Albania looking for a piece of 750 million EUR pie

TIRANA, April 9؁lbania will be part of the assistance program that European Union has planned for the Western Balkan countries to face the impact of the global economic crisis. The 750 million EUR fund will be distributed among the region’s countries depending on their respective needs.
According to the project, the fund money will be used to finance a variety of investments in infrastructure, education, training of administration, etc. Michael Leigh, Executive Director o0f Enlargement in the European Commission, presented the distribution strategy of the assistance fund during the Donors Conference for the Western Balkans and Turkey. Albanian PM, Sali Berisha, also attended the conference.
According to Leigh, the anticrisis fund will include an initial stage of 150 million EUR as part of the Instrument for Preaccession Assistance, and a second stage will follow with international financial institutions funding the remaining 600 million EUR.
During his speech, however, Leigh warned the benefiting governments that the taxpayers’ money of the donating countries should be used in the most effective way, in order for the whole project to achieve the targeted goals.
Regarding Albania, Leigh said that “Albania and the region are taking encouraging steps, but…We are dealing with a global crisis and we should be able to understand its depth and the measures we should take”.
Indeed, the first stage will include a test group, including Albania, to check the effectiveness of the use of the first 150 million EUR package. This package will aim to improve capacity of administrations in the region to manage future funds that EU plans to distribute in the later stages of the region’s integration.
PM Berisha, on his part, assured that the war against corruption will ensure a more efficient and effective use of these funds.
“The use of donations, their rightful allocation toward the most needy areas, is dependent on one elementary condition: effective war against corruption,” he said. In addition, Berisha insisted that the most efficient use of the funds would need coordination with the completion of various projects.
The Coordination Conference of the Donor Countries takes place every 6 months in one of the Western Balkan countries. Its aim is to monitor the proceedings of EU funded investments and to find alternative ways to finance future projects in the region. The conference in Tirana served as an information workshop for beneficiary countries to learn ways to use the fund and create the necessary transparency for the donators to monitor their previous investments.