed in December. A Review 
Meeting took place in November 2008 to assess the considerable success achieved under the 
facility both on the quality of the assistance provided, the grant-to-loan leverage exerted and 
the recognition of the project among stakeholders. The contract has been completed and the 
knowledge accumulated, such as identified projects which could not be provided TA through 
EPPF, will be transferred in the environmental sector of the IPF. 

Education 

The  aim  is  to  support  the  development  and  the  quality  of  the  higher  education  systems 
through balanced cooperation between local higher education institutions and those of the EU 
Member States (Education). 

The  following  programmes  were  under  implementation:  Annual  Action  Programme  – 
Erasmus Mundus for the Western Balkans under CARDS 2006 – €4 million; Annual Action 
Programme – Tempus for the Western Balkans under CARDS 2006 – €12.7 million).  

The main activities during the period were related to the promotion of the programmes.  

The Commission offers 100 scholarships per year starting from the academic year 2007/2008 
(programming 2006)  to  postgraduate students from  the Western Balkans  under the Erasmus 
Mundus programme.  

22.3  European Standards 

Quality infrastructure 

The  aim  is  to  improve  the  capabilities  of  quality  infrastructure  bodies  to  offer  industry 
services  to  provide  the  tools  to  trade  in  the  EU  and  the  European  Free  Trade  Association 
(EFTA) market, as well as in the markets of the Western Balkans.  

There was one project under implementation: “Quality Infrastructure in the Western Balkans" 
–€1  million  under  CARDS  Regional  Programme  2006.  The  implementation  progressed 
according to schedule. The contract ended in September 2008. The main activities developed 
under  the  project  were:  assessment  reports  about  the  state  of  technical  regulations, 
standardisation,  accreditation, 
testing-certification-inspection,  metrology  and  market 
surveillance; a further series of intensive hands-on training events in the quality infrastructure 
field; and regional proficiency testing exercises (inter- laboratory comparisons).  

Transport 

The aim is to support the development of the South East Europe Transport Core Network with 
focus  on  road  safety  and  railways  and  the  implementation  of  the  European  Common  Civil 
Aviation Area Agreement in each beneficiary. 

There were four projects under implementation:  

110

 
 
 
 
-  “South  East  Europe  Transport  Observatory  (SEETO)”  –€1  791  740  under  CARDS 
Regional Action Programme 2003: The implementation of activities finished before the end 
of 2007. The final technical report was submitted in March 2008 and the final financial report 
in July 2008. The main activities were: to establish and operate SEETO; to establish SEETO 
information  Resources;  and  to  prepare  multi-annual  plans,  meetings,  seminars  and 
conferences.  The  achievements  of  the  SEETO  project  may  be  summarized  as  follows: 
Establishment  of  fully  furnished  and  equipped  SEETO  offices;  Transfer  of  know-how  and 
training  of  local  experts;  Agreement  for  cooperation  and  support/finance  of  SEETO  during 
1stAMM (Nov. 2005); Establishment of the Railway Working Group; Resolution of the 2nd 
AMM  (Dec.  2006)  to  speed  up  reforms;  13  priority  sub-projects  having  secured  finance  of  
€516 million in total; Addendum to the MoU regarding the development of the SEE Railway 
Transport Area; Soft measures adopted which are in tendering procedure for a TA contract to 
be conducted under the supervision of SEETO; Enhancement of IFIs interest; Networking and 
public relations expanding SEETO visibility. 

In terms of technical work and tool development, the following were accomplished: SEETIS 
version 1 and SEETIS version 2; 3 rolling Multi-Annual Plans (2006/10, 2007/11, 2008/12); 
Technical  Notes  and  Procedural  Manuals;  Questionnaires  and  assessment/monitoring 
methods;  An  action  plan  for  soft  measures  2008  –  2012;  A  highly  frequented  Website  and 
internet platform for GIS-based regional transport planning and data exchange 

- “Support to the SEETO Secretariat” – €999 070: The tender procedure to award a contract 
for  the  support  to  the  development  of  the  South  East  Europe  Transport  Core  Network  with 
focus on road safety and railways was finalised in March 2008. The contract was signed on 27 
June 2008. The purpose of the project is to assist the participants in the SEE Core Regional 
Transport Network for implementing  the 2007-2011 MAP soft measures in the 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 planned activities both in the railways and the roads sectors were 
implemented as planned. The consultant concentrated his efforts on establishing contacts with 
the  country  and  regional  partners,  and  on  data  collection.  The  First  Progress  Report  was 
delivered as planned in December 2008. The delivery of project outputs and deliverables and 
the first workshops to promote the results were planned to start in January 2009. 

