Brussels, 12/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - The MEPs on the foreign affairs committee and representatives of the European Commission, the Court of Auditors and applicant countries met on Wednesday 11 April to discuss improvements to the new instrument for pre-accession assistance (IPA), IPA-2, the budget for which, if adopted, could be as much as €2 billion per year over the period from 2014 to 2020.
Director General of DG Enlargement Stefano Sannino argued that the IPA-2 must be “tailored to the needs and capacities of each recipient country - no more one size fits all, but made to measure”. The Commission wants an end to allocation of aid in five components (support for public institutions, regional and cross-border cooperation, regional development, human resources and rural development) and is calling for a sectoral approach. “We want to be sure that we have a comprehensive approach. To be able better to address specific needs, a common strategic framework is required. This should allow us to take account of the political priorities so that they can be made into concrete initiatives”, Sannino added, stating that the Commission would like to devote greater resources to regional cooperation. The Commission wants to make use of specific strategy papers for each country so that it can identify the key reforms, and wants to be able to make annual revisions “to ensure that the strategies are still right”. Sannino highlighted the need for a balance to be struck between predictability and flexibility, to allow funding to be adjusted to the needs on the ground. The Commission would also like to see a multi-country approach “to define the extent of the region and to address certain specific relevant points”, and “recognition of the special importance of reform of the rule of law”.
It wants, too, to focus on results brought by the European assistance. “We must make sure that the money bears fruit. We have to put in place a mechanism for assessing and reviewing what is being done, with a performance-based element to encourage those areas which produce the best results and to achieve our objectives”, Sannino said. In this, he was backed by Karel Pinxten from the European Court of Auditors, who was keen to see a link between assistance and performance. “Targets must be specific, measureable and achievable. Instruments are needed to be able to measure progress and the Commission must be able to respond”, Pinxten said.
Many improvements to be brought. Pinxten warned against excessive use of budgetary support, funding paid into the Exchequer of the recipient countries, pointing out that this was not subject to monitoring and risked abuse.
The representatives of the candidate countries called for administrative capacity to be increased, procedures to be simplified, the “administrative burden” to be lightened, dialogue with civil society to be promoted, and across-the-board increase in funding so that countries are in a position to be able to absorb significant funding at the time of accession. They noted, too, that “often needs change between the time the programme is agreed and when it is to be implemented”. The representatives of the applicant countries also underlined how difficult it can be to align the IPA framework with the national framework: a single project can fall within the remit of several ministers. (CG/transl.rt)