EU to help Albania cope with financial crisis

BRUSSELS, Nov. 12 – The European Commission on Monday announced it will invest Euro 81 million as EU’s renewed financial support to Albania’s reform efforts. The funds will be used to address key priorities such as the reform of the judiciary, fight against organized crime, and the reform of the public administration system. They will also help improve Albania’s transport infrastructure, modernize water and sanitation systems and set up a range of services for social inclusiveness, the Commission said in a press release.
The aid comes at a time when Tirana’s government insists that the country is not threatened by a financial and economic crisis like all the rest of Europe and the world.
At the same time the international financial institutions say that the country will have a very small or slow annual growth by only 0.5 percent and that the budget deficit, on the verge of the 60 percent limit, is a real threat the country may go deep into a collapse.
“For several years now, Albanian citizens have shown strong support for their country’s accession to the EU. They know their daily lives will improve while their country moves forward on the path towards the EU. Further progress will depend on Albania’s capacity to strengthen this common national objective and deliver on reforms. The EU is committed to assist Albania achieve this goal and I am confident that this year’s program will visibly encourage a sustained pace of reforms in the country,” said EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule.
The funding comes under the 2012 annual program for Albania set by EU’s Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance, and will be topped up with an additional Euro 15 million of co-financing by Albanian authorities. The funding will finance concrete projects in the area of justice reform and will improve the performance of the Albanian State Police. It will help build the new courthouse in Tirana and will restructure two border crossing points. Better financial and management control systems will be set up in local and national authorities, improving the efficiency of financial inspections and directly contributing to an effective and transparent use of public funds by the Albanian government.
Infrastructure funding will contribute to constructing the Rrogozhina bypass, thus improving road transport and safety. They will also help rehabilitate the sewage system in Vlora, which the European Commission expects to benefit the tourism industry in and around the sea-side resort.
Since 2007, countries wishing to join the EU have received focused EU funding and support through a single channel – the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance. The total pre-accession funding for the period 2007-2013 is Euro 11.5 billion in transition assistance and institution building, cross-border cooperation, regional development, human resources development and rural development.
Last week the country also was at the center of attention for a regional economic meeting that will assist in the path toward integration into the European Union. A ministerial conference of the Regional Cooperation Council’s South East Europe Investment Committee was held in Tirana, where Western Balkans economy ministers adopted 11 targets for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in the region, to be reached by 2020.
The targets form the basis for a regional South East Europe 2020 strategy, inspired by the Europe 2020 strategy, but adjusted to the specific realities of the region. They include increasing regional GDP per capita from 38 percent to 46 percent of the EU-27 average; growing the region’s total value of trade in goods and services by more than 130 percent; and reducing the trade deficit from 14.1 to 11.6 per cent of the regional GDP. Furthermore, the ministerial declaration aims at increasing intra-regional trade in goods by more than 230 percent to Euro 42 billion, the overall foreign direct investment inflows to 7.5 billion euro, and the GDP per person employed by 33 percent. Other targets seek to increase the rate of enterprise creation by 20 percent, exports of goods and services per capita from the region by 130 percent, and the overall employment rate by 12 percent. They envisage adding 300,000 highly educated people to the region’s workforce, and increasing government effectiveness by 20 percent by 2020.
RCC Secretary General, Hido Biscevic underlined that the adoption of the headline targets will require considerable effort and political will among the countries as well as support from the international community. “The benefits are obvious, though, as a coherent and comprehensive framework for regional cooperation is put forth with clear indicators for measuring progress; a set of policy targets and measures are identified to help countries anchor reform over the long-term; and a clear platform is laid out for interaction with donors to the region, with identification of needs and gaps.”
The ministers committed to strengthening economic and social development across Southeast Europe and integrating the region more closely with the European Union. They emphasized the importance of a continued private-public sector dialogue and cooperation at national, regional and European level to help meet the SEE 2020 headline targets.
Ambassador Ettore Sequi, head of Delegation of the European Union to Albania, underlined that the European Commission considers the RCC’s South East Europe Investment Committee a flagship regional project and an essential part of the enhanced economic dialogue.
“The SEE 2020 targets represent a milestone on the way towards a fully-fledged regional strategy for an integrated, smart, sustainable and inclusive growth within a good governance framework. The European Union fully supports these efforts, which will contribute to the fulfillment of the economic criteria for accession.”
The economy ministers called on the EU to support SEE 2020 within the enlargement process.