Europe continues support to Albania, other NON-EU member countries

TIRANA, Dec. 20 – Though the European Union may seem preoccupied with its Eurozone crisis, Brussels has made it clear in words and in practice that deepening political and economic cooperation with the Balkans is one of its priorities, and that the Balkan countries should remain confident that EU integration will, sooner or later, take place.
The EU has played a dominant role in negotiating peace and security in the Balkans by enhancing economic and political cooperation in the region and by sending positive signals for eventual integration, something which has been a source of motivation for Balkan countries to solve their ethnic and territorial disputes.
Given the severity of the current financial problems besetting the EU, political experts say Croatia, which signed an accession treaty earlier this month to join the EU in 2013, could be the last Balkan country to join for a long period of time. Experts say this would mean postponing the EU dream for the Balkan states to a more distant future.
Still, the European Commission has finalized a series of aid programmes designed to support reforms in Balkan countries wishing to join the EU in a pre-accession programme totaling almost one billion Euros.
The funding comes under the 2011 budget of the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA), and will be available to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, as well as Kosovo, Turkey, and Iceland.
“All these programmes have been designed to achieve concrete results in terms of better public administration, more efficient judiciary and law enforcement, stable economy as well as a safer environment. This is good news both for the recipient countries and the EU: we all face common challenges that do not stop at EU borders and we need to tackle them together,” said European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fuele.
This year’s funding focuses on better governance, with projects aiming at further reinforcement of administrative capacity, more efficient use of EU assistance, adoption and enforcement of EU standards, further support to reforms in public administration, as well as in the judiciary and fundamental rights and the continued support to the fight against organized crime and corruption.
Albania will get 82 million Euros more which will be used for projects in its justice, home affairs and fundamental rights, public administration reforms, transport, environment and climate change, social development, agriculture and rural development.
Since 2007, Albania has received and will get continuous support from the EU: 61 million Euros in 2007, 74 million Euros in 2008, 81 million Euros in 2009, 94 million Euros in 2010, 94 million in 2011, 94 million Euros in 2012 and 98 million Euros in 2013.
The EU is currently preparing the Albanian authorities for the decentralized management of EU assistance. It is providing technical assistance to the Albanian State Police in order to bring them closer to EU standards and the EU is also supporting the management of the Albanian maritime border, to improve the cooperation between the agencies in charge of blue border management. More will be spent to finalize the construction works of several detention and pre-detention facilities in Albania, aiming at strengthening the capacity of the Judicial and Penitentiary system in accordance with EU and international standards.
The EU supports Albania in maintaining sustainable growth and increasing the competitiveness of the private sector, as well as in providing a healthy business environment for investment and employment.
One of the biggest projects, which the EU supports, is the improvement of the health and environmental conditions along Albanian coastal regions via the construction of an adequate and sustainable water supply and sewerage infrastructure.