EU accords Pre-Accession Aid for Southeastern European Aspiring Countries

BRUSSELS, Nov.10 – As of 1 January 2007 there will be a new financial tool for all pre-accession activities funded by the European Commission, namely the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA). The news was posted on the EU executive website. It also included the schedule of all aid that will be provided between 2007 and 2009 to all European Union aspiring-Western Balkan countries. The amount of aid reaches 1.95 billion euro ($2.5 billion) in EU pre-accession aid, according to the statement of the European Commission. IPA will entirely replace previous assistance instruments such as CARDS program (EU’s Community Assistance for Reconstruction, Development and Stabilization). This instrument is designed to provide for targeted and effective assistance for each country according to its needs and evolution. IPA has five components: transition assistance and institution building; cross-border cooperation; regional development; human resources development; and rural development.
As far as their progress towards integration, Croatia has received the most positive signals and hopes to join the union in 2009. Albania signed SAA with the EU in June. Macedonia, also officially obtained a candidate country status last December but has not yet launched accession negotiations. Bosnia and Herzegovina joins Serbia in ranking the lowest in the list. Bosnia launched talks on signing a SAA in January. As for Serbia, the Commission suspended the negotiations in May because of the failure of the country to co-operate fully with the United Nations war crimes tribunal in Hague. Kosova’s future status – whether as an independent state or an autonomous province within Serbia – will be resolved after January 2007. Until then Kosova’s integration process is on hold. The countries of the Western Balkans will soon be surrounded by the EU when Black Sea neighbors Bulgaria and Romania will join the European Union on January 1, 2007.