-  “Implementation  Phase  (Phase  II)  of  Aviation  Safety  and  Air  Traffic  Control  (ASATC) 
Programme” – €4.6m under CARDS Regional Action Programme 2002: The implementation 
of activities finished before the end of 2007. The final report was submitted in January 2008. 
The  main  activities  were:  implementation  of  an  ATM  Safety  regulatory  framework;  legal 
assistance on aviation law; training and support on regulation and oversight of A/C operators; 
Safety  management  Systems;  and  Human  Resource  management.  The  main  results  may  be 
summarised  as  follows:  ATM  Safety  Regulatory  framework  and  oversight:  provided  an 
essential  contribution  to  set  up  the  arrangements  needed  to  operate  a  robust  mechanism  to 
supervise safety in the public interest and allow the implementation of the notion of National 
Supervisory  Authority  as  defined  in  the  Single  European  Sky  regulations.  Aviation  law: 
provided the required legal and institutional framework to allow for the implementation of the 
other work packages and more generally for the safe operation of aviation in these states and 
at a regional level. Aviation Safety: enabled the states to perform their Civil Aviation safety 
oversight functions in compliance with recognised international standards as imposed through 
ICAO, by the European Union and last but not least meeting the JAA objectives regarding full 
membership.  Safety  Management  Systems:  helped  and  guided  the  establishment  of  a  Safety 
Management function in the ANSPs, to support the documentation and implementation of a 
Safety  Management  System  in  compliance  with  EUROCONTROL  Safety  Regulatory 

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Requirements and additional safety management elements required for certification according 
to EU Common Requirements for Service Provision. HR Management: achieved to develop 
the  awareness  (at  working  level),  the  definition  and  the  implementation  of  improvements 
notably in the areas of HR strategy, HR policy, staff planning and recruitment, and the means 
and tools to realise these improvements.  

- “Technical Assistance to the implementation of the ECAA Agreement”– €985 000 under the 
CARDS  Regional  Action  Programme  2006:  The  tender  procedure  to  award  a  contract  was 
finalised in March 2008. The contract was signed on 15 July 2008. It is foreseen to provide 
support in the form of long term / short term expert assignments, translation services, training, 
workshops, seminars and Study visits to similar size national administration in EU Countries, 
in  the  fields  of:  aviation  legislation,  economic  regulation,  aviation  safety,  air  traffic 
management, aviation security and airports regulation. The kick-off meeting took place on 29 
August  2008  where  DG  Enlargement,  DG  Energy  and  Transport  and  the  contractor  Air 
Eurosafe participated.  

Energy 

The  aim  is  to  contribute  to  the  budget  of  the  Energy  Community.  An  amount  of  
€2.5 million was paid as a contribution following the obligation of the European Community 
to pay to the main part of the budget of the Energy Community Secretariat. This contribution 
has  been  paid  partly:  €1.2  million  by  the  funds  committed  in  the  CARDS  Regional  Action 
Programme 2006 and partly€1.3 million by the IPA 2008 budget. 

Customs and Taxation 

The aim is to ensure that systems and documentation in the area of taxation and customs are 
planned and developed in accordance with EU requirements.  

There were two projects under implementation:  

this 

ended 

project 

speaking, 

-  CAFAO  –€11.42  million  under  CARDS  2005  –  2006  –  €5.3  million  /  IPA-€6.12  million: 
Operationally 
on  
31 December 2007 but the contract continued to ensure a smooth transfer of activities to the 
new project TACTA financed under IPA and came to an end on 29 February 2008. Transfer 
agreements  of  equipment  were  drawn  up  and  signed  by  the  Commission  and  the  various 
beneficiaries, the recipients of the equipment, much of which would be put at the disposal of 
the  TACTA  project.  The  main  results  under  this  project  were:  the  further  alignment  of 
customs  and  indirect  tax  legislation  and  procedures  with  the  EU  acquis;  the  delivery  of 
technical assistance on direct taxation (notably the CAFAO regional study of compliance with 
the EU Code of Conduct for Business Taxation); the introduction of ‘cross-border’ initiatives 
to strengthen the exchange of information with EU member and non-member States through 
the  implementation  for  operational  use  of  the  SEMS  systems  developed  by  EU  CAFAO-
Bosnia  and  Herzegovina.;  the  improved  revenue  yield  and  seizures  of  both  prohibited  and 
revenue  goods;  the  introduction  of  new  and  enhanced  ‘enforced  collection’  mechanisms 
(tackling  debt,  policing  compliance  more  effectively,  investigation  of  suspect  offences), 
leading to significantly improved revenue yield in a number of locations, the introduction and 
use  of  risk  management  techniques  resulting  in  the  positive  introduction  of  enhanced 
selectivity methodologies, leading to more detections of smuggling and under-declaration and 
greatly  enhanced  revenue  yield;  the  participation  in  various  international  and  regional 
conferences  and  ensuing  initiatives,  including    UNDP  and  EU  Small  Arms  and  Light 
Weapons  (SALW)  project  in  Kosovo,  TIR  Convention  –  Geneva,  etc.;  the  undertaking  of 

