Brussels, 10/12/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 7 December, the European Commission approved a package of 10 operational programmes totalling €920 million for 2007-2009 to support candidate countries in regional development and human resources in the applicant countries, Croatia, Turkey, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. This investment is being made available within the framework of the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA).
Turkey: four programmes with investment worth €682.7 million for regional competitiveness, environment, transport and human resources development.
Croatia: four programmes with investment worth €180.7 million for regional competitiveness, transport, environmental protection and human resources development.
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: two programmes with investment worth € 56.8 million for regional development (including transport and environment) and human resources development.
The instrument for pre-accession assistance replaced, with effect from January 2007, the financial instruments, PHARE, ISPA, Sapard, CARDS and, for Turkey, pre-accession financial assistance, which formerly applied to these countries.
The resources available for pre-accession assistance to candidate countries are not comparable in macro-economic terms to structural fund interventions in member states. However, they offer a “learning by doing” opportunity regarding EU structural and cohesion policy principles and values. Candidate countries will be able to get used to drawing up and implementing operational programmes in a strategic way. There will also be cross-border programmes adopted soon, some involving Member States (Slovenia, Greece, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria, Cyprus). (L.C.)