Brussels, 29/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 29 January, Henk Visser, an official from the European Commission's DG Enlargement, said that the final adoption of the 2014-2020 pre-accession instrument by the EU member states should take place in March 2014. The programme has been in force since 1 January 2014, he said during a conference on the development of democracy and institutional reform in South-East Europe. The pre-accession aid instrument for the 2014-2020 period should amount to €11.7 billion.
The goal of this instrument is to improve good governance, to strengthen the capacity of candidate and potential candidate countries to come into line with EU laws and standards, and to support their economic and social development in line with the objectives of the EUROPE 2020 strategy. Unlike in the previous programme (2007-2013), in the new programme, candidate and potential candidate countries will be on an equal footing with regard to the opportunities for EU support. The EU also wants more links between what is supported by the instrument and the priorities of the states, their strategic policy. Visser stated that the priority sectors for aid must be relevant in relation to accession to the EU, to the national strategy and to national socio-economic development. (CG/transl.fl)