Brussels, 28/03/2000 (Agence Europe) - Pledges of grants that will be made by the European Union, at the Donor Conference of 29 and 30 March, for regional projects in Southeastern Europe should represent a "substantial share" of the expected 1.6 to 1.8 billion euro, Catherine Day, Deputy Director General for External Relations in the Commission told the press on Tuesday. The Commission's aim is that pledges made by itself and Member States should represent some two-thirds of the total. Grants by the World Bank should amount to 10% of the total, said its Vice-President Johannes Linn, at the same press conference. Organised by the European Commission and the World Bank, in collaboration with the coordinator for the Stability Pact for the Balkans, Bodo Hombach, the Donor Conference for Southeastern Europe will be held in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday in the presence of representatives of 44 States and 36 international organisations. It will be devoted to the funding for the next twelve months of exclusively regional projects, that should be launched rapidly - "quick start projects" - and essentially linked to the construction of infrastructures (1.1 billion, of which 710 pledged when the Conference was being prepared) and to the development of the private sector (290 million, of which 186 already pledged). The representatives of the European Commission and the World Bank and the Stability Pact stressed, at the press conference, the dual concrete and political nature of the Conference.
The projects are important in themselves, but they also have a strategic value," as they relate to relations of South Eastern European countries with the EU underlined Catherine day. This two key process, one the one hand the undertaking by the South Eastern countries to carry out economic, social and political reforms and on the other hand the prospect of integration into the EU and the international structures, said Mr. Linn.
Therefore, the first day will be political and the second more technical. The Conference will be open, Wednesday, by speeches from the European Commissioner for External Relations, Christopher Patten, the President of the World bank, James Wolfhenson and the co-ordinator of the stability pact, Bodo Hombach. These speeches will be followed by declarations from the beneficiary countries then by the Ministers of the donor countries, who should confirm the promises of donation announced during the preparation of the Conference.
On Thursday, The European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the representatives of the Stability Pact will present the projects that have selected for the infrastructures (EIB), the development of the private sector (EBRD) and human rights, democratisation, education and the media (Stability Pact). The different participants should then try to finish the co-ordination between donation promises and specific projects (note that most of the pledges are already linked to specific projects). Therefore the Commission will participate, to the amount of EUR 5 Million in the construction of a second bridge between Bulgaria and Romania, but also in the cleaning of the Danube, a mine clearance project, the establishment of electricity networks… The World bank will help, notably, in the demobilisation of soldiers.
Although the organisers specify that it is mainly a matter of new commitments and not of restating old promises, there is still a risk of confusion - the World Bank ensures that everything will be done during the Conference to separate the old from the new, in order to have a picture of the new donations. Regarding the EU, projects concerning Kosovo are the only ones for which funds have already been promised, since they will be financed from the EUR 500 million promised for Kosovo during the two donors' conferences which were specifically devoted to it, said Ms Day. Generally speaking, promises made by the Commission remain "of course" in the context of the budget and financial perspectives otherwise we could not make promises", she said.