Debate: Instrument for pre-accession assistance  –
Date: TUESDAY, 14 SEPTEMBER 2021
Speaker: Željana Zovko
Language: EN

IPA III offers a historic budget of more than EUR 14 billion for the next seven years. The biggest part is foreseen for the economic and investment plan that will create jobs, improve infrastructure, foster connectivity and boost the economy. With the financing of the Western Balkans Guarantee Facility, an additional EUR 20 billion in investment can be expected. Based on the experience from IPA and IPA II, the design of modernised instruments provides the best assistance possible to the candidate and potential candidate countries. It features a performance-based approach that optimises the efficiency of the funded projects. The switch from country envelopes to the allocation of finances via thematic windows stimulates the beneficiaries to present achievable projects that will have a real impact on the reform track. I would also like to emphasise that the role of the European Parliament in the programming, the governance and scrutiny of the instrument has significantly increased. For the first time, we will adopt a delegated act that sets our specific key objectives on which the programming of the instrument should be based. I am thinking about the rule of law, education, good neighbourly relations. We will have the chance to discuss the implementation of the instrument with the Commission during the upcoming geostrategic dialogue. These achievements are a big step forward regarding democratic accountability. The European Union is not safe if peace and security in our immediate neighbourhood is not guaranteed. The European Union will continue to face organised criminal activities, disinformation campaigns and irregular migration flows as long as these issues remains unresolved in south-east Europe. The European Union is not complete without the accession of the Western Balkan countries. With the adoption of IPA III, the EU has done its homework. We are ready to engage with the Western Balkans and Turkey. The ball is now in the court of the authorities of the beneficiaries. They need to show the willingness and the courage to work on the necessary reforms and to comply with Copenhagen criteria and European standards and values. We have to acknowledge it. This is a demanding challenge. Political leaders stand for tough decisions and need to make political sacrifices. As a representative of the people of the youngest European Member State, I can assure you that these efforts are wanted by the people, for the countries, for the region and for the European Union. What the leaders in the partner states should understand is that making progress on their reform agenda starts with stabilising the internal situation in their country and finding a solution for pending problems. For example, Bosnia and Herzegovina urgently needs a breakthrough on the election law. Montenegro faces rising tensions that have resulted in violent protests related to the freedom of belief two weeks ago. Other countries see a strong decline in respect of human rights on the implementation of the rule of law. These are serious problems that can hijack the integration procedures. We should not allow financial support to countries that claim to be European-minded, but use the funding for other purposes. Therefore, IPA III contains a clear conditionality, including the possibility to suspend assistance in the case of severe political and democratic backsliding. Today’s discussion on Afghanistan dealt with the need for a lessons learned exercise to understand what happened in the last 20 years. Fortunately, due to their transformative processes that started in 1999, the Western Balkans are still holding high hopes for the European integration. But, as I once said, the region is a rollercoaster and everything can change if we do not start the lessons learned exercise here as well. What went wrong? What can we improve? How can we help the people to resolve the unresolved issues? The priority is to prevent turbulence that might have a spill-over effect on EU citizens or on our peace and security. IPA III is the tool, but more important is a high-level engagement to get the Western Balkans on the track to European accession. I would like to conclude by calling on the authorities of the beneficiaries to use this new positive momentum to prepare ambitious national strategies and to enhance their engagement with the European Union by improving their ownership of the accession reforms.