112

 
 
 
various ‘Study Visits’ which have exposed tax officials to the situation existing in other EU 
Member Administrations; the conduction of EU Fiscal Blueprint Exercises in Kosovo, Bosnia 
and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Albania; and the design 
of  legislation,  control  systems  and  training  in  the  field  of  customs  controls  on  Intellectual 
Property Rights.  

- SEMS - €429 914 under CARDS Serbia and Montenegro State Union Action Programme - 
Customs and Taxes 2005: SEMS20 formed an integral part of CAFAO. The contract is a direct 
agreement with Agenzia delle Dogane, the contractor of TACTA. The purpose of the project 
is to support current applications in the region and to adopt “SEMS” as the regional standard 
for information exchange. The objectives of SEMS are to sustain administrative capacity in 
the exchange of information and to familiarise beneficiaries with the concept of the electronic 
exchange  of  data  as  well  as  to  establish  a  bridge  in  administrative  cooperation.  SEMS  has 
supported beneficiaries to manage an Integrated Border Management System, Intelligence and 
Anti-smuggling;  Risk  Assessment  System;  and  to  encourage  regional  cooperation.  On  17 
October 2008, a first pilot exercise on the Systematic Electronical Exchange of Information 
was  successfully  completed  between  the  Customs  Administration  of  the  former  Yugoslav 
Republic  of  Macedonia  and  of  Kosovo.  This  first  step  will  be  followed  by  the  other 
administrations of the region. 

Statistics 

The  aim  is  to  upgrade  and  strengthen  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  developed  included:  expert  missions,  workshops  and 
seminars,  financing  of  data  collection  as  well  as  general  statistical  assistance;  general 
statistical  assistance  including  the  participation  of  experts  from  beneficiary  countries  in 
technical  meetings  organised  by  Eurostat  and  other  Commission  services,  study  visits  to 
official statistics providers in Europe, training, consultation visits and traineeships. 

The  following  projects,  which  are  sub-delegated  to  and  managed  by  Eurostat,  were  under 
implementation:  

-  “Statistical  Co-operation  in  the  Western  Balkans”  –  €2  999  870  under  CARDS  Regional 
Action  Programme  2003.  The  contract  for  the  implementation  of  the  2003  CARDS  project 
signed  in  July  2006  ended  on  14  March  2008.  The  main  results  under  this  project  were  an 
improved  quality  of  statistics;  a  harmonised  data  collection;  better  qualified  staff, 
strengthened confidence in national statistics; and increased transfer of know-how.  

- Multi-beneficiary Programme - Statistical cooperation for Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and 
Turkey 2005–€5.75 million, January 2007 – December 2008 

- Transitional facility statistical cooperation 2005 – €3.50 million, January 2007 – December 
2008 

- Multi-beneficiary Programme - Statistical cooperation for Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and 
Turkey 2006 – €12 million, January 2008 – December 2010 

- Multi-beneficiary Programme - Statistical cooperation for the Western Balkans and Turkey 
2006 – €3 million), July 2008 – March 2010 

Implementation  of  the  grant  and  service  contracts  under  the  2005  Multi-Beneficiary 
Programme  and  Transition  Facility  programmes  finished  as  expected  by  the  end  of  2008. 

20  

South-East European Messaging System 

113

 
 
                                                 
Implementation  of  the  grant  and  service  contracts  under  the  2006  Multi-Beneficiary 
Programme is progressing.  

Environment 

The aim is to facilitate the strengthening of the capacities of national authorities to implement 
EU legislation and related strategies, including climate change; and facilitate networking, the 
sharing of best practices and lessons learned between the Beneficiaries and with EU Member 
States. 

