Economic Investment Plan is part of a 'new momentum' emerging in EU's relations with national and sub-national governments in the Western Balkans.
Over the past 18 months, the EU has revised its approach to enlargement and
launched an Economic and Investment Plan that it hopes will provide €9
billion in funding focused on green and digital transition investments,
transport links, sustainable energy, digital infrastructure, and business
sector development and human capital, including youth. The Plan forms part
of a
€14 billion package
of support for enlargement countries for 2021-27 agreed by the European
Parliament and EU member states on 2 June. Over the same period, most
recently at a summit of
national leaders on 5 July, countries in the region has been taking steps
to promote regional cooperation and European integration.
Gašper Dovžan, State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs representing Slovenia
in its role as
president of the Council of the European Union,
said: "During our Presidency, we will continue to support all candidate
countries and our Western Balkans partners on their European path. I
believe we should not treat the enlargement policy as an item that slips
off the agenda whenever the EU faces a crisis. Enlargement policy
contributes to the strengthening of peace, democracy and stability in
Europe and should be the strategic response of the EU to potential future
crises."
Maciej Popowski, Acting Director-General for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement
Negotiations of the European Commission, said: "The Western Balkans play a
key role in our plans for a more prosperous, better connected, greener and
more resilient Europe. Therefore, we must speed up the integration of the
region into the EU. The Commission will continue investing heavily into
closing the socio-economic gap with the EU and assisting with post-COVID
recovery."
Speaking on behalf of the CoR,
Nikola Dobroslavić
(HR/EPP), Prefect of Dubrovnik-Neretva County, CoR rapporteur on the
Enlargement Package 2020, emphasised the CoR's position that the EU should
start membership talks with North Macedonia and Albania as the European
Commission is satisfied that they have met the EU's pre-conditions.
Mr Dobroslavić, who also chairs the CoR's Working Group with the Western
Balkans, continued: "The economic and investment plan for the Western
Balkans is the key instrument of support for the economic and social
recovery and development of the region. Local government should be involved
in the programming, implementation and follow-up of the plan. The success
of the plan – and of the EU enlargement process – will depend heavily on
work at the local level, so we also call for the EU to support
capacity-building in any local administration that handles EU funds,
particularly in areas such as transport and environment protection. The
European Commission's decision to open the TAIEX instrument for technical
assistance to authorities in the enlargement countries to local and
regional authorities is a welcome step in the right direction. All Western
Balkans countries should become members of the EU, but only if they meet
democratic pre-conditions. In every Western Balkan country, work is needed
to address problems of democracy and rule of law not just at the national,
but also the regional level."
Mark Speich
(DE/EPP), Secretary of State for Federal, European and International
Affairs of North Rhine-Westphalia and chairman of the CoR commission
responsible for external affairs, said: "People live and work now,
regardless of when the accession will actually happen. Now, they need
kindergartens and schools, a running and efficient public transport,
thriving local businesses, especially small and medium ones. Now, they need
functioning local democracy, lively civil society, free and reliable local
media, fair and transparent public procurement, efficient and politically
neutral local and regional public administration. In all these fields, it
is our interest that citizens – regardless whether they belong to EU Member
States or enlargement countries – exchange their experiences and views.
This is necessary to reach the best results for all of us already today.”
The event included panels devoted to the role of local and regional
authorities in the accession process and to their potential contribution to
the transition towards a green and digital economy in the Western Balkans.
Notes for Editors
In addition to representatives from the EU institutions, speakers included:Erwan Fouéré, former EU Special Representative for the former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia and currently of the Centre for European Policy
Studies (CEPS);
Milena Lazarević
from the Belgrade office of the European Policy Centre (EPC); Tanja Miščević,
Deputy Secretary-General of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC);
Antonio Ratković,
first Vice-President of the Network of Associations of Local Authorities of
South-East Europe (NALAS);
Dragana Sotirovski
,
Mayor of Niš;
Tunç Soyer,
Mayor of İzmir Metropolitan Municipality;
Anuela Ristani
, Vice Mayor of Tirana; and
Satu Haapanen
(FI/Greens) from the City of Oulu.
North Macedonia and Albania are currently awaiting the approval of EU
member states in order to be able to start accession talks. Serbia and
Montenegro have already begun negotiations. At present, Turkey's accession
talks are at a standstill, while the European Commission in May 2019
identified 14 priorities for Bosnia and Herzegovina to fulfil before
membership talks could begin. The EU is currently mediating between
Belgrade and Prishtina in the hopes of brokering a comprehensive
normalisation agreement that could advance the European perspective for
Serbs and Kosovars.
Owing to Covid-19 restrictions, the Enlargement Day meeting was this year
held online and shortened to one day. Country-specific meetings between
members of the European Committee of the Regions and local and regional
politicians from the Western Balkans and Turkey were instead held in June.
A meeting of the
Joint Consultative Committee North Macedonia
revealed that the significance of local and regional government in the EU
enlargement process is gaining recognition in North Macedonia, while the
meeting of the
Working Group Western Balkans
– this year focused on Albania – highlighted a step-change
in the engagement of Albanian municipalities in implementing EU-related and
a continuing imbalance between their responsibilities and funding. A
meeting of the
Joint Consultative Committee Montenegro
brought to the fore the need for a transformation of the country's tourism
industry as well as concerns about a loss of EU expertise and continued
rule-of-law failings. At the
Joint Consultative Committee Serbia
,
speakers spoke of a "new momentum" in EU-related reforms. At a meeting of
the
Working Group Turkey
,
the Turkish Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs called for cooperation with
the CoR to be upgraded, by creating a Joint Consultative Committee, while
EU representatives spoke of a new, more positive tone in recent Turkish
statements about the EU, but suggested that Turkey's Customs Union with the
EU is the only dossier that could realistically be advanced at the moment.
Contact
:
Andrew Gardner
andrew.gardner@cor.europa.eu
+32 473 843 981