Regional Convention on European Integration of the Western Balkans “Capacities of the Public and Civil Sector for the Absorption of the EU funds“

In framework of the Regional Convention on European Integration of the Western Balkans, European Movement in Albania presented its study during the annual Regional Conference “Capacities of the Public and Civil Sector  for the Absorption of the EU funds“, that took place in Budva, from 25 to 27 November 2016. It represented the final event of the project “Strengthening EU approximation processes in Western Balkans“, implemented by the European Movement in Montenegro in cooperation with the European Movement in Serbia, European Movement in Albania and Research Centre of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association, with the financial support of the International Visegrad Fund. The overall goal of the Regional Convention on European Integration of the Western Balkans is to foster reform processes of our societies and to improve the position of our countries in the accession process to the EU.The goal of our project “Strengthening EU approximation processes of the Western Balkans” is to analyse and increase capacities of state and civil sector regarding the absorption of IPA funds in our respective countries, with the reflection onto the Visegrad countries’ experience. The conference “Capacities of the Public and Civil Sector for the Absorption of the EU funds“brought together high level state officials and representatives of the civil society from Western Balkans countries, including partner organizations from Visegrad group.

During the first session titled “Presentation of the Regional Research on Absorption Capacities of country’s institutions for EU Funds”, following panelists presented the research: Mila Brnovic (European Movement in Montenegro), Michal Vit (EUROPEUM, Prague, Czech Republic), Mona Xhexhaj (European Movement in Albania), Mareike Meyn ( German International Cooperation, Support to European Integration process in Kosovo) and Ivana Lazarevic (European Movement in Serbia). Moderator of the first panel was Anna Orosz (Institute for Foreign Affairs and Trade,Budapest, Hungary)

The panels in this activity discussed in other sessions different themes such as on: “Presentation of the Regional Research on Absorption Capacities of country’s  institutions for EU Funds”, “Capacities of the public sector for the absorption of EU funds and cooperation with civil sector in the EU integration processes”, “EU and the Western Balkans – How to revive Enlargement?”, “Regional cooperation and Contribution of CSO” and the last was that on “Civil Society capacities in the process of European Integration – are we lagging behind?”

Ms. Xhexhaj gave a brief overview of the situation and latest challenges of IPA II absorption capacities in Albania, by taking into consideration 3 main components : i) the coordination and cooperation of institutions in charge of planning, programing and monitoring of IPA II funds ii) the human resource factor by covering ( workload, retention policies and the provided trainings for the staff) iii) accountability and transparency provided from the relevant Albanian institutions & involvement of different stakeholders, especially CSOs.  Through the indirect management, a novelty presented by IPA II, the state institutions manage their funds thus providing a stronger ownership. The representative of European Movement Albania emphasized that the main institutions involved and the new mechanisms set up should clarify their responsibilities. For instance, NIPAC Office should enhance its role in prioritizing the areas to be supported, and in quality assessment of the projects. Regarding the human resources Ms. Xhexhaj underlined that the staff of the ministries invest a lot of efforts in many projects by lowering their overall quality. At the same time, the retention policies for the experienced staff in IPA projects are not in place. A positive latest development mentioned from Ms. Xhexhaj was the commitment from the state structures to establish Integration Units in 61 local municipalities, with the aim to help the local absorption capacities of EU funds. Lastly, Ms. Xhexhaj stated that the involvement of civil society representatives in IPA II funds programing, planning and monitoring is crucial. Following the adoption of Law on Information and Public Consultation, the consultation of different stakeholders, CSOs included has been increased especially relating the Indicative Strategy Papers, National Action Plan for European Integration. Still, there are two remaining problematic issues : no sufficient time for CSOs to go through the documents and unequal capacities from the civil society sector to follow the quite technical process of IPA II.