There were three projects under implementation:  

- “Pilot River Basin Plan for Sava River” –€2 137 770 under the CARDS Regional Action 
Programme  2003.  The  project  was  completed  at  the  end  of  January  2008.  The  scope  of  the 
project  was  to  provide  technical  assistance  aimed  at  supporting  the  governments  of  Bosnia 
and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia and Montenegro in implementing the Water Framework 
Directive  in  these  countries  in  general  and  in  the  Sava  river  basin  in  particular,  with  pilot 
projects in Vrbas River sub-basin (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Dobra River sub-basin (Croatia) 
and Kolubara River sub-basin (Serbia and Montenegro).  

last 

The 

Task 

Force 

REReP 

meeting 

 -  "Support  for  Implementation  of  the  Regional  Environmental  Reconstruction  Programme 
(REReP)  for  SEE”  –  €1  million  under  the  CARDS  Regional  Action  Programme  CARDS 
2005.  REReP  is  promoted  as  an  effective  assistance  mechanism  with  transferred  lessons 
learnt. 
on  
20 November 2008 in Montenegro, a meeting during which achievements since the launch of 
the network in 1999 were celebrated and more specific progress since the previous meeting in 
2007 were discussed. In 2008, support has been provided by REReP and targeted to specific 
needs  in  the  field  of  law  drafting,  project/strategy  preparation,  administrative  capacity 
building,  as  well  as  inter-institutional  coordination  at  country  level.  There  have  been  some 
delays  in  implementing  a  number  of  actions,  including  the  PEIP  component  (Priority 
Environmental  Investment  Programme);  for  this  reason,  an  amendment  with  a  view  to 
extending  the  contract  to  an  additional  four-month  period  until  early  September  2009  was 
signed  in  December  2008.  Specific  events  held  in  2008  included  a  regional  meeting  on 
climate change and energy in Brussels and two regional PEIP meetings in June in Montenegro 
and in November in Brussels.  

held 

was 

-  “Support  to  the  'Environmental  Compliance  and  Enforcement  Network  for  Accession' 
(ECENA)”  -  €1m  under  the  CARDS  Regional  Action  Programme  2005.  ECENA  is  a 
network  of  environmental  inspectors  and  experts  of  the  Western  Balkans  and  Turkey  to 
exchange 'best practice' in the field of following up compliance with the transposed acquis in 
the  field  of  environment.  The  third  annual  ECENA  meeting  was  held  in  Istanbul  in 
September  2008.  On-going  support  to  the  activities  of  the  ECENA  Secretariat  has  been 
provided  in  2008;  train-the-trainer  activities  have  been  carried  out,  training  manuals 
produced  and  training  modules  have  been  designed,  including  with  the  collaboration  of 
Interpol.  

There were also two programmes under implementation sub-delegated to DG Environment: 

- “Phare Environment and Enlargement 2005”– €3.6 million: Out of the three projects under 
this programme, only two were still under implementation during 2008:  

114

 
 
 
 
- “Capacity building in implementation of the environmental acquis at the local and 
regional  level”:  the  Progress  report  was  submitted  in  January  2008  and  approved.  The 
consultant  provided  all  required  draft  outputs  of  the  project  and  the  final  draft  report.  The 
final payment was done in December.  

-  “Developing  the  capacity  of  environmental  authorities,  through  transfer  of  best 
practice and training to support effective use of financial resources”: the final report has been 
approved and the final payment done in July 2008. The contractor encountered difficulties in 
the collection of data from some of the countries.  

-  “Phare  Environment  and  Enlargement  2006”  -  €4.5m:  the  following  projects  were 
implemented: “Support for Investment preparation under the Danube-Black Sea (DABLAS) 
Task  Force”.  DABLAS  Task  Force:  preparation  of  investment  projects  on  water  and  waste 
water,  as  well  as  methodological  guidance;  “Supporting  the  enforcement  of  environmental 
legislation  in  Acceding  and  Candidate  countries  through  IMPEL  and  ECENA  networks”; 
“Monitoring transposition and implementation of the EU environmental acquis”; “Developing 
the  capacity  of  environmental  NGOs,  through  transfer  of  best  practices  from  NGOs  in  the 
EU25”; “NGO Forum”; and “Service contract for twinning grants for NGOs”. The following 
main activities took place during 2008: A workshop on aspects of NGO capacity of general 
interest  to  environmental  NGOs,  such  as  working  with  the  environmental  administration, 
motivating  volunteers,  attracting  financial  support,  working  with  industry,  etc.,  was  held  in 
Sofia in November 2008; an annual meeting between NGOs and the Commission was held in 
July 2008 and the meeting report as well as a publication on the whole NGO Forum have been 
published; 12 NGO grant agreements are on-going; support to Croatia and Turkey has been 
provided  as  part  of  the  ECENA  network  and  in  the  field  of  progress  monitoring  (guidance, 
training, etc.), among others.   

