Brussels, 11/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 11 April, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn and Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland signed a Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey.
This joint initiative is aimed at helping the partners in the Western Balkans -Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Kosovo - and Turkey meet challenges in rule of law and human rights, Hahn and Jagland stated in a Commission press release. The facility will support reforms of the judicial system, the fight against organised crime and corruption, and the fight against discrimination. It will also support the protection of vulnerable groups (including LGBTI, minorities and the Roma). The actions that are implemented will also aim to facilitate the progress of EU candidate countries on implementing the accession negotiation chapters - chapter 23 on the judicial apparatus and fundamental right, and chapter 24 on freedom, security and justice.
The common initiative will be implemented by the Council of Europe from May 2016 for a three-year period and will be allocated €25 million (€20 million from the EU and €5 million from the Council of Europe). It is a programmatic agreement, provided for in the statement of intention signed by the EU and Council of Europe on 1 April 2014, in which the two parties committed to strengthen their cooperation in key areas of common interest (see EUROPE 11051).
In addition, a separate joint EU-Council of Europe programme will address issues related to the freedom of the media and freedom of expression over the same period as the Horizontal Facility, with a budget of €3.1 million (financed for up to 81% by the EU and for up to 19% by the Council of Europe). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant and Sophie Petitjean)