TIRANA, Sept. 16, 2022 – Albania’s parliament ratified Thursday a deal with the European Union which leads to Albania receiving 600 million euros in assistance over the next 7 years.
The Financial Framework Partnership Agreement with the European Union allows Albania to receive funds from the EU’s Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPAIII).
The money is aimed at is pre-accession assistance that supports EU candidate countries and potential candidates “in adopting and implementing key political, institutional, social and economic reforms to comply with EU values and to progressively align with EU rules, standards and policies,” according to a statement by the EU Delegation to Albania.
The new funding, which will not need to be repaid, will be directed at a variety of sectors such as justice reform, environment, energy, private sector development, agriculture, employment and social inclusion, good governance, and decentralization and local government and civil society.
“The opening of accession negotiations this summer were [sic] a milestone in EU-Albania relations, but our bond has always been very strong. For years, the EU has been the largest supporter of reforms in Albania providing almost 100 million euros annually for programmes in areas like justice reform, agriculture and many other areas touching the lives of Albanian citizens,” said Ambassador Christiane Hohmann, head of the EU Delegation to Albania. “This ratification continues this strong partnership, with a new and larger package of support to both assist the government in the enlargement process in the years ahead, as well as improve the every-day lives of Albanians.”
IPAIII for the period 2021-2027 is focussed on the priorities of the EU’s enlargement process. Under IPA III, programming of EU assistance is programmed according to five thematic Windows, which mirror the clusters of the negotiating chapters.
The new IPAIII budget for the 2021-2027 programming period is over 14 billion EUR, covering the Western Balkans partners and Turkey. This is a substantial increase from the 10 billion EUR budget of the previous IPA phase (IPAII, 2014-2020).