Nuclear safety and radiation protection 

The  aim  is  to  enhance  the  technical  competence  and  administrative  capacity  of  the  national 
radiation  safety  authorities  and  other  relevant  public  organisations,  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 involving the handling and management 
of radionuclides according to best EU practices.  

There were two programmes under implementation:  

- Phare Nuclear  Safety programme  2005 - centralised part – €350 000. The service contract 
"Management  of  medical  radioactive  waste  in  Bulgaria,  Croatia  and  Romania"  -  was 
completed and the final draft final report approved.  

- Phare Nuclear Safety Programme 2006 – centralised part – €279 000. The project 'Technical 
back-up to PHARE/IPA nuclear activities" was contracted in 2007 through an administrative 
agreement  with  the  Petten  establishment  of  the  Joint  Research  Centre  (Institute  of  Energy). 
The project consists of providing technical support to DG Enlargement in the implementation 
of the Phare and IPA nuclear projects. The project should end in late 2009. 

22.4  Support activities 

European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR): Funds to support the administrative expenditure 
of the EAR for the period 2007 and 2008 were committed in 2006. However, additional funds 
were necessary specifically for the closure of the EAR (an issue not discussed in 2006 when 
addressing the budget for 2008). An amount of €2.8 million was committed and the necessary 

115

 
 
 
financing  decision  was  adopted  by  the  end  of  October  2008  under  the  budget  line 
“Completion of CARDS assistance”.  

23. 

Programme Management Issues - Monitoring and Evaluation  

23.1  Monitoring and interim Evaluation 

Results-Oriented Monitoring (ROM) was used for CARDS programmes managed directly by 
the  European  Commission.  The  purpose  of  this  monitoring  system  is  to  provide  to  the 
European  Commission  and  the  Beneficiaries  clear,  objective  consistent  and  user-friendly 
overview  (monitoring)  information  on  projects  being  implemented  and  information  on  best 
practices/common mistakes, recommendations for improvement, and performance of the EC-
managed  project  portfolio.  Through  a  consistent  approach,  with  standardised  outputs,  ROM 
highlights strengths and weaknesses in the implementation of EC external assistance projects, 
by assessing their relevance and quality of design, efficiency, impact and sustainability.   

In addition, in 2008, sector, thematic and ad-hoc reports were carried out as part of the interim 
evaluation  scheme  for  Turkey  and  Croatia.  The  sector  interim  evaluations  of  Phare  and 
CARDS  programmes  in  Croatia  as well  as  of  pre-accession  financial  instrument  for  Turkey 
are  essentially  programme  management  tools  which  provide  programme  managers  with  a 
regular  performance  assessment  of  the  activities  in  all  sectors.  Recommendations  are 
systematically put forward in the reports for improving management and delivery of evaluated 
programmes/projects  and  discussed  at  debriefing  and  Joint  Monitoring  Committee  (JMC) 
meetings  for  follow-up  actions.  Moreover,  thematic,  country  and  consolidated  interim 
evaluations provide recommendations on the design of future programmes 

23.2  Ex-post evaluation 

The ad-hoc evaluation on CARDS programmes (2001-2006) in Albania concludes that there 
have  been  important  effects  and  short-term  impacts  in  terms  of  development  and 
strengthening  of  institutional  and  legal  framework,  and  development  of  strategies  in  sectors 
such  as  border  management,  economic  development  and  justice,  but  the  effect  on  capacity 
building of staff horizontally in the public administration has been limited. The key problem 
is  securing  impact  and  sustainability  of  CARDS  due  to  the  lack  of  capacity  of  the 
administration, large staff turnover and limited structures for implementation and enforcement 
of  legislation  and  policy.  The  lack  of  realistic  assessment  of  beneficiary  capacity  will  also 
impact  the  sustainability  of  the  interventions.  Support  to  public  administration  has  been 
limited  in  terms  of  both  the  number  of  projects  and  project  size,  and  a  proper  public 
administration reform and civil service reform have not been implemented. 

The  ad-hoc  evaluation  on  CARDS  programmes  (2001-2006)  in  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina 
shows  that  assistance  focused  on  strategic  objectives  but  was  weakened  by  mixed  political 
support  particularly  at  entity  level.  Weak  and  insufficiently  resourced  institutions  partly 
account for an increasingly difficult project environment. Centralised management by the EC 
Delegation has been the key to the successful implementation of most programmes at output 
level. Overambitious objectives, falling outside commonly agreed sectoral policies, have not 

116

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
been  fully  achieved.  Likewise  programme  effectiveness  increased  where  this  pre-condition 
was met. Long term impacts and sustainability mixed as they rely mostly on the establishment 
and  durability  of  capable  and  adequately  resourced  state  institution  which  only  sustained 
Community assistance can ensure at present. 

The ad-hoc evaluation on CARDS (2001-2006) Regional Programmes in the Western Balkans 
finds  that  the  relevance  of  the  CARDS  regional  programmes  is  in  line  with  the  European 
Commission  strategy  for  stability  in  the  region.  Further,  DG  ELARG  has  adopted  a  more 
participative  and  coordinated  approach  to  designing  the  programmes,  following  the 
recommendations from a previous evaluation by DG Aidco (2004). The effectiveness of the 
programmes and projects has in general met expectations. The programmes have contributed 
to creating a regional perspective towards cooperation. Impacts are in line with the objectives 
of  programmes,  but  the  countries  are  not  yet  ready  to  fully  cooperate  regionally  without 
assistance. Sustainability is still regarded as a weak aspect of the programmes. 

23.3  Other activities of monitoring and evaluation function 

The  monitoring  and  interim  evaluation  system  involves  successive  decentralisation  of  the 
responsibilities for monitoring and interim evaluation to the Candidate Countries. At the time 
of  the  decentralised  management  accreditation  (conferral  of  management  under  IPA),  the 
responsibility  for  monitoring  and  interim  evaluation  of  the  IPA  programme  is  to  be 
decentralised to the Candidate Countries. 

117

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
PART III: FINANCIAL DATA 

24.1  Phare, Turkey pre-accession and Transition Facility funds by year 1990 – 2008 

Financial Overview and Performance 

The following chart shows the breakdown year by year of the funds committed in the period 
1990-2008 (€ million): 

Year 
1990 
1991 
1992 
1993 
1994 
1995 
1996 
1997 
1998 
1999 
2000 
2001 
2002 
2003 
2004 
2005 
2006 
2007 
2008 
Total 

Funds Committed 

475.3
769.7
979.6
966.1
946.1
1,114.0
1,207.8
1,135.1
1,153.9
1,481.7
1,651.5
1,635.4
1,695.1
1,698.1
1,240.5
1,353.9
1,772.2
78.2
0
21,354.2

24.2  Phare, Turkey pre-accession and Transition Facility funds by country 1990–2008 

Total Phare, Turkey and Transition Facility commitments, contracts and payments, in € 
million 

Partner 
Country 
Bulgaria 
Czech republic 
Croatia 
Cyprus(*) 
Czechoslovakia 
East Germany 

Commitments 

Contracts  

Payments  

2,359.63
917.24
144.60
338.01
230.49
34.49

1,857.80
840.10
110.00
140.14
231.82
28.86

1,672.43 
832.68 
40.38 
93.43 
228.88 
28.86 

118

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Estonia 
Hungary 
Latvia 
Lithuania 
Malta 
Multi-country 
programmes 
Poland 
Romania 
Slovakia 
Slovenia 
Turkey 
Total 

346.84
1,480.06
423.61
810.27
57.11
3,357.05

3,995.99
3,670.00
717.59
360.33
1,861.95
21,105.26

311.90
1,372.74
384.83
754.50
48.30
2,798.41

3,676.81
3,128.82
661.65
327.11
1,367.70
18,0141.49

310.69 
1,366.58 
381.39 
748.86 
45.31 
2,174.81 

3,640.06 
2,665.25 
659.53 
324.15 
1,150.79 
16,364.08 

24.3   Cards funds by country 2000 – 2008 

Total CARDS commitments, contracts and payments, in € million 

305.3

451.5

273.5

307.3

Partner Country  Commitments  
Albania 
Bosnia & 
Herzegovina 
Croatia 
Former Yugoslav 
Republic of 
Macedonia 
Kosovo 
Montenegro 
Serbia 
Regional 
Programme 
Total 

726.6
127.0
1,337.0
651.7

4179.9

Contracts  

Payments  

250.4

432.6

256.3

293.5

724.1
126.1
1,300.6

610.2

3993.8

210.6 

401.9 

246.6 

281.9 

694.0 
123.2 
1,213.4 

577.3 

3748.9